1 00:00:04,598 --> 00:00:05,414 Joshua Kehler: All right, guys. 2 00:00:07,064 --> 00:00:08,023 I'm super excited. 3 00:00:08,754 --> 00:00:10,134 so we're gonna go to the book of Jonah. 4 00:00:11,014 --> 00:00:14,494 what, so we'll spend a couple weeks here, then we're gonna go to the book 5 00:00:14,494 --> 00:00:15,844 of Mark, and then the book of Mark. 6 00:00:15,844 --> 00:00:17,794 We're gonna take it a chapter a week. 7 00:00:18,694 --> 00:00:24,514 So we're gonna, we're gonna blow through it, so Jonah will probably 8 00:00:24,519 --> 00:00:26,614 be in here in five for five weeks. 9 00:00:27,254 --> 00:00:33,524 so we'll go Mark and then another Old Testament prophet, maybe Habakkuk, 10 00:00:33,734 --> 00:00:37,064 cuz I think he's like amazing. 11 00:00:37,094 --> 00:00:37,844 His message. 12 00:00:38,434 --> 00:00:44,734 and then I'm thinking Romans, so that we might just plan 13 00:00:44,734 --> 00:00:45,994 our flag in for a little bit. 14 00:00:45,994 --> 00:00:52,499 But, I like getting some ot, Newt, ot Newt, and, Jonah's an amazing thing. 15 00:00:52,739 --> 00:00:54,539 so I'm gonna do an introduction today. 16 00:00:55,169 --> 00:00:56,729 so don't let this fool you. 17 00:00:56,729 --> 00:00:59,999 I'm gonna read the first three verses and we're gonna stop because 18 00:00:59,999 --> 00:01:03,684 it'll probably only be four more weeks after this, but, let me read 19 00:01:04,684 --> 00:01:04,924 now. 20 00:01:04,924 --> 00:01:12,334 The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, 21 00:01:12,334 --> 00:01:17,764 that great city and call out against it for their evil has come up before me. 22 00:01:19,234 --> 00:01:25,114 But Jonah rose to Fleet Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 23 00:01:25,789 --> 00:01:32,179 He went down to JPA and found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fair and went 24 00:01:32,179 --> 00:01:35,119 on board to go with them to Tarshish. 25 00:01:35,719 --> 00:01:40,339 Away from the presence of the Lord. 26 00:01:40,399 --> 00:01:41,269 This is the word of the Lord. 27 00:01:42,499 --> 00:01:45,589 Father, we thank you for your word this morning. 28 00:01:45,589 --> 00:01:47,929 And God we just pray for insight into this. 29 00:01:47,929 --> 00:01:49,039 Thank you for this story. 30 00:01:49,039 --> 00:01:52,949 Thank you for preserving this, down through the centuries. 31 00:01:52,979 --> 00:01:57,549 And, Lord, you included it for a reason and I pray that reason would take anchor 32 00:01:57,549 --> 00:01:59,739 and root in our hearts, be glorified. 33 00:02:00,739 --> 00:02:05,179 May your love be more obvious to us than it ever has been before. 34 00:02:06,379 --> 00:02:11,239 May your grace, be disruptive in our lives. 35 00:02:13,129 --> 00:02:15,659 May it be shocking. 36 00:02:16,709 --> 00:02:18,639 God, we thank you, we just pray. 37 00:02:18,689 --> 00:02:19,619 you'd bless this time. 38 00:02:19,619 --> 00:02:21,959 Save us from the opinions of men and good ideas. 39 00:02:21,959 --> 00:02:25,319 We just want your truth, Lord, for your glory, our joy in 40 00:02:25,324 --> 00:02:26,399 the salvation of the city. 41 00:02:26,399 --> 00:02:28,259 In Jesus name, amen. 42 00:02:29,279 --> 00:02:33,549 So I've told you over the time I'm an electrician, that's what I do. 43 00:02:34,749 --> 00:02:36,849 I've been shocked over 80 times. 44 00:02:37,599 --> 00:02:37,659 Whoa. 45 00:02:37,859 --> 00:02:41,069 yeah, I've been blown off a ladder, an eight foot ladder. 46 00:02:41,069 --> 00:02:44,159 I've like almost been knocked unconscious. 47 00:02:44,549 --> 00:02:44,579 Oh. 48 00:02:44,879 --> 00:02:48,589 And You would think, and each time is like special. 49 00:02:49,309 --> 00:02:51,289 Each time is like a reminder. 50 00:02:51,289 --> 00:02:54,199 Each time is like, you don't get used to it. 51 00:02:55,109 --> 00:02:55,859 at least I don't. 52 00:02:55,864 --> 00:02:57,509 I've heard stories where guys get used to it. 53 00:02:57,509 --> 00:03:02,924 They get callouses and, and so lots of times being shocked, don't like it. 54 00:03:03,314 --> 00:03:05,354 Never found like, oh, I like this. 55 00:03:05,774 --> 00:03:08,674 Or like, you know, I don't have coffee this morning, so I'll just grab the 56 00:03:08,674 --> 00:03:10,684 two wires, you know, and that, yeah. 57 00:03:10,804 --> 00:03:12,514 Never an option in my mind. 58 00:03:12,754 --> 00:03:13,534 Not a fan. 59 00:03:13,834 --> 00:03:14,464 Don't like it. 60 00:03:16,224 --> 00:03:19,853 I think I'm so aware all the time cuz I don't like being shocked. 61 00:03:20,264 --> 00:03:23,834 I'll be making up a live panel, and I'm just like jamming, trying to get 62 00:03:23,834 --> 00:03:27,524 it done before inspection and all of a sudden I'll realize like, oh, my 63 00:03:27,524 --> 00:03:31,094 finger's about half an inch away from me getting blown off of this thing. 64 00:03:31,484 --> 00:03:34,454 I'm touching metal and I'm touching this and I like step back and 65 00:03:34,454 --> 00:03:37,004 I take my breath away and I'm like, how did I get so careless? 66 00:03:37,603 --> 00:03:46,934 I hate being shocked, And I'm like, gosh, how did I get lax and like, Regards to 67 00:03:46,934 --> 00:03:51,914 this energy and this power, the worst experience I ever had as an electrician. 68 00:03:51,914 --> 00:03:52,754 We were in a Home Depot. 69 00:03:52,759 --> 00:03:54,074 It was open during the day. 70 00:03:54,374 --> 00:03:56,744 I was on top of a scissor lift all the way up. 71 00:03:56,774 --> 00:03:58,574 It would only go to 25 feet. 72 00:03:58,904 --> 00:04:01,994 I had to get into this gutter where there's four 80 power 73 00:04:02,354 --> 00:04:03,794 and I couldn't reach it. 74 00:04:04,304 --> 00:04:07,954 And at the time my boss wasn't big on harnesses or safety things. 75 00:04:08,254 --> 00:04:12,334 And so I got a six foot ladder, put it in top. 76 00:04:12,379 --> 00:04:12,589 Oh my God. 77 00:04:12,919 --> 00:04:14,029 Stood on top of it. 78 00:04:14,029 --> 00:04:14,899 The whole thing swayed. 79 00:04:14,929 --> 00:04:19,459 I still could only reach it like this and I had to splice in four 80 power. 80 00:04:19,464 --> 00:04:19,974 Yes. 81 00:04:20,124 --> 00:04:22,224 Oh, sweats pouring down my face. 82 00:04:22,224 --> 00:04:24,444 Like I'm just like shaking. 83 00:04:24,444 --> 00:04:29,484 I'm like, if I won bad move, I'm gone and died like that. 84 00:04:29,574 --> 00:04:31,879 Yeah, people do and I should have like been. 85 00:04:32,254 --> 00:04:34,384 Knowledgeable enough to say, what am I doing? 86 00:04:34,664 --> 00:04:35,894 but you're in the moment and stuff. 87 00:04:36,104 --> 00:04:40,394 But there was such a respect at that moment for the power 88 00:04:40,634 --> 00:04:42,104 that I'm gonna tap into. 89 00:04:42,574 --> 00:04:43,454 Oh, That's biblical. 90 00:04:43,844 --> 00:04:47,164 And then, yes, and then there's something funny that happens where 91 00:04:47,164 --> 00:04:48,844 you can get used to the power. 92 00:04:49,444 --> 00:04:53,374 And it becomes something where you don't treat it like it has the 93 00:04:53,374 --> 00:04:55,174 same energy and the same power. 94 00:04:56,884 --> 00:05:03,214 you can ask 10 different Christians what the gospel is in a church, and very 95 00:05:03,214 --> 00:05:05,314 likely you'll get 10 different answers. 96 00:05:06,809 --> 00:05:10,289 Some will say it's, oh yeah, that's what we hear at the end of a sermon. 97 00:05:10,319 --> 00:05:16,299 Or that's what, you get to enter in and become a Christian, or, that's 98 00:05:16,299 --> 00:05:21,909 the good news or that's the news that gets you into the Christian life, 99 00:05:22,299 --> 00:05:24,219 The first four books are the gospels. 100 00:05:24,219 --> 00:05:24,849 Yes. 101 00:05:25,809 --> 00:05:29,689 You used to think, growing up in the church that once you become a Christian, 102 00:05:29,689 --> 00:05:31,819 you don't need the gospel any longer. 103 00:05:32,329 --> 00:05:34,399 Now you need to hear the meat. 104 00:05:34,459 --> 00:05:36,589 You need to hear instruction on how to live. 105 00:05:37,069 --> 00:05:38,479 Okay, I'm in now. 106 00:05:38,479 --> 00:05:39,589 Tell me how to live. 107 00:05:39,589 --> 00:05:40,879 Tell me how to obey. 108 00:05:40,879 --> 00:05:42,139 Tell me how to behave. 109 00:05:42,544 --> 00:05:44,734 That's the meat, that's the deep theology. 110 00:05:44,734 --> 00:05:47,224 That's where the rubber meets the road. 111 00:05:47,224 --> 00:05:50,524 And nothing could be further from the truth coming to realize 112 00:05:50,529 --> 00:05:54,484 that the gospel isn't just the ABCs, it's the A to Z, right? 113 00:05:54,484 --> 00:05:58,424 As we say, it's like a hub on a wheel, on, on a bicycle. 114 00:05:58,844 --> 00:06:00,644 You, it's not aoke. 115 00:06:01,259 --> 00:06:04,739 It's the hub that ties everything else together, right? 116 00:06:04,829 --> 00:06:07,499 we don't move beyond the gospel. 117 00:06:07,499 --> 00:06:12,089 We move deeper into it, right? 118 00:06:13,409 --> 00:06:16,439 Taste and see that the Lord is good, right? 119 00:06:16,619 --> 00:06:22,829 We move into those truths, and those truths become more of a reality. 120 00:06:22,829 --> 00:06:26,429 God's grace is still. 121 00:06:27,494 --> 00:06:33,834 Just as shocking as scandalous as it was when we first were introduced 122 00:06:33,834 --> 00:06:35,844 to it, just like that electricity. 123 00:06:35,894 --> 00:06:40,514 It still has the same amount of power, can do the same amount of damage. 124 00:06:40,784 --> 00:06:46,544 The problem isn't the power, it's that I get used to it and I fail 125 00:06:46,544 --> 00:06:52,424 to realize the strength and the immensity of the power that's there. 126 00:06:52,424 --> 00:06:54,424 The danger of becoming dumb. 127 00:06:55,064 --> 00:06:56,264 The danger of becoming numb. 128 00:06:57,014 --> 00:06:58,574 Yes, because you're around so much. 129 00:06:58,574 --> 00:07:02,564 You're with it so much, you're around it and it, you get used to it. 130 00:07:02,954 --> 00:07:05,954 To put it in a negative way, you take the gospel away and 131 00:07:05,954 --> 00:07:07,814 all life is a form of slavery. 132 00:07:08,534 --> 00:07:10,274 Relationships, work. 133 00:07:10,544 --> 00:07:14,324 Pleasure, accomplishments, possessions, pursuits. 134 00:07:14,534 --> 00:07:15,104 Take two. 135 00:07:15,164 --> 00:07:16,034 Acceptance. 136 00:07:16,184 --> 00:07:17,564 Here's mine, right? 137 00:07:18,014 --> 00:07:21,164 The gospel announces what Jesus has done. 138 00:07:21,169 --> 00:07:25,904 We already have God's full and final acceptance, 100%. 139 00:07:26,534 --> 00:07:30,284 Never changing, can never be tarnished, can never be erased, can never be 140 00:07:30,284 --> 00:07:35,804 damaged, can never be diminished in any way, but you take the gospel 141 00:07:35,808 --> 00:07:40,724 away and that truth away without the gospel, we have to achieve acceptance. 142 00:07:42,479 --> 00:07:46,439 And we work to achieve it through people and we become a slave to it. 143 00:07:46,829 --> 00:07:48,209 I've gotta earn this acceptance. 144 00:07:48,209 --> 00:07:51,539 I've gotta, the worst thing about earning acceptance is then 145 00:07:51,539 --> 00:07:53,249 trying to keep that acceptance. 146 00:07:53,519 --> 00:07:56,249 I had a superintendent tell me I was doing such a good job. 147 00:07:56,339 --> 00:07:57,149 He warned me. 148 00:07:57,154 --> 00:08:00,369 He said, one mess up. 149 00:08:00,369 --> 00:08:01,179 He used a different word. 150 00:08:02,079 --> 00:08:03,369 We'll take away 10 attaboy. 151 00:08:04,119 --> 00:08:08,779 That was, that's the math right in the world, so I was doing so good. 152 00:08:08,779 --> 00:08:12,379 He said, if you mess up once, it does away with all the good you have. 153 00:08:12,904 --> 00:08:15,364 So I'm a slave to keeping this acceptance. 154 00:08:15,364 --> 00:08:17,259 I'm a slave to keeping this praise. 155 00:08:17,259 --> 00:08:21,729 Love What Jesus has done for us cannot be separated from God's love. 156 00:08:21,729 --> 00:08:24,189 Nothing in heaven on earth can separate us from his love. 157 00:08:24,189 --> 00:08:29,469 Romans eight, where can unconditionally and eternally love from God? 158 00:08:29,469 --> 00:08:31,359 We are secure forevermore. 159 00:08:31,569 --> 00:08:33,759 Nothing can separate us from his left. 160 00:08:33,909 --> 00:08:35,889 No, not any created thing. 161 00:08:35,979 --> 00:08:38,948 Paul the Apostle tells us, are you a created thing? 162 00:08:39,164 --> 00:08:39,734 Yes. 163 00:08:39,794 --> 00:08:42,224 You can't even separate yourself from God's love. 164 00:08:42,224 --> 00:08:45,644 No matter how far you run, no matter how hard you run in the 165 00:08:45,644 --> 00:08:50,954 other direction, you yourself cannot separate yourself from the love of God. 166 00:08:51,274 --> 00:08:51,564 Amen. 167 00:08:53,294 --> 00:08:55,154 We are unconditionally. 168 00:08:55,794 --> 00:09:02,064 And eternally, forever, securely, invincible, loved by God Almighty, 169 00:09:02,184 --> 00:09:03,834 because of what Jesus has done for us. 170 00:09:04,254 --> 00:09:09,694 If people know anything, or, if we try, if we don't revisit that truth again and 171 00:09:09,694 --> 00:09:15,064 realize the power in it, we will spend our lives trying to satisfy our deep 172 00:09:15,064 --> 00:09:22,654 craving and need to be loved by extracting love from others to get what we crave. 173 00:09:23,239 --> 00:09:26,179 Which again is a form of slavery because I have to be this, 174 00:09:26,179 --> 00:09:27,769 I have to perform like this. 175 00:09:27,769 --> 00:09:32,689 I have to do this in order to secure this love and this approval from this 176 00:09:32,689 --> 00:09:38,269 person to get this from them, or I become a slave to my hardheartedness. 177 00:09:38,299 --> 00:09:41,929 I become a cynic because I ha this person doesn't love me, 178 00:09:41,929 --> 00:09:43,519 or I have failed so many times. 179 00:09:43,699 --> 00:09:49,129 I'm gonna close my heart off to this and I'm gonna think that it's all a sham. 180 00:09:50,659 --> 00:09:51,404 So Jonah. 181 00:09:52,004 --> 00:09:57,434 If people know anything about Jonah, what is it? 182 00:09:58,434 --> 00:09:59,574 What do we know about Jonah? 183 00:09:59,624 --> 00:10:00,464 We know the whale. 184 00:10:01,014 --> 00:10:04,164 it's got something to do with Jonah telling God no. 185 00:10:04,719 --> 00:10:08,469 About going to Nineveh and then being swallowed by a big fish. 186 00:10:09,159 --> 00:10:10,789 That's like the story in our minds, right? 187 00:10:12,699 --> 00:10:17,529 Jonah in the book of Jonah is not primarily about a fish swallowing a man. 188 00:10:18,309 --> 00:10:21,639 That's like two verses, just so we know. 189 00:10:22,119 --> 00:10:23,079 That's like not the point. 190 00:10:23,079 --> 00:10:24,369 It's so much more than that. 191 00:10:25,689 --> 00:10:31,629 The Book of Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel of grace. 192 00:10:32,389 --> 00:10:34,759 it's a narrative telling of grace. 193 00:10:35,059 --> 00:10:36,619 Like shocking grace. 194 00:10:36,624 --> 00:10:36,749 Yeah. 195 00:10:36,769 --> 00:10:41,689 Like holy moly, grace, like, wait, really? 196 00:10:41,689 --> 00:10:42,109 God. 197 00:10:42,469 --> 00:10:43,249 Grace. 198 00:10:43,759 --> 00:10:45,829 So it's a storied presentation of the gospel. 199 00:10:45,834 --> 00:10:50,719 Romans, Galatians, Paul delivers the truths of the gospel with like 200 00:10:51,259 --> 00:10:56,749 precision, like professor at the most prestigious university like. 201 00:10:57,139 --> 00:11:01,639 Every argument is perfect, theologically deep, like it's just 202 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:05,779 like you can't rock against it from the right hand or the left. 203 00:11:05,779 --> 00:11:08,119 He's just like there, boom. 204 00:11:08,119 --> 00:11:12,769 Here's the gospel and all its logical form and all its power, and all its 205 00:11:12,769 --> 00:11:15,589 theology, and all of its implication. 206 00:11:15,964 --> 00:11:17,164 And it's an amazing thing. 207 00:11:17,224 --> 00:11:20,464 Jonah is different in a little way because it's a narrative. 208 00:11:20,464 --> 00:11:27,064 It's a story telling you about the gospel that Paul is explaining in such detail. 209 00:11:27,724 --> 00:11:32,164 It's a story of sin and grace of rescue and deliverance. 210 00:11:32,719 --> 00:11:37,729 Rebellion and hardheartedness a story about idolatry and the true treasure. 211 00:11:37,729 --> 00:11:42,079 In fact, here's what I think the thesis verse is, and Jonah, it's Jonah two eight. 212 00:11:42,889 --> 00:11:48,389 Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace of God that could be theirs. 213 00:11:49,919 --> 00:11:52,709 Those who cling to worthless idols, forfeit the grace of 214 00:11:52,709 --> 00:11:54,389 God that could be theirs. 215 00:11:55,024 --> 00:11:58,744 a story about running from God and how quick we are and how 216 00:11:58,744 --> 00:12:01,504 quick God is to run after us. 217 00:12:01,894 --> 00:12:05,824 A story that shows that even though our sin reaches far, his grace 218 00:12:05,824 --> 00:12:10,384 reaches further, how God of great expenditure spares no expense 219 00:12:11,064 --> 00:12:14,284 to rescue fugitives of grace. 220 00:12:14,384 --> 00:12:17,834 So over the next couple weeks, I want us to peer into this amazing 221 00:12:17,834 --> 00:12:21,914 grace of our incredible God, and I want us to recognize and realize and 222 00:12:21,914 --> 00:12:24,404 remember the power that grace has. 223 00:12:25,004 --> 00:12:27,764 The power of the gospel, right? 224 00:12:27,914 --> 00:12:30,219 As Romans one talks about, Jonah won one. 225 00:12:31,219 --> 00:12:33,949 Guys, these first three verses are so crazy. 226 00:12:33,979 --> 00:12:38,089 Okay, now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of am saying. 227 00:12:39,449 --> 00:12:41,789 So again, how many of us know about the story of Jonah? 228 00:12:42,569 --> 00:12:46,589 How many of us have thoughtfully studied through the book of Jonah, 229 00:12:46,619 --> 00:12:50,809 like, sat with it and like, maybe even read like a commentary or 230 00:12:50,809 --> 00:12:52,964 even a, a bible with notes, in it. 231 00:12:53,759 --> 00:12:56,789 A lot of what we know has been absorbed through children's media, 232 00:12:56,789 --> 00:12:59,759 honestly, about Jonah, right? 233 00:13:00,059 --> 00:13:03,674 You look up the story of Jonah on the Internet, and every single book 234 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,124 or anything that has to do with it is Jonah and the whale, right? 235 00:13:08,144 --> 00:13:10,984 A lot of what we know has been absorbed through children's media and 236 00:13:11,014 --> 00:13:14,704 all the stories they fixate on The Great Fish, which is two sentences 237 00:13:14,704 --> 00:13:20,974 long, but this is holy scripture that God ordained to put into the cannon. 238 00:13:21,379 --> 00:13:24,019 Right, and the point of scripture is what? 239 00:13:25,159 --> 00:13:31,039 To reveal the character of God to reveal Jesus and to reveal his heart and purpose 240 00:13:31,279 --> 00:13:34,309 in the world toward us and to the world. 241 00:13:35,779 --> 00:13:38,389 It honestly is one of the most brilliant stories in the Bible. 242 00:13:38,394 --> 00:13:41,209 I think in the Old Testament, it's full of wit. 243 00:13:41,539 --> 00:13:42,739 It's hilarious. 244 00:13:42,919 --> 00:13:46,699 It's full of irony, humor and satire. 245 00:13:47,419 --> 00:13:48,109 satire. 246 00:13:48,139 --> 00:13:48,499 it's like, 247 00:13:48,544 --> 00:13:50,604 One of the books of the Bible that is kind of funny. 248 00:13:50,724 --> 00:13:53,004 It's like exaggeration for effect. 249 00:13:54,174 --> 00:13:54,954 what is satire? 250 00:13:54,954 --> 00:13:59,364 Satire takes a normal theme or a character, a known quantity, 251 00:13:59,454 --> 00:14:03,894 like somebody, a president or a, a boss in a workplace. 252 00:14:04,374 --> 00:14:08,754 it puts them in extreme circumstance to highlight and reveal the flaws and 253 00:14:08,754 --> 00:14:11,694 the defects to be a mirror back to us. 254 00:14:13,149 --> 00:14:15,489 One of my favorite things is I love the Onion. 255 00:14:15,489 --> 00:14:17,169 I don't know if you guys ever follow The Onion. 256 00:14:17,199 --> 00:14:20,979 It's like that satirical news, but the best thing is 257 00:14:20,979 --> 00:14:23,049 my kids don't know it's fake. 258 00:14:23,709 --> 00:14:23,889 No. 259 00:14:23,894 --> 00:14:25,089 Every couple months. 260 00:14:25,149 --> 00:14:28,719 In fact, this last week my son showed me a story and he said, dad, 261 00:14:28,749 --> 00:14:30,249 there's like a new death penalty. 262 00:14:30,939 --> 00:14:34,809 And so I'm like, it's gotta be the onion, because he started telling me about it. 263 00:14:34,809 --> 00:14:38,519 And so I watched it and of course it was the Onion, but It's like because lethal 264 00:14:38,519 --> 00:14:40,589 injection takes so long and it's so harsh. 265 00:14:40,589 --> 00:14:44,099 We came up with a new robot that just rips the heads off of people, Yes. 266 00:14:44,104 --> 00:14:45,199 They did not think that was real. 267 00:14:45,309 --> 00:14:46,379 or, okay. 268 00:14:46,989 --> 00:14:50,759 Um, but I love it because it's so funny. 269 00:14:51,854 --> 00:14:55,029 Because it's satire and what does satire do is it holds a mirror up. 270 00:14:55,129 --> 00:15:00,789 it's analyzing the death penalty and it's saying, we treat people like chickens 271 00:15:00,849 --> 00:15:02,139 with their heads being ripped off. 272 00:15:02,144 --> 00:15:06,824 so it's putting this extreme of absurd circumstance on something 273 00:15:06,824 --> 00:15:10,964 that we have commonly to hold up a mirror to the whole system itself, 274 00:15:11,144 --> 00:15:12,794 that we treat people like livestock. 275 00:15:13,004 --> 00:15:16,064 And so Jonah's doing the same thing, the genre. 276 00:15:16,329 --> 00:15:23,529 Of Jonah is written in this way to be a mirror to us that we 277 00:15:23,529 --> 00:15:25,119 might see ourselves in the story. 278 00:15:25,289 --> 00:15:27,089 In fact, this is crazy guys. 279 00:15:27,179 --> 00:15:32,159 Yom Kippur, as the Jews gather still to this day, every year they read 280 00:15:32,164 --> 00:15:40,079 the book of Jonah and at the end they say, altogether I am Jonah. 281 00:15:40,909 --> 00:15:42,319 What might that mean? 282 00:15:43,129 --> 00:15:45,149 Satire, death penalty. 283 00:15:45,199 --> 00:15:49,239 pointing out this extreme, situation so that we might 284 00:15:49,269 --> 00:15:51,129 see ourselves reflected in it. 285 00:15:51,909 --> 00:15:56,229 and Jonah, you have extreme words more than probably any book of the Bible 286 00:15:56,229 --> 00:16:02,409 and Jonah Gaal In Hebrew, it means great or huge, and it appears 15 times. 287 00:16:02,649 --> 00:16:04,179 Nineveh is the great city. 288 00:16:04,719 --> 00:16:07,149 It was seven miles around three chariots, side by side 289 00:16:07,149 --> 00:16:08,649 could ride on top of its walls. 290 00:16:09,249 --> 00:16:10,989 God sends a great wind. 291 00:16:11,229 --> 00:16:12,639 There is a great storm. 292 00:16:12,639 --> 00:16:15,849 The sailors are greatly afraid when they hear how God is dealing with 293 00:16:15,849 --> 00:16:17,829 Jonah, with a prayer on their lips. 294 00:16:17,829 --> 00:16:21,069 They throw Jonah into the sea afterwards with great reverence. 295 00:16:21,099 --> 00:16:23,469 They offer sacrifices and make vows to the Lord. 296 00:16:23,469 --> 00:16:24,429 God sends a great. 297 00:16:24,429 --> 00:16:26,009 Fish to swallow Jonah. 298 00:16:26,009 --> 00:16:27,989 Jonah goes down into the great deep. 299 00:16:28,289 --> 00:16:31,319 Later on, Jonah receives a second command from the Lord and preaches the 300 00:16:31,319 --> 00:16:32,999 message of repentance to the Ninevites. 301 00:16:33,149 --> 00:16:34,649 There is a great fast. 302 00:16:34,799 --> 00:16:37,609 Why Because even the greatest people in the city of Nineveh are 303 00:16:37,609 --> 00:16:41,269 fasting, including the King God, relents Jonah is greatly displeased. 304 00:16:41,449 --> 00:16:44,929 Later on, God makes a plant to grow over Jonah and Jonah's greatly happy. 305 00:16:45,119 --> 00:16:48,119 With the shade provided by the large green cool leaves of the plant. 306 00:16:48,389 --> 00:16:51,959 But then God sends a little worm, which destroys the plant overnight 307 00:16:51,959 --> 00:16:56,489 and Jonah slumps into great anguish and despair, God reasons with Jonah. 308 00:16:56,939 --> 00:16:59,789 But the prophet's response is not made known to us. 309 00:16:59,789 --> 00:17:01,379 There are implicit references to great. 310 00:17:01,409 --> 00:17:04,949 Yes, Nineveh is a great city, but its wickedness was also great. 311 00:17:05,249 --> 00:17:08,659 The sound, sleep of Jonah's, actually a great sleep. 312 00:17:09,214 --> 00:17:11,733 Quite extraordinary for a man being asleep in a ship that's 313 00:17:11,733 --> 00:17:14,194 being battered by a great storm. 314 00:17:15,214 --> 00:17:16,654 So why do I bring that up? 315 00:17:17,013 --> 00:17:21,574 We have to read the Bible and ask what kind of literature is this? 316 00:17:21,674 --> 00:17:25,993 The writer is passing onto us as historical event, and this is where I 317 00:17:25,993 --> 00:17:27,824 come down cuz there's two sides to this. 318 00:17:27,884 --> 00:17:29,024 I think it's in between. 319 00:17:29,504 --> 00:17:32,444 People are like, it's completely like historical. 320 00:17:32,814 --> 00:17:35,304 word by word people are like, no, it's a parable. 321 00:17:35,694 --> 00:17:40,164 The riders passing onto us a historical event highlighting. 322 00:17:40,539 --> 00:17:43,899 A specific me message for specific people. 323 00:17:44,499 --> 00:17:50,222 And so Jesus says Jonah is a real historical person in Matthew 12 324 00:17:50,222 --> 00:17:54,429 39 40, but he answered them an evil in an adulterous generation. 325 00:17:54,429 --> 00:17:58,329 Seek for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet 326 00:17:58,329 --> 00:18:01,569 Jonah for just as Jonah was three days. 327 00:18:01,709 --> 00:18:06,059 So Jesus saying, Hey, this is true for just as Jonah was three days and three 328 00:18:06,059 --> 00:18:08,249 nights in the belly of the great fish. 329 00:18:08,594 --> 00:18:13,334 So will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth 330 00:18:13,814 --> 00:18:17,084 because the fish has been the main focus. 331 00:18:17,354 --> 00:18:21,124 And this is what's interesting when people come to the, to scripture and that's 332 00:18:21,124 --> 00:18:24,064 why, We need to understand the context. 333 00:18:24,064 --> 00:18:28,934 We can't read our, 21st century worldview into a historical document 334 00:18:29,234 --> 00:18:30,794 that's thousands of years old. 335 00:18:31,064 --> 00:18:33,854 We need to understand the time and the place and what it was written 336 00:18:33,854 --> 00:18:35,474 in the genre it was written in. 337 00:18:35,654 --> 00:18:39,014 But because the fish has become such a main focus, it actually 338 00:18:39,019 --> 00:18:42,224 has become a litmus test to whether you believe in miracles 339 00:18:42,434 --> 00:18:44,114 and the truthfulness of the Bible. 340 00:18:44,294 --> 00:18:46,784 So people are like, they focus on the fish. 341 00:18:46,784 --> 00:18:47,924 That's duck the point. 342 00:18:48,664 --> 00:18:53,674 The point is on this story of God's grace rescuing, that's the point of 343 00:18:53,674 --> 00:18:55,474 the story and the point of the message. 344 00:18:55,984 --> 00:18:57,034 I remember it. 345 00:18:57,034 --> 00:18:57,664 It was fascinating. 346 00:18:57,664 --> 00:18:59,314 I just first bumped into this. 347 00:18:59,319 --> 00:19:02,224 I was a young preacher and I was preaching an Old Testament survey, and 348 00:19:02,224 --> 00:19:07,774 we came to the Book of Job and I was going over the chapters that are like, 349 00:19:07,804 --> 00:19:13,414 I think there's like 13, 14 chapters of job's, friend's response to job. 350 00:19:14,344 --> 00:19:17,284 And most of them, the three friends, except for the younger one, he had 351 00:19:17,284 --> 00:19:19,774 good responses, were bad advice. 352 00:19:19,774 --> 00:19:23,254 It was moral advice, it was legalism, it was religion. 353 00:19:23,674 --> 00:19:27,454 And I just mentioned offhand, this is bad advice. 354 00:19:28,054 --> 00:19:33,334 And the guy listening said, how dare you say that the Bible has bad advice? 355 00:19:33,994 --> 00:19:39,334 And I was like, but it, the Bible's saying it's bad advice. 356 00:19:39,514 --> 00:19:41,044 Like that's the whole story of job. 357 00:19:42,034 --> 00:19:45,634 And he left angry and never spoke to me again. 358 00:19:45,634 --> 00:19:48,994 And I was at the church for a while because he thought I was 359 00:19:48,994 --> 00:19:54,724 attacking the credibility of the Bible because he had come to believe 360 00:19:54,724 --> 00:19:57,604 that like every single verse, true. 361 00:19:57,634 --> 00:20:02,434 And it is true in the sense that it's truly saying this is bad advice. 362 00:20:03,274 --> 00:20:08,284 Pointing out in a narrative form that job's friends gave him bad advice to 363 00:20:08,284 --> 00:20:09,844 the point where I shared with him. 364 00:20:10,024 --> 00:20:13,654 Job has to pray at the end so that God doesn't smite 365 00:20:13,684 --> 00:20:15,754 them because of their advice. 366 00:20:16,484 --> 00:20:24,074 but we can sometimes look so weirdly at the Bible where it's like we can't 367 00:20:24,074 --> 00:20:27,059 stand back and say, How was this written? 368 00:20:27,149 --> 00:20:30,929 Is this apocryphal language like Revelation or Ezekiel 369 00:20:30,929 --> 00:20:32,429 or Isaiah in some of it? 370 00:20:32,699 --> 00:20:33,869 Like, is it poetry? 371 00:20:33,874 --> 00:20:36,359 Like the first, book of Genesis? 372 00:20:36,449 --> 00:20:39,209 Like how people understood it for 2000 years? 373 00:20:39,209 --> 00:20:42,354 Like, like how do we look and come at the scripture? 374 00:20:44,034 --> 00:20:48,144 We need to be students of the word and we need to be students 375 00:20:48,204 --> 00:20:52,014 of not reading our time and place. 376 00:20:52,644 --> 00:20:57,684 Into the Bible, but letting the Bible say what the Bible's saying because it says 377 00:20:57,684 --> 00:21:00,624 a message that transcends time and space. 378 00:21:00,894 --> 00:21:03,564 It says a message about God rescuing his people. 379 00:21:03,984 --> 00:21:06,174 But it's so interesting how we can. 380 00:21:06,804 --> 00:21:11,424 Twist something because we are coming with our context. 381 00:21:11,424 --> 00:21:17,214 We're coming with our problems as a Republican or a Democrat in our century, 382 00:21:17,214 --> 00:21:24,174 in 2023 with our problems in ai, and then we can see something in scripture that 383 00:21:24,204 --> 00:21:27,084 maybe God's saying something different. 384 00:21:28,944 --> 00:21:31,494 It's knowing text. 385 00:21:32,229 --> 00:21:33,759 It's knowing the people. 386 00:21:33,759 --> 00:21:34,659 It's knowing the worldview. 387 00:21:34,659 --> 00:21:37,929 It's knowing the place God chose to speak through. 388 00:21:38,979 --> 00:21:44,199 Breathe through these people in a specific time and a place, 389 00:21:44,199 --> 00:21:45,309 and you have different people. 390 00:21:45,314 --> 00:21:51,399 You have farmers, you have musicians, you have prophets. 391 00:21:51,579 --> 00:21:55,299 You have all different kinds of people writing a cohesive story. 392 00:21:55,299 --> 00:21:58,329 That should be one of the proofs itself, that the Bible is divine or 393 00:21:58,329 --> 00:22:01,239 otherworldly telling a unified story. 394 00:22:01,884 --> 00:22:08,034 About what Jesus and how he's coming to seek and save that which 395 00:22:08,034 --> 00:22:10,944 is lost, how God saves sinners. 396 00:22:11,364 --> 00:22:12,624 That's the overall story. 397 00:22:12,704 --> 00:22:17,734 so we come to Jonah and, historic man, because we're gonna, we're gonna see 398 00:22:17,734 --> 00:22:24,724 that Jonah was actually a historic person, but there's an emphasis on 399 00:22:25,654 --> 00:22:27,514 the greatness of what's happening. 400 00:22:28,534 --> 00:22:31,774 Again, to hold up a mirror so that we, like the Jewish 401 00:22:31,774 --> 00:22:33,664 people could say, I'm Jonah. 402 00:22:34,204 --> 00:22:36,364 He's not somebody we can disconnect from. 403 00:22:36,794 --> 00:22:39,524 and just be like, oh, Jonah, he sucks Jonah. 404 00:22:39,524 --> 00:22:40,994 Oh, he's such a racist Jonah. 405 00:22:40,999 --> 00:22:42,494 Oh, he's such a bigot Jonah. 406 00:22:42,499 --> 00:22:43,394 He's such a failure. 407 00:22:43,394 --> 00:22:48,124 Jonah, he's such this, he's such that, but that we like can, because things 408 00:22:48,124 --> 00:22:53,704 are so heightened, we can say, yeah, I see myself in that because he. 409 00:22:54,079 --> 00:22:57,529 Represents the same things and the same rhythms that we so 410 00:22:57,529 --> 00:23:01,879 often get into Jonah one, one. 411 00:23:01,879 --> 00:23:07,039 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amai, saying, so what kind 412 00:23:07,039 --> 00:23:09,229 of people does the word of God come to? 413 00:23:10,229 --> 00:23:13,739 You see this in the Old Testament, over and over profits. 414 00:23:14,339 --> 00:23:16,139 turn to Micah. 415 00:23:16,199 --> 00:23:17,279 Turn one page over. 416 00:23:18,329 --> 00:23:24,719 First verse, the word of the Lord that came to Micah, the son of Murrah. 417 00:23:25,719 --> 00:23:27,069 Same thing, same intro. 418 00:23:27,279 --> 00:23:28,839 So they both, same way. 419 00:23:28,839 --> 00:23:29,999 God's communicating. 420 00:23:30,299 --> 00:23:32,999 God is speaking through a prophet. 421 00:23:34,689 --> 00:23:38,109 These prophets speak on God's behalf. 422 00:23:38,859 --> 00:23:41,139 Now, sometimes we get mixed up and we think the prophets are 423 00:23:41,139 --> 00:23:42,609 only talking about the future. 424 00:23:42,939 --> 00:23:48,999 Sometimes they do as God's speaking through them, and they don't even 425 00:23:48,999 --> 00:23:50,169 understand what they're saying. 426 00:23:50,514 --> 00:23:55,074 About certain things, but most of the time they were the messengers from God 427 00:23:55,074 --> 00:24:01,134 to speak a specific message to specific people at a specific time and a specific 428 00:24:01,194 --> 00:24:03,894 place they would speak on God's behalf. 429 00:24:03,894 --> 00:24:06,294 God would communicate his message through these prophets. 430 00:24:07,464 --> 00:24:11,484 Micah starts the same way you think you know how the book is going to go. 431 00:24:11,484 --> 00:24:14,574 When you first read that verse, you think, okay. 432 00:24:15,324 --> 00:24:18,714 Jonah's gonna talk about the message he's got from God, and he's 433 00:24:18,714 --> 00:24:20,904 going to speak about the nations. 434 00:24:20,904 --> 00:24:24,084 He's gonna speak about the flaws of Israel or how much God is chasing 435 00:24:24,084 --> 00:24:26,004 after them or how much God loves them. 436 00:24:26,124 --> 00:24:30,024 But all of a sudden, verse two and verse three, take us in 437 00:24:30,024 --> 00:24:31,254 a whole different direction. 438 00:24:31,614 --> 00:24:34,704 When you read, Jonah starts the same way as the other prophets. 439 00:24:35,704 --> 00:24:38,164 We know where the go, the message is going. 440 00:24:39,679 --> 00:24:45,649 What's fascinating is Jonah's name means dove pure innocent one. 441 00:24:46,409 --> 00:24:49,779 that he's the son of Amai, amai means faithfulness. 442 00:24:49,779 --> 00:24:54,089 So he's, the pure innocent dove, the son of faithfulness. 443 00:24:54,299 --> 00:24:55,169 So good. 444 00:24:55,439 --> 00:25:00,069 Alrighty, so just think of the readers listening to this, story about Jonah. 445 00:25:00,609 --> 00:25:03,309 And Jonah actually came along. 446 00:25:04,209 --> 00:25:08,689 A couple, maybe 150 years after Solomon. 447 00:25:09,289 --> 00:25:12,709 So he's one of the earlier prophets historically. 448 00:25:13,279 --> 00:25:18,349 And pure innocent ones, son of faithfulness in Israel or Juah 449 00:25:18,759 --> 00:25:23,659 Israel, not Judah, Samaria, speak God's word to God's people. 450 00:25:23,659 --> 00:25:25,999 Sometimes given a word about the surrounding nations. 451 00:25:26,689 --> 00:25:30,079 But what's fascinating is God calls Jonah right? 452 00:25:30,994 --> 00:25:33,454 To go to Nineveh verse two, right? 453 00:25:34,444 --> 00:25:37,894 when you're a prophet, you would speak hard things about the 454 00:25:37,894 --> 00:25:40,684 surrounding nations like Isaiah. 455 00:25:40,684 --> 00:25:43,594 Remember Isaiah, he's fresh outta Bible college and he's like, whoa, to you. 456 00:25:43,864 --> 00:25:44,154 Cort. 457 00:25:44,264 --> 00:25:44,794 What to you? 458 00:25:45,694 --> 00:25:46,274 Wo to you? 459 00:25:46,344 --> 00:25:47,704 Whoa, woe to you. 460 00:25:47,754 --> 00:25:50,634 he's doing it from the safety of where he lives. 461 00:25:51,804 --> 00:25:56,334 God like shows up and he is like, Jonah, I want you to go tell Nineveh this message. 462 00:25:57,189 --> 00:26:00,579 Wait, like go to Nineveh? 463 00:26:01,629 --> 00:26:04,689 Like, can't I just talk about Nineveh? 464 00:26:05,209 --> 00:26:05,389 no. 465 00:26:05,389 --> 00:26:06,589 I want you to go to Nineveh. 466 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:09,349 I want you to go to Nineveh. 467 00:26:09,349 --> 00:26:14,539 It would be like parachuting in to Berlin during World War II and holding up a sign 468 00:26:14,539 --> 00:26:17,959 that says, down with a third Rech, right? 469 00:26:18,649 --> 00:26:21,189 God's like, Hey, I want you to go and I want you to preach this 470 00:26:21,189 --> 00:26:22,719 message of judgment and repentance. 471 00:26:22,719 --> 00:26:25,164 It's okay. 472 00:26:25,794 --> 00:26:26,604 That's a little nuts. 473 00:26:26,604 --> 00:26:29,724 that's not the normal like job description for a prophet. 474 00:26:29,814 --> 00:26:32,394 Like, we'll stand up, we'll be courageous in the face of kings, 475 00:26:32,514 --> 00:26:34,434 but usually it's our kings, right? 476 00:26:35,434 --> 00:26:38,464 But they would mainly do it within their national boundaries. 477 00:26:38,464 --> 00:26:41,674 They didn't go and speak a word in the midst of their enemies where they lived. 478 00:26:43,154 --> 00:26:46,784 and he's told not to just go and speak a message of health, wealth, and prosperity. 479 00:26:47,084 --> 00:26:48,044 Go bless them. 480 00:26:48,549 --> 00:26:52,729 go give them, go give them the soft stuff, but a message of repentance. 481 00:26:52,879 --> 00:26:53,869 Verse two, arise. 482 00:26:53,869 --> 00:26:56,269 Go to Nineveh, the great city and call out against it for 483 00:26:56,269 --> 00:26:58,369 their evil has come up before me. 484 00:26:59,239 --> 00:27:04,189 Nineveh was the capital of ass Assyria and one of the cruelest nations in history. 485 00:27:06,079 --> 00:27:07,129 Two things about Nineveh. 486 00:27:08,149 --> 00:27:11,089 It was very great and it was very wicked. 487 00:27:12,089 --> 00:27:16,469 Historically, we know from historians that the Ninevites were known as some of 488 00:27:16,469 --> 00:27:18,269 the cruelest people in the ancient world. 489 00:27:19,499 --> 00:27:22,974 Nineveh boasted in their own histories, which we still have their 490 00:27:22,974 --> 00:27:28,854 representations on, their stones that they carved about how cruel they were. 491 00:27:29,914 --> 00:27:33,314 some of the most graphic pictures that we still have today, when they would 492 00:27:33,314 --> 00:27:35,264 conquer a city, they would skin alive. 493 00:27:36,149 --> 00:27:39,659 A lot of the men, women, and children, and spread their 494 00:27:39,659 --> 00:27:41,369 skins out over the city walls. 495 00:27:42,929 --> 00:27:46,589 Then they would bury these skin people while they were still alive, up to 496 00:27:46,589 --> 00:27:49,229 their heads in the sand, pull out their tongues and drive a steak through 497 00:27:49,229 --> 00:27:50,549 their tongue to into the ground. 498 00:27:50,549 --> 00:27:54,569 So they would just languish and paint and die of thirst, and then 499 00:27:54,569 --> 00:27:57,329 at night they would make them listen to Steven Curtis Chapman CDs. 500 00:27:57,599 --> 00:27:58,109 Wow. 501 00:27:58,109 --> 00:27:59,729 Gosh, Okay. 502 00:27:59,729 --> 00:28:00,359 Not that part. 503 00:28:00,919 --> 00:28:01,139 Wow. 504 00:28:02,139 --> 00:28:03,639 You're spending an eternity with him. 505 00:28:03,849 --> 00:28:04,059 I know. 506 00:28:04,059 --> 00:28:04,599 I can't wait. 507 00:28:05,529 --> 00:28:06,309 I bet he can. 508 00:28:07,899 --> 00:28:09,969 they would rape the women and kill them. 509 00:28:09,974 --> 00:28:12,369 They even boasted about raping, kill, killing little girls. 510 00:28:12,424 --> 00:28:15,724 One account describes how they, the soldiers would impale some of 511 00:28:15,724 --> 00:28:17,524 them alive outside the city gates. 512 00:28:18,454 --> 00:28:19,234 They would behead. 513 00:28:20,344 --> 00:28:24,454 the patriarch of the family and put it on a pole and make the family 514 00:28:24,454 --> 00:28:29,964 carry it, carry the pole in a horrible parade through the city. 515 00:28:31,224 --> 00:28:31,284 Wow. 516 00:28:32,244 --> 00:28:34,704 And at the end, they would make a mountain of heads outside the city so 517 00:28:34,709 --> 00:28:38,304 they could say, this is what happens to those who dare oppose the Assyrians. 518 00:28:38,304 --> 00:28:41,584 No, these were the people that Jonah was asked to go to. 519 00:28:42,134 --> 00:28:42,944 The worst. 520 00:28:43,104 --> 00:28:45,654 People in the world 521 00:28:46,654 --> 00:28:47,374 and to preach. 522 00:28:48,004 --> 00:28:51,244 And by the way, if you read the Old Testament, you'll see that one of 523 00:28:51,249 --> 00:28:56,644 Nineveh's primary targets for all of this abuse, its direct neighbor to the west was 524 00:28:56,644 --> 00:28:58,774 Israel or the Northern tribes of Israel. 525 00:28:59,869 --> 00:29:04,099 which means Jonah and the people he was represented speaking to 526 00:29:04,099 --> 00:29:09,829 and ministering to, were often victims of that nvi cruelty. 527 00:29:10,789 --> 00:29:15,379 And so naturally Jonah doesn't want to do it, but the whole reason is why. 528 00:29:16,009 --> 00:29:17,149 It all hinges on why. 529 00:29:17,299 --> 00:29:18,169 It's fascinating. 530 00:29:18,979 --> 00:29:19,789 It's fascinating. 531 00:29:20,179 --> 00:29:23,099 I used to read this and I'd be like, that's freaking scary. 532 00:29:23,689 --> 00:29:23,979 Yeah. 533 00:29:24,089 --> 00:29:27,529 To like go and to preach, and know that you might end up 534 00:29:27,529 --> 00:29:29,089 skinned alive outside the city. 535 00:29:29,089 --> 00:29:30,709 Like you're going to your death. 536 00:29:30,829 --> 00:29:32,479 You're going to your death. 537 00:29:33,049 --> 00:29:36,829 What's fascinating in this story is that's not why Jonah runs. 538 00:29:36,879 --> 00:29:38,499 Okay, Jonah three. 539 00:29:38,499 --> 00:29:38,799 Three. 540 00:29:38,799 --> 00:29:42,159 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 541 00:29:42,159 --> 00:29:44,589 He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 542 00:29:44,889 --> 00:29:49,429 So he paid the fair, he went down into it to go, with them, to Tarshish 543 00:29:49,669 --> 00:29:51,709 away from the presence of the Lord. 544 00:29:52,309 --> 00:29:53,329 Now this is fascinating. 545 00:29:53,329 --> 00:29:58,519 Nineveh was directly east of Israel, and which way does Jonah go? 546 00:29:59,359 --> 00:30:00,019 west. 547 00:30:00,079 --> 00:30:01,729 In fact, listen, this is crazy. 548 00:30:02,209 --> 00:30:03,559 this is why this story's amazing. 549 00:30:03,619 --> 00:30:04,579 Like the details. 550 00:30:05,569 --> 00:30:11,119 Tarsus was the last port before the Straits of Gibraltar, and 551 00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:12,529 then it would be the open ocean. 552 00:30:12,534 --> 00:30:17,629 It was the furthest place you could get away humanly from Nineveh at the time. 553 00:30:18,289 --> 00:30:20,299 It was literally the last port. 554 00:30:20,674 --> 00:30:21,454 West. 555 00:30:21,604 --> 00:30:24,214 There was nothing but unexplored ocean past that. 556 00:30:24,254 --> 00:30:25,594 God's like, I want you to go to Nineveh. 557 00:30:25,599 --> 00:30:28,974 He's like, no, I'm going the Furthest way. 558 00:30:28,974 --> 00:30:29,964 I'm not just sitting here. 559 00:30:29,964 --> 00:30:33,924 I am literally getting as far away from that place as is 560 00:30:33,924 --> 00:30:37,104 humanly possible at that time. 561 00:30:37,104 --> 00:30:37,644 Amazing. 562 00:30:37,914 --> 00:30:42,054 Notice that it says that he did not run from his call, that 563 00:30:42,054 --> 00:30:44,424 he did not run from his fear. 564 00:30:44,424 --> 00:30:50,604 He did not run from Nineveh, but that he ran from God himself Jonah 565 00:30:50,604 --> 00:30:54,324 had a problem with the job he was given, but he had a bigger problem 566 00:30:54,324 --> 00:30:55,734 with the one who gave him the job. 567 00:30:57,524 --> 00:30:58,634 Who runs from God? 568 00:30:59,694 --> 00:31:03,204 it's probably like week one in his theology class. 569 00:31:03,834 --> 00:31:06,894 You're reading Psalms and you're like, no one can run for my presence. 570 00:31:06,974 --> 00:31:09,504 Do why run from God? 571 00:31:09,554 --> 00:31:10,844 We just don't trust him. 572 00:31:11,294 --> 00:31:17,084 Jonah Rose to flee a defiant claim that my way is better than God's way. 573 00:31:17,954 --> 00:31:19,574 And here's the point of the story. 574 00:31:21,284 --> 00:31:23,624 Well, there's another point of the story, but this is a big one 575 00:31:24,674 --> 00:31:25,724 cuz the other point's so good. 576 00:31:26,724 --> 00:31:29,934 Jonah doesn't run because he's afraid of his failure. 577 00:31:31,374 --> 00:31:36,534 But because he is afraid of his success, Jonah doesn't run because 578 00:31:36,534 --> 00:31:39,624 he is afraid of his failure, but he's afraid of his success. 579 00:31:39,894 --> 00:31:49,404 Jonah wants to see his enemy wiped off the face of the earth, but he knows that 580 00:31:49,409 --> 00:31:53,424 he cannot trust God to be un merciful. 581 00:31:53,844 --> 00:31:57,714 He knows he cannot trust God to be un. 582 00:31:58,059 --> 00:31:58,749 Merciful. 583 00:31:59,409 --> 00:32:03,579 The other way to say it is God is always going to be merciful. 584 00:32:04,579 --> 00:32:07,489 I'm fine with that when that comes to me, right? 585 00:32:07,489 --> 00:32:09,109 So often, God's mercy, I love it. 586 00:32:09,109 --> 00:32:12,559 I drink it up, but those of you have actually hurt me and wounded me. 587 00:32:14,299 --> 00:32:15,409 I'm not so good with that. 588 00:32:15,739 --> 00:32:17,629 His mercy, I love it. 589 00:32:17,629 --> 00:32:18,259 I drink it up. 590 00:32:18,259 --> 00:32:19,549 I sit under the ocean of it. 591 00:32:19,549 --> 00:32:21,769 His grace, his mercy, his forgiveness. 592 00:32:22,219 --> 00:32:25,459 But that person, you're gonna give them the same mercy. 593 00:32:26,704 --> 00:32:29,494 You cover them in the same blood, how dare you. 594 00:32:30,844 --> 00:32:34,264 I've wrestled with that, that very real truth. 595 00:32:35,264 --> 00:32:39,164 The church is a great place to be wounded, scarred. 596 00:32:39,704 --> 00:32:43,184 Those scars don't heal until eternity, and maybe they'll just remain like 597 00:32:43,184 --> 00:32:47,514 his scars as he kisses them and changes them into marks of his grace. 598 00:32:48,514 --> 00:32:54,994 But it's a very real struggle, and it's the scandalous nature of grace as that 599 00:32:54,994 --> 00:33:00,909 it's for all of my neighbor, my enemy, people who believe different than me, 600 00:33:00,909 --> 00:33:03,879 people who believe in a whole different religion other than me, people who 601 00:33:03,879 --> 00:33:06,939 live differently than me, like grace. 602 00:33:08,109 --> 00:33:09,609 It's not about us, it's about him. 603 00:33:10,989 --> 00:33:11,049 Yeah. 604 00:33:11,049 --> 00:33:13,959 And that grace has an outward face. 605 00:33:14,514 --> 00:33:19,284 To the world for God so loved the world that he gave us on. 606 00:33:19,944 --> 00:33:20,814 So I'm fine with that. 607 00:33:21,084 --> 00:33:25,104 I believe in law and grace, we just think grace is for us and law is for them. 608 00:33:26,304 --> 00:33:31,854 We are great lawyers when it comes to our own faults. 609 00:33:31,904 --> 00:33:34,184 And great judges when it comes to the faults of others. 610 00:33:34,794 --> 00:33:39,384 we know all the verses when it's us, but when it's, ah, does that 611 00:33:39,384 --> 00:33:42,144 really apply in this situation? 612 00:33:42,149 --> 00:33:43,374 Did he, Matthew 18? 613 00:33:43,584 --> 00:33:43,644 No. 614 00:33:44,274 --> 00:33:45,534 Did he follow the procedure? 615 00:33:45,594 --> 00:33:51,474 You know, If he was guaranteed that God would obliterate the N 616 00:33:51,474 --> 00:33:55,404 invitees, then he would have went and paid for a front row seat. 617 00:33:55,554 --> 00:33:59,484 In fact, he actually thinks that's gonna happen and he stays. 618 00:33:59,514 --> 00:34:00,354 He doesn't go. 619 00:34:00,354 --> 00:34:01,464 His job's done. 620 00:34:01,524 --> 00:34:02,904 He's not like, I'm out. 621 00:34:03,054 --> 00:34:03,924 Let's leave. 622 00:34:04,014 --> 00:34:05,184 Let's get outta here. 623 00:34:05,304 --> 00:34:07,764 Let's, we don't want to even be around the, the. 624 00:34:07,799 --> 00:34:10,399 Fallout, the cloud of his judgment. 625 00:34:10,649 --> 00:34:11,998 he's heard the stories about sabor. 626 00:34:12,509 --> 00:34:14,938 You couldn't even look at the city or otherwise, he'd turn 627 00:34:14,938 --> 00:34:16,319 into a pillar of salt, right? 628 00:34:16,498 --> 00:34:20,369 He's like, I'm here and I'm gonna watch it burn. 629 00:34:20,418 --> 00:34:21,259 And he's here. 630 00:34:21,438 --> 00:34:21,649 Popcorn. 631 00:34:21,978 --> 00:34:22,549 Yes. 632 00:34:22,549 --> 00:34:24,168 Where is my popcorn? 633 00:34:26,149 --> 00:34:31,438 In fact, we find out his motivation of why he flees in, Jonah four, one to three. 634 00:34:32,034 --> 00:34:35,094 But it, this is when God relents from his judgment, because 635 00:34:35,094 --> 00:34:36,114 the people are repenting. 636 00:34:37,494 --> 00:34:41,274 He's had the most successful five word sermon in history. 637 00:34:42,114 --> 00:34:44,514 The city is repenting, even the king himself. 638 00:34:45,264 --> 00:34:48,714 And Jonah says, but it displeased Joah exceedingly. 639 00:34:48,864 --> 00:34:53,244 And he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said, oh Lord, is this not what 640 00:34:53,244 --> 00:34:54,924 I said when I was yet in my country? 641 00:34:55,824 --> 00:34:57,474 So here's the real struggle for him. 642 00:34:57,684 --> 00:35:02,964 This is why I made haste to flee at Tarshish for I knew that you are 643 00:35:02,964 --> 00:35:08,784 a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abounding and steadfast 644 00:35:08,789 --> 00:35:10,734 love, and relenting from disaster. 645 00:35:10,734 --> 00:35:13,944 Therefore, now, oh Lord, please take my life from me. 646 00:35:14,094 --> 00:35:16,764 For it's better for me to die than for me to live. 647 00:35:17,844 --> 00:35:19,734 Dove, son of faithfulness. 648 00:35:20,734 --> 00:35:25,114 He knew that somehow Yahweh would find a way to bring his grace and 649 00:35:25,114 --> 00:35:31,264 forgiveness to his hated enemies, and he didn't wanna have any part of that. 650 00:35:32,974 --> 00:35:35,764 He knows Yahweh loves to show mercy. 651 00:35:35,769 --> 00:35:37,444 How do we know that he knows this? 652 00:35:37,504 --> 00:35:38,494 This is fascinating. 653 00:35:39,274 --> 00:35:41,434 Jonah appears elsewhere in the Old Testament. 654 00:35:41,874 --> 00:35:42,164 Okay. 655 00:35:42,244 --> 00:35:46,804 In Second Kings 14, verse 23 to 27, this is so good. 656 00:35:48,274 --> 00:35:53,924 In the 15th year of Amazon, the son of Joe Ash, king of Judah's, king of Judah, 657 00:35:54,014 --> 00:35:58,184 JIRA Beam, the son of Joe Ash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, so the 658 00:35:58,184 --> 00:36:02,714 Northern tribes, and he reigned 41 years. 659 00:36:02,714 --> 00:36:08,564 That's a long reign, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 660 00:36:08,924 --> 00:36:11,684 He did not depart from all the sins of Jarbo. 661 00:36:11,684 --> 00:36:17,144 The son of Neba, who he's named after, which he made Israel to sin. 662 00:36:17,864 --> 00:36:22,054 He restored the border of, of Israel from Libo Hamath as far as the sea of 663 00:36:22,084 --> 00:36:26,284 Arabah, according to the word of the Lord and the God of Israel, which he spoke 664 00:36:26,284 --> 00:36:28,384 by his servant Jonah, the son of Amai. 665 00:36:28,384 --> 00:36:32,794 So here he is the prophet who was from Ga Heifer. 666 00:36:33,094 --> 00:36:36,784 For the Lord, saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter. 667 00:36:37,129 --> 00:36:42,349 For, there was none left bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 668 00:36:42,349 --> 00:36:44,989 But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name 669 00:36:44,989 --> 00:36:46,189 of Israel from under heaven. 670 00:36:46,369 --> 00:36:51,169 So we saved them by the hand of Jarbo, the son of Joe Ash. 671 00:36:51,829 --> 00:36:53,269 So let me paint this picture. 672 00:36:53,989 --> 00:36:58,099 Jarbo he's named after was the son of Solomon, who actually. 673 00:36:58,444 --> 00:37:03,274 Disintegrated the nations and seceded from nation being one Israel. 674 00:37:03,274 --> 00:37:06,604 So then you had the southern tribes of Judah and the northern 675 00:37:06,609 --> 00:37:08,804 tribes of Israel, Jarbo. 676 00:37:08,834 --> 00:37:13,394 He sat and built two temples so that people wouldn't travel down to Judah 677 00:37:13,574 --> 00:37:15,104 and Jerusalem to worship the Lord. 678 00:37:15,104 --> 00:37:16,514 He said, no, we've got temples here. 679 00:37:16,634 --> 00:37:17,384 You guys can worship. 680 00:37:17,534 --> 00:37:18,374 Guess what he set up? 681 00:37:18,374 --> 00:37:19,634 Because he didn't have the ark. 682 00:37:19,784 --> 00:37:23,489 He didn't have, the ark with the 10 Commandments and Aaron's, rod in it 683 00:37:23,729 --> 00:37:24,989 and the Holy of Holies and stuff. 684 00:37:25,169 --> 00:37:27,779 He set up in his temple's, golden calves. 685 00:37:29,609 --> 00:37:30,659 He's said, come worship here. 686 00:37:31,889 --> 00:37:35,519 And it says in our texts that this Jarbo, who he's named after, 687 00:37:35,909 --> 00:37:37,319 continued to make that happen. 688 00:37:37,319 --> 00:37:38,729 But God did something crazy. 689 00:37:38,939 --> 00:37:42,419 God looked at Israel and the suffering of Israel and the enemies that were 690 00:37:42,419 --> 00:37:46,439 around Israel, and he said, I'm going to show you good in the midst of your evil. 691 00:37:46,619 --> 00:37:50,279 And I wanna send my prophet Jonah to declare that message to you. 692 00:37:51,419 --> 00:37:55,859 So Jonah is here and his first message that he's given biblically 693 00:37:55,889 --> 00:38:00,209 here historically is that he's gonna go tell a wicked king, that God is 694 00:38:00,209 --> 00:38:07,499 gonna bless him because God uses his goodness to bring sinners to repentance. 695 00:38:07,979 --> 00:38:13,019 So Jonah's first interaction with delivering the message of God is 696 00:38:13,019 --> 00:38:18,599 to tell a bad king that God is good all the time, unfortunately. 697 00:38:19,919 --> 00:38:24,389 And this fired up prophet who wants to be in the line of these others who 698 00:38:24,389 --> 00:38:29,129 are like fire and an anvil and like calling out this king and that king. 699 00:38:29,639 --> 00:38:32,639 He's chosen and set apart to deliver a message. 700 00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:36,239 Shane, in the midst of your wickedness, in the midst of your failure, I'm 701 00:38:36,244 --> 00:38:40,889 going to be good to you because there is none to save except me alone. 702 00:38:40,894 --> 00:38:44,399 And he's giving the nation of Israel those northern tribes. 703 00:38:44,579 --> 00:38:47,039 Time to repent. 704 00:38:48,039 --> 00:38:48,609 They don't do it. 705 00:38:48,609 --> 00:38:52,689 what's fascinating is in Amos chapter seven, that time runs out. 706 00:38:53,829 --> 00:38:57,819 They don't use the goodness of God to repent and God uses the Assyrians 707 00:38:57,819 --> 00:39:01,599 to take back the land that he had given them through the word of Jonah. 708 00:39:02,319 --> 00:39:03,129 Through the word of Jonah. 709 00:39:03,129 --> 00:39:07,559 But you can start to understand, Jonah is like, you're gonna 710 00:39:07,559 --> 00:39:08,879 send me to the invitees. 711 00:39:08,939 --> 00:39:13,229 So it's one thing to go to your own people who are failing 712 00:39:13,379 --> 00:39:15,629 to preach the grace of God. 713 00:39:15,779 --> 00:39:16,859 It's another thing. 714 00:39:16,919 --> 00:39:21,779 Now, the next step is to be sent to the most hated enemies, the cruelest 715 00:39:21,779 --> 00:39:25,019 people in the face of the earth, the world power at that time, and 716 00:39:25,019 --> 00:39:30,209 to preach and know that the same God is going and might just rescue them. 717 00:39:31,334 --> 00:39:33,404 He says, no, I don't want anything to do with it. 718 00:39:33,974 --> 00:39:37,334 And so he flees in the other direction. 719 00:39:37,634 --> 00:39:39,074 Absolutely fascinating. 720 00:39:39,074 --> 00:39:42,104 So he's, he knows this grace. 721 00:39:42,104 --> 00:39:46,454 He knows God is God full of grace, full of steadfast love. 722 00:39:46,459 --> 00:39:48,184 And he is just like, this is the line. 723 00:39:49,234 --> 00:39:49,834 I can't. 724 00:39:50,464 --> 00:39:51,184 This is too much. 725 00:39:51,214 --> 00:39:53,224 This grace is too radical. 726 00:39:54,364 --> 00:39:55,384 We all know that, right? 727 00:39:55,384 --> 00:39:56,794 We want grace for our people. 728 00:39:56,794 --> 00:39:58,114 We want grace for our tribe. 729 00:39:58,114 --> 00:40:02,634 We want grace for those who are like us, who believe like us, but grace for others. 730 00:40:03,604 --> 00:40:06,844 Grace who people who are completely different than us, grace, who 731 00:40:06,844 --> 00:40:08,494 despise it at the time, like. 732 00:40:09,949 --> 00:40:10,169 Nah. 733 00:40:11,179 --> 00:40:13,729 We have the same temptation in all of us. 734 00:40:13,789 --> 00:40:17,029 That's why at Yom Kippur, the Jewish people read the story of 735 00:40:17,029 --> 00:40:19,609 Jonah and they say, I'm Jonah. 736 00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:21,229 I'm Jonah. 737 00:40:22,699 --> 00:40:25,579 What's fascinating though is Jonah's goal was to flee. 738 00:40:26,059 --> 00:40:31,009 He knew he couldn't get away from the presence, but presence in Hebrew, that 739 00:40:31,009 --> 00:40:34,969 word there is panim, which means face. 740 00:40:35,969 --> 00:40:38,249 Jonah's goal was to flee from the face of God. 741 00:40:38,249 --> 00:40:40,079 He knew he couldn't get away from the presence of God. 742 00:40:40,394 --> 00:40:44,444 but from the fellowship, from the communion, he's like this grace this. 743 00:40:44,474 --> 00:40:46,094 It's too much. 744 00:40:46,094 --> 00:40:47,744 Jonah knew he couldn't get away from God. 745 00:40:47,749 --> 00:40:50,864 The most basic theological lesson is that God is everywhere. 746 00:40:50,984 --> 00:40:54,014 He wanted to be away from the panim, the face of God. 747 00:40:54,014 --> 00:40:59,024 Ideally, he wanted to obey God and have his presence when it was convenient, 748 00:40:59,024 --> 00:41:04,544 but when what he loved most went one way and the face of God went the other. 749 00:41:04,604 --> 00:41:07,724 He chose to stay with what he loved most. 750 00:41:09,104 --> 00:41:11,984 He thinks running away from God will make him free. 751 00:41:12,704 --> 00:41:14,954 The face of God, it's too much. 752 00:41:14,954 --> 00:41:18,324 Lord, I've seen the Wicked Prosper and the Godly per right. 753 00:41:18,324 --> 00:41:20,514 That's one of the most famous Psalms. 754 00:41:21,514 --> 00:41:24,424 But in reality, running from God makes him a slave. 755 00:41:25,144 --> 00:41:29,794 What true spiritual slavery is is self-reliance. 756 00:41:30,934 --> 00:41:31,804 We love that word. 757 00:41:31,804 --> 00:41:33,484 Nowadays, we champion it. 758 00:41:33,484 --> 00:41:35,614 It sounds so empowering. 759 00:41:36,124 --> 00:41:37,114 Self-reliance. 760 00:41:37,114 --> 00:41:37,984 You can do it. 761 00:41:38,854 --> 00:41:40,324 You are the master of your fate. 762 00:41:40,324 --> 00:41:42,124 You are the master of your destiny. 763 00:41:44,314 --> 00:41:48,154 When you believe that everything depends on you, if you really 764 00:41:48,154 --> 00:41:53,854 believe that theology, that like self alliance, chasing to be your 765 00:41:53,854 --> 00:41:55,354 own God is a burden you can't bear. 766 00:41:55,409 --> 00:41:59,489 It is the greatest form of spiritual slavery that you have to be the 767 00:41:59,489 --> 00:42:06,419 master and commander Martin Luther called it the life of an unhappy God. 768 00:42:07,419 --> 00:42:08,259 That's such a good quote. 769 00:42:08,949 --> 00:42:10,599 The life of an unhappy God. 770 00:42:12,249 --> 00:42:14,559 What's fascinating, this could be the end of Jonah's story. 771 00:42:15,879 --> 00:42:20,109 Jonah says, no, and God could have said, oh yeah, okay. 772 00:42:20,499 --> 00:42:20,949 You go. 773 00:42:21,159 --> 00:42:21,879 You do your thing. 774 00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:22,809 I'm done with you. 775 00:42:22,809 --> 00:42:24,409 I'm gonna go find somebody else. 776 00:42:25,309 --> 00:42:27,769 God could have sent anybody better. 777 00:42:28,664 --> 00:42:31,664 The fascinating thing about Jonah is he never repents in this whole book. 778 00:42:31,664 --> 00:42:34,874 he repents in chapter two to get out of the whale, but he's at the end. 779 00:42:34,874 --> 00:42:38,594 He still hasn't come around, and it's like this narrative that's left open. 780 00:42:38,599 --> 00:42:41,474 You're like, don't know what Jonah's response is to all of 781 00:42:41,474 --> 00:42:44,054 this, and I think it's on purpose. 782 00:42:44,054 --> 00:42:47,744 But God literally could have found somebody who's quite better. 783 00:42:47,744 --> 00:42:51,434 He could set an angel, he could have raised up rocks to speak on his behalf. 784 00:42:51,614 --> 00:42:52,934 That would've done a better job. 785 00:42:52,934 --> 00:42:54,614 Jonah is hard-hearted. 786 00:42:54,914 --> 00:42:57,384 He's cynical the whole way through. 787 00:42:57,934 --> 00:43:01,594 think about it, three days before he starts to pray in a 788 00:43:01,594 --> 00:43:05,974 fish, he's so like stubborn. 789 00:43:06,004 --> 00:43:08,134 He's like, nah, come on. 790 00:43:08,139 --> 00:43:09,724 Slowly devour me. 791 00:43:09,754 --> 00:43:11,254 And it's just not, he's like, fine. 792 00:43:11,254 --> 00:43:11,734 Okay. 793 00:43:12,734 --> 00:43:13,964 I realize you're God. 794 00:43:14,964 --> 00:43:15,534 What? 795 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,154 Does God's pursuit of Jonah tell us here's the purpose of the book and 796 00:43:20,154 --> 00:43:21,864 the purpose for our lives here it is. 797 00:43:22,864 --> 00:43:25,924 The ultimate mission isn't to save Nineveh. 798 00:43:26,924 --> 00:43:28,544 The ultimate mission is to save Jonah 799 00:43:29,544 --> 00:43:30,174 and you and me. 800 00:43:32,184 --> 00:43:33,564 That's the focus of the story. 801 00:43:35,559 --> 00:43:35,979 Nineveh. 802 00:43:35,979 --> 00:43:36,459 Yes. 803 00:43:36,459 --> 00:43:37,449 God's gonna save them. 804 00:43:37,449 --> 00:43:38,159 And they save them from himself. 805 00:43:38,159 --> 00:43:38,719 Repent himself. 806 00:43:39,259 --> 00:43:39,479 Yes. 807 00:43:40,599 --> 00:43:42,309 Save them from hardheartedness. 808 00:43:43,089 --> 00:43:44,259 Save them from hatred. 809 00:43:44,259 --> 00:43:45,429 Save them from bitterness. 810 00:43:45,434 --> 00:43:47,169 Save them from unforgiveness. 811 00:43:47,919 --> 00:43:51,999 The whole point of this story is free because who The sun 812 00:43:51,999 --> 00:43:54,939 Setss free is free indeed. 813 00:43:56,724 --> 00:43:58,314 God wants our flourishing. 814 00:43:58,314 --> 00:43:59,844 God wants our joy. 815 00:43:59,844 --> 00:44:04,434 God wants the celebration and the rhythm and the dance of eternity 816 00:44:04,644 --> 00:44:06,174 in every single one of our lives. 817 00:44:06,179 --> 00:44:09,024 The point of this story is the rescue of Jonah himself. 818 00:44:09,024 --> 00:44:11,244 That's why he throws a storm at him. 819 00:44:11,424 --> 00:44:14,424 It's not because God's throwing wrath at him or he's punishing him. 820 00:44:14,544 --> 00:44:15,844 He's rescuing him. 821 00:44:17,394 --> 00:44:23,394 Over and over through the story, God is doing miracles to chase after Jonah. 822 00:44:24,099 --> 00:44:26,799 And to rescue him from himself. 823 00:44:27,999 --> 00:44:29,079 And so God does for us. 824 00:44:29,079 --> 00:44:31,209 And so story is full of grace. 825 00:44:31,269 --> 00:44:33,399 The reason God runs after Jonah is not to punish him for 826 00:44:33,399 --> 00:44:34,749 being bad, but to set him free. 827 00:44:35,139 --> 00:44:39,429 The con, there's a contrast being set up here between how Jonah feels about 828 00:44:39,519 --> 00:44:41,409 thees and how God feels about them. 829 00:44:41,979 --> 00:44:43,569 Jonah wants to see them destroyed. 830 00:44:43,569 --> 00:44:44,919 God wants to see them forgiven. 831 00:44:44,919 --> 00:44:49,329 Matthew 12 says that Jesus says that he was a prophet like Jonah. 832 00:44:50,049 --> 00:44:51,189 We read those verses. 833 00:44:51,459 --> 00:44:54,129 He said that his death and resurrection were the fulfillment 834 00:44:54,129 --> 00:44:56,349 of the sign given through Jonah. 835 00:44:56,799 --> 00:44:59,019 Jonah was cast out into the sea and the sea. 836 00:44:59,049 --> 00:45:00,369 Sea became calm. 837 00:45:01,449 --> 00:45:04,419 He was swallowed by a fish and taken down in the depths of the ocean. 838 00:45:04,869 --> 00:45:07,629 Then days later, he was brought back to the land of the living. 839 00:45:08,769 --> 00:45:13,389 Jesus was cast out into the ocean of God's wrath at the cross and the great 840 00:45:13,389 --> 00:45:16,779 tempest of our God against our sin. 841 00:45:18,204 --> 00:45:24,144 Became calm, still is glass, as the sun was thrown into the wrath. 842 00:45:24,984 --> 00:45:25,884 throw me in. 843 00:45:26,884 --> 00:45:30,484 He was in the heart of the earth for three days, like Jonah and then resurrected. 844 00:45:31,414 --> 00:45:34,864 The difference of course, was that Jonah went through all of that 845 00:45:35,014 --> 00:45:39,154 involuntarily because of his disobedience. 846 00:45:39,754 --> 00:45:41,704 Jesus went through it all because of. 847 00:45:42,874 --> 00:45:44,224 Our disobedience. 848 00:45:45,904 --> 00:45:47,944 Jesus did everything right that Jonah did wrong. 849 00:45:48,784 --> 00:45:50,404 Jonah ran from his enemies. 850 00:45:52,144 --> 00:45:53,224 Jesus ran toward them. 851 00:45:54,544 --> 00:45:57,664 Jonah was on mission of revenge because he hated the Ninevites. 852 00:45:58,534 --> 00:46:01,234 Jesus came on a mission of rescue because he loved them. 853 00:46:02,044 --> 00:46:04,534 Jonah was all about his own self-protection. 854 00:46:06,394 --> 00:46:08,734 Jesus poured himself out in self-sacrifice. 855 00:46:10,204 --> 00:46:13,594 Jesus called the word because he is the very message from God. 856 00:46:13,954 --> 00:46:16,354 He was everything God wanted to say to the world. 857 00:46:16,384 --> 00:46:23,014 In a person, a God who endures our sense of entitlement, absorbs our 858 00:46:23,014 --> 00:46:28,114 rebellion, and in after us, until our hearts melt under the heat of his love. 859 00:46:29,114 --> 00:46:34,484 A God who pursues a God, who chases a God, who throws himself in. 860 00:46:35,504 --> 00:46:42,434 Not for his own disobedience, but for ours, the God who absorbs our entitlement, 861 00:46:42,584 --> 00:46:49,694 our pride, our arrogance, our bitterness, our woundedness, all the things we've done 862 00:46:49,724 --> 00:46:51,944 to others and the things done against us. 863 00:46:52,094 --> 00:46:59,354 He absorbs on the cross and that ocean, and he does it because he loves us. 864 00:47:00,354 --> 00:47:00,864 God loves you. 865 00:47:01,864 --> 00:47:07,354 And so I hope like as we get into Jonah, like it's all through, we're 866 00:47:07,354 --> 00:47:13,654 gonna see just his grace pop up and just crazy ways So lemme pray for us. 867 00:47:13,654 --> 00:47:15,754 Father, we thank you so much for your word. 868 00:47:15,754 --> 00:47:17,374 We thank you for so much for this story. 869 00:47:17,374 --> 00:47:22,404 Thank you so much for this, man you put on display and then the man who 870 00:47:22,404 --> 00:47:27,804 mirrors us so often, not only do I say I'm Jonah, I also say I'm the invitees. 871 00:47:28,804 --> 00:47:31,294 But you came and rescued, you came into seek and save. 872 00:47:31,294 --> 00:47:32,074 That which lost. 873 00:47:32,074 --> 00:47:32,644 I was dead. 874 00:47:32,644 --> 00:47:37,024 My trespasses and sins hopeless without God in the world. 875 00:47:38,044 --> 00:47:43,954 But God, who's rich in mercy made us alive together by grace. 876 00:47:43,959 --> 00:47:44,854 We'd been saved. 877 00:47:45,094 --> 00:47:46,024 You chased us. 878 00:47:46,024 --> 00:47:46,744 Pursued us. 879 00:47:46,744 --> 00:47:49,024 Not because of us, but despite us. 880 00:47:50,449 --> 00:47:55,674 that demerit favor that you bestow on us, that favor as fugitives 881 00:47:55,679 --> 00:48:00,234 of your grace, those who run from it, you chases them despite us. 882 00:48:02,064 --> 00:48:07,044 And so, Lord, I just pray again, you would just heat our hearts up to this theme, 883 00:48:07,674 --> 00:48:11,394 this radical otherworldly nature of grace. 884 00:48:12,324 --> 00:48:21,054 This power that it is that says that, Lord, not only do you take the least and 885 00:48:21,054 --> 00:48:27,354 the most feeble, the most rebellious and hard-hearted, not only do you wash them. 886 00:48:27,744 --> 00:48:30,954 Why is snow, but that you make them sons and daughters and heirs 887 00:48:30,954 --> 00:48:34,584 of eternity, that everything that you have, you share with us. 888 00:48:34,764 --> 00:48:40,464 We are heirs of eternity of a world that exists outside this 889 00:48:40,464 --> 00:48:43,134 known universe and it's boundaries. 890 00:48:44,274 --> 00:48:45,534 That's incredible. 891 00:48:45,534 --> 00:48:49,914 That's insane that our names are written in the lamb's book of life, 892 00:48:50,214 --> 00:48:55,434 that we're cherished, we're adored, we're held close that we have your face. 893 00:48:56,434 --> 00:49:01,414 The panim, we have your face and that face will never turn away from us. 894 00:49:01,414 --> 00:49:04,834 Even when we turn, even when we're faithless, even when we fail. 895 00:49:04,834 --> 00:49:05,614 You never fail. 896 00:49:05,614 --> 00:49:06,664 You're never faithless. 897 00:49:06,669 --> 00:49:07,684 You're the faithful one. 898 00:49:08,684 --> 00:49:12,234 You are the dove that took the curse of the snake. 899 00:49:13,884 --> 00:49:15,354 Oh, faithful God that you are. 900 00:49:16,354 --> 00:49:18,034 Boundless mercy and grace, 901 00:49:19,034 --> 00:49:24,584 and you proved it as we celebrate right now by your body being 902 00:49:24,584 --> 00:49:26,494 broken and your blood poured out 903 00:49:27,494 --> 00:49:31,874 to wrap yourself in human flesh over at 33 years later to be broken 904 00:49:31,874 --> 00:49:36,194 apart by those you're trying to reach and minister with your grace. 905 00:49:37,194 --> 00:49:44,484 To feel the human blood coursing through your veins only to have your body pierced 906 00:49:44,484 --> 00:49:47,604 in it, it shed on our behalf, a life. 907 00:49:47,604 --> 00:49:48,084 For a life. 908 00:49:48,089 --> 00:49:49,224 We say Thank you, Jesus. 909 00:49:49,224 --> 00:49:50,634 We are for forever. 910 00:49:50,634 --> 00:49:51,354 Grateful. 911 00:49:52,354 --> 00:49:57,454 Thank you that this message isn't just for the Jews. 912 00:49:59,269 --> 00:50:00,769 Or God's covenant people. 913 00:50:01,879 --> 00:50:03,319 But it's for the invitees. 914 00:50:04,129 --> 00:50:05,539 It's for the Gentiles. 915 00:50:05,989 --> 00:50:10,074 It's for the heathens and the pagans, cuz that's our story. 916 00:50:11,164 --> 00:50:12,464 Praise you, Jesus. 917 00:50:13,284 --> 00:50:15,384 We love you in Jesus' name. 918 00:50:15,734 --> 00:50:16,024 Amen.