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Joshua Kehler: G.

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K.

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Chesterton, has this famous quote.

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He says, Your life would be if
yourself could be smaller in it.

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How much larger your life would be if
yourself could be smaller in it, right?

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We think that so often we're the center of
the world, the center of the story, only

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to find out that God's doing something
far different than we anticipated.

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Jonah reluctantly is sent on mission,
he's gonna proclaim this message,

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and God's gonna obliterate their
enemies, and God uses this reluctant

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prophet, stubborn, rebellious,
stiff necked, and a city repents.

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And God shows them mercy.

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And, he's not a fan.

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As we'll see in chapter 4.

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In fact, he was suspicious of
God's mercy the whole time.

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It's like, I knew you could
not help but be merciful.

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Is Jonah's take.

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But so often we think we're the center
of the world, the center of the story.

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We've been taught that in our culture,
you can be anything you dream of.

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the whole world revolves around us.

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Elizabeth Elliott, her follow up to
Through the Gates of Splendor, which

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was about Jim Elliot and the other
missionaries, who had lost their lives

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and, preaching the gospel in South
America and then that whole, as the

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wives went in of these, missionaries,
husbands who have died, the whole

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place came and came to know Jesus.

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And so it was the testimonies of that.

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She wrote an interesting follow
up book called No Graven Image.

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It was released in the late sixties.

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and Elliot describes an
American missionary in South

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America named Margaret.

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He was devoted her life to
translating the Bible into an

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indigenous tribe's native language.

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The tribe's language has
never been written down.

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It was all verbal.

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A key to her work was the discovery
of a man named Pedro who knew the

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unwritten dialect that Margaret needed
to learn in order to translate the

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Bible into that particular language.

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He began to teach her the language.

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And her painstaking work of
systematically recording and

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documenting it, moved forward.

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And she made progress in
translating the Bible.

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Pedro, she believes, had been
the answer to her prayer.

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God now seemed to be
bringing things together.

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Margaret imagines the possibility of
bringing the Bible to a million people

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in remote regions of the mountains.

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One day she arrives at Pedro's home.

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To continue their work, she discovers
that Pedro had a painful, infected

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wound in his leg, and since Margaret
knew a little bit about medicine, and

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was equipped to provide routine medical
care, she gives him a penicillin shot.

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It turns out that he's allergic,
and he begins convulsing from

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anaphylaxis within moments, and
despite her fervent prayers, he dies.

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All the years of labor are wiped away.

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As for the translation of the Bible,
of course, she writes, I cannot

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go ahead without an informant.

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God knew about that when Pedro died.

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I do not write prayer letters to
my supporters anymore, for I have

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nothing to say about my work.

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It seemed on the night of Pedro's
death as though finished were

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written below all I had done.

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So, this is the book, and this is how the
book ends, and it was super controversial.

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The book ends and there's no happy
ending or silver lining for Margaret.

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Her only consolation is found on the
last page, which includes this line.

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It's a good one.

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God, if he was merely my
accomplice, had betrayed me.

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If, on the other hand, he
was God, he had freed me.

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He had freed me.

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The story ends in her losing everything.

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There's like a fire and everything
she had done is burned up.

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And that's how the book ends
and people are like, No!

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You can't, right?

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You can't end a story like that.

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But she was trying to reconcile serving
the eternal God, or God serving us.

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And what we think we're
going to do for him.

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And what we're going to
accomplish, and how we're going

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to be the center of the story.

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and all the things we're
going to do for his life.

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And really reconciling the fact
that, We may never see for hundreds

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of years the cause and effect or
the ripple effect that our life has

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in simple obedience and following.

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And is that enough?

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It's not if God is serving us.

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Because he's not playing by our rules.

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He's not doing what we want.

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Doesn't he see how much
I've sacrificed for him?

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Where's the result?

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Where's the fruit we would say?

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But it is enough if he's enough.

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And if we relax into his everlasting
arms and are part of his plan, is

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he the one we plan to serve or is
he the one who serves our plan?

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So we come to Jonah.

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So Jonah's got these expectations, right?

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And, I love it.

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As you can see, we'll see more next week.

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But Jonah tries to tip the scales.

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in his favor of what he once accomplished.

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We'll see, he says eight words,
in his sermon, in English.

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He says five words in Hebrew.

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And it's all about, the wrath
of God and his judgment.

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That's it.

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And there's not, like,
is he, Can we repent?

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There's like being in there.

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There's no way out.

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He just says, you're doomed.

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God's gonna judge you 40 days.

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40 days are up.

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there's no alternative path.

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There's no, here's my third point.

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It's the one point sermon,
five words, you're doomed.

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And so he's tipping the
scales in his favor.

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You guys are gonna be judged.

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The other thing that we notice from this
passage Yes, is that the author points out

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it's a three days journey through the city
and yet Jonah gives up after day one He

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preaches for a day and he's like I'm done.

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I'm done.

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There's a lot here, which is beautiful
for us But despite Jonah One of the

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first things, the thing I keep tripping
over, we have this scaffolding up at

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the job that we're at and it's over the
front door and it's, I guess everybody's

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shorter than I am, I don't know, but it's
just high enough where because I wear

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a hat, I don't see the scaffolding and
I hit my head on Over and over and over

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and over again to where I almost took
my sawzall and was just going to cut the

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like, but you know, you can't do that.

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That's, yes, it's, it's my bad, in the
same way I keep coming to this verse

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and I, I couldn't get away from it.

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I thought about it all last
week, I kept tripping on it.

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I kept, but in a good way,
tripping into his grace.

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Then the word of the Lord, verse one
came to Jonah the second time saying,

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aren't you grateful for second chances

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and third and 20 and 40
and 50 and 2000 and 8, 000.

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And he doesn't pull back.

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He's right there.

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And the word of the Lord came
to Jonah the second time.

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He doesn't mention his flight.

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He doesn't mention the rebellion.

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He doesn't mention the trying to
get away and throw himself into the

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sea or go into the furthest part.

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He doesn't make him grovel.

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He doesn't, Jonah finds repentance
in the belly of the whale, but it's,

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he picks right back up where he left.

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The word of the Lord came
to Jonah the second time.

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That's so beautiful.

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I said last week that, for me lately,
the theme of patience does me in.

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God's patience to me.

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His long suffering.

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His everlasting dedication to my good.

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I just think about that.

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It's like, it's the dynamite lately.

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It's the chili pepper that's been ripened
and seasoned, I just take a bite of it

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and it's like, I am good for a week.

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I just sit and chew on that and
meditate that he's so long suffering.

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He's so for us and not against us.

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some of us have been in
the midst of difficulty.

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Where we fled, where we've run, from
that calling that we know when we ask can

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I come back, the answer is always yes.

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The word of God comes to
you again a second time.

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And the word of God came
to Jonah a second time.

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We're reminded of patience and
God's long suffering towards us.

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The grace that connects us to
the God of repeat offenders.

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Right?

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Isn't that what?

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Grace is, and God just is
the God of repeat offenders.

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And he knew it all along, and
God didn't give up on Jonah.

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Jonah ran, and God recommissioned him.

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Jonah disobeyed, and
God recommissioned him.

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Jonah rebelled, and God was there.

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Jonah complained, and God was there.

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Jonah was stubborn, and God
gave him the word a second time.

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Jonah was self righteous, and God
gave him the word a second time.

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He was prideful and poutful, and
God gave him his word a second time.

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Nothing we can do or fail to do will ever
even slightly tempt God to give up on us.

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When we are faithless, He is faithful.

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God's love for us is in no way
determined by our love for Him or

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by what we do, but is determined
solely by what Jesus has done for us.

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So it's invincible.

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That means that on our worst
day, God is no less delighted in

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you than He is on your best day.

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Why?

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God's delight for you is determined
by what Jesus has done for you,

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not what you've done for him.

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You are seen through the purity
and perfection of Christ himself.

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God comes back to Jonah time and
time again, not because Jonah

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deserved it, but because he didn't.

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And we forget that part of the story.

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He's drawn to our weakness.

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He loves to be the hero who rescues you.

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It's our need that draws him.

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While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.

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While we were at our
worst, he gave his best.

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God has never bailed on you.

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In fact, he's the only one who never has.

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The best people in our lives, we
have seen suspicion on their face at

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one time or another, whether it's a
spouse and their, or disappointment.

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but God's the one who is
like, I'll never leave you.

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I'll never forsake.

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No matter what you do, no matter how
far you run, God is that God of second

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chances, third chances, fourth chances.

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And to him, as I'll illustrate,
we'll see his love is not based in

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fantasy, but it's the most realistic
because it's based every point.

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On prior knowledge of
the worst part of me.

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He's not fanciful.

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He's not oh, I just see the
good I just ignore that.

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No, he knows he had to pay you to suffer
the wrath He had to suffer the divine

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justice for every flaw every failure
every Spec that tainted the perfect

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Flowing right robe of righteousness
like he knows he's the most realistic

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person toward you Try to hide it
or cover it or just play it down.

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He's like, no, it was crazy But I
was glad to do it because I love you.

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God doesn't love me Just the way that I
am because of Jesus God loves me in the

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way that Jesus is There's as much chance
that God would abandon the son as he would

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abandon me Because I'm clothed in the Son.

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I'm clothed in the
righteousness of Christ.

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Man, that we would get that.

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That we would like, Oh,
isn't that beautiful?

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He loves you with as much
intensity as He loves the Son.

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Why?

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Because we're hidden in the Son.

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Because we're perfected in the Son.

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Donnie Moore, he was a youth pastor
here in Stockton, and, he tells the

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story of this, these two sisters, an
older sister and a younger sister.

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And the younger sister would always sneak
in and borrow the older sister's clothes.

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And she didn't like it, cause they'd
come back ruined or not washed or, lost.

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And so the younger sister had this thing
coming up at school that, and so she snuck

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into her sister's room, older sister's
room, and she took a bunch of the clothes

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and, tried them on and everything.

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And she came home and she was
going to sneak in and put them

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back in the sister's room and the
older sister's waiting for her.

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And she's okay.

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I knew you had taken these.

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I told you not to take these.

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I told you, this is important to
me that you wouldn't, wear these.

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And the sister, just fell apart
and was like, I'm so sorry.

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I promise you will never do it again.

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and the sister looked at her and says,
I forgive you since it's the first time.

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And, So weeks went by and everything,
and it was a dance and the younger sister

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couldn't find anything in her room.

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And the older sister was out of town

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So she went in there and put stuff
on, found something and then, went

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and she was going to, do the same
thing, sneak back in and everything.

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Older sister had come home early
at the end of their night and

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she's like, what are you doing?

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I asked you not to do this and a little
younger sister just fell apart again

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00:14:02,127 --> 00:14:05,247
and said i'm so sorry I know I promised
you I know I promised you please.

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Can you forgive me?

241
00:14:06,147 --> 00:14:07,227
Can you find it in your heart?

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00:14:07,667 --> 00:14:10,877
You know i'll never do it again
And the older sister said I forgive

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00:14:10,877 --> 00:14:12,077
you since it's the first time

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because that's how grace

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Looks at our failure.

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00:14:17,767 --> 00:14:18,497
It's been covered.

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00:14:19,497 --> 00:14:28,247
It's not compiled And how he sees us
It has been laid on the sun And the

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00:14:28,247 --> 00:14:34,557
Son has paid it, and there's nothing
in the way now, but relationship, and

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dancing, and joy, and being called
into what we've been called into.

250
00:14:42,437 --> 00:14:47,097
And so one of the beautiful things about
this story, and one of the points of

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00:14:47,097 --> 00:14:52,807
this story, is that God is not just after
saving Nineveh, God is after saving Jonah.

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The real rescue that happens here, yes,
what an amazing rescue that Nineveh saved,

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00:14:59,022 --> 00:15:04,362
but this, this prophet that represented
Israel, that God is relentlessly in

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00:15:04,362 --> 00:15:10,732
pursuit of Jonah himself, and coming
again to Jonah, and coming again to Jonah.

255
00:15:11,072 --> 00:15:15,522
No matter how far Jonah runs, no matter
how hard hearted he is, he's God's.

256
00:15:16,522 --> 00:15:21,572
And God won't let him go until God
has his way with him, until God melts

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00:15:21,602 --> 00:15:24,992
his heart and makes him like himself.

258
00:15:25,292 --> 00:15:30,732
And so, what a beautiful story, like,
that God is the God of the first chance.

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And when you mess up, he's
the God of the first chance.

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And when you mess up, he's
the God of the first chance.

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Because that's how grace works.

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00:15:39,777 --> 00:15:43,687
And so, just the thing, man, I
just couldn't get over that verse.

263
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I kept coming back to it.

264
00:15:45,737 --> 00:15:50,027
I kept thinking of God's patience
and his long suffering in my life.

265
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And that, when I'm patient, I think
I should get a reward because of how

266
00:15:54,837 --> 00:15:57,387
patient I'm being because I'm suffering.

267
00:15:58,347 --> 00:16:03,502
I'm like, I know I could act this
way, but I'm not going to do it.

268
00:16:03,502 --> 00:16:07,852
I'm going to put those feelings aside
and I'm going to put them down and I'm

269
00:16:07,852 --> 00:16:13,102
going to act a godly, and I should get
some reward for that because I am, I am

270
00:16:13,102 --> 00:16:20,232
choosing over one feeling that I have,
and another, and I just think that lacks

271
00:16:20,492 --> 00:16:26,302
that divine patience that God has for
us, where he just is for your good.

272
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He's after you.

273
00:16:29,352 --> 00:16:30,552
He loves you.

274
00:16:31,557 --> 00:16:35,007
the regret, the grief that comes
is when we miss out on all that

275
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he's provided for us in Christ.

276
00:16:37,887 --> 00:16:41,257
When we, when we don't walk in that,
when we don't walk in the identity that

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00:16:41,267 --> 00:16:43,127
he secured for us through his blood.

278
00:16:43,922 --> 00:16:47,392
And so, man, he calls
to Jonah a second time.

279
00:16:47,392 --> 00:16:49,122
The word comes to Jonah a second time.

280
00:16:49,122 --> 00:16:51,092
The word comes to Jonah a second time.

281
00:16:51,662 --> 00:16:54,662
Arise, go to Nineveh, that
great city, and call out against

282
00:16:54,662 --> 00:16:56,072
the message that I tell you.

283
00:16:56,582 --> 00:16:58,862
Here's the thing about second
chances or first chances.

284
00:16:58,882 --> 00:17:01,302
God will take you right back
to the place you said no.

285
00:17:03,172 --> 00:17:04,222
Doesn't he do that?

286
00:17:06,122 --> 00:17:07,932
Sometimes you just want to ignore that.

287
00:17:08,656 --> 00:17:12,297
an irreconcilable
difference you move on from.

288
00:17:12,307 --> 00:17:13,297
Yeah, we disagreed.

289
00:17:13,307 --> 00:17:14,557
Agree to disagree, God.

290
00:17:15,557 --> 00:17:18,377
There are never irreconcilable
differences with God.

291
00:17:18,987 --> 00:17:19,867
You were wrong.

292
00:17:19,936 --> 00:17:20,757
He was right.

293
00:17:20,877 --> 00:17:25,627
God takes us back to the place where you
said no to him so that you might say yes.

294
00:17:26,627 --> 00:17:28,196
Because he's after your joy.

295
00:17:28,817 --> 00:17:32,007
He's after including you in the
story, not the center of the story.

296
00:17:32,017 --> 00:17:34,927
He's the center of the story,
but to be a part of the story.

297
00:17:34,927 --> 00:17:36,047
I remember somebody explained it.

298
00:17:36,047 --> 00:17:41,702
They're like, you can put a play on in
your parents garage, and your parents are

299
00:17:41,702 --> 00:17:44,252
gonna clap, and they're gonna be like,
this is the best thing I've ever seen.

300
00:17:44,572 --> 00:17:46,962
We gotta call the Oscars and
get him in here, because this is

301
00:17:46,962 --> 00:17:48,692
like a performance of a lifetime.

302
00:17:49,652 --> 00:17:51,762
Or you can actually end up on Broadway.

303
00:17:52,907 --> 00:17:59,267
And you can be a gaffer or a light
technician and your name's in the credit

304
00:18:00,617 --> 00:18:02,807
and you're part of this like huge story.

305
00:18:03,017 --> 00:18:04,047
I always watch the credits.

306
00:18:04,057 --> 00:18:09,687
It's a discipline me and my daughter have,
Karis, that we, all the other, people who

307
00:18:09,687 --> 00:18:10,857
are with us, they're like, let's leave.

308
00:18:10,857 --> 00:18:11,467
It's the credits.

309
00:18:11,467 --> 00:18:14,687
And we're like, no, we're paying respect
to all these people who put this story on.

310
00:18:15,047 --> 00:18:16,167
We want to see their names.

311
00:18:16,167 --> 00:18:20,697
We want to like honor them that this
story wasn't just the director who

312
00:18:20,697 --> 00:18:22,687
did everything or a couple of actors.

313
00:18:22,687 --> 00:18:25,577
It took thousands of people
to pull this together.

314
00:18:26,097 --> 00:18:29,317
And we'll read them and we'll try to
find the funniest names and you've

315
00:18:29,317 --> 00:18:32,047
got, I don't know, the craziest names.

316
00:18:32,487 --> 00:18:35,667
and you're like, I wonder his
life, and I wonder what he did.

317
00:18:35,917 --> 00:18:38,747
But he's part of this
grand, greater story.

318
00:18:39,087 --> 00:18:41,577
Though he's not front and center,
he gets to be a part of something

319
00:18:41,577 --> 00:18:45,587
so great, And and that's like God's
mission, that God invites us into.

320
00:18:45,767 --> 00:18:49,067
We're not gonna be, getting
an Oscar for our performance.

321
00:18:49,862 --> 00:18:52,802
But man, he chooses us to be a
part of something much greater

322
00:18:52,802 --> 00:18:56,672
than if we were just performing
for our parents in our garage.

323
00:18:57,482 --> 00:18:59,812
so he takes us back to the
place where we said no.

324
00:19:00,452 --> 00:19:02,252
And, we get to say yes.

325
00:19:02,262 --> 00:19:07,292
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the Lord.

326
00:19:08,632 --> 00:19:10,462
Nineveh was a seemingly great city.

327
00:19:10,462 --> 00:19:11,772
Three days journey in breath.

328
00:19:11,862 --> 00:19:15,152
Jonah began to go into the
city, going a day's journey.

329
00:19:15,152 --> 00:19:20,842
And he called out, yet forty days
in Nineveh shall be overthrown.

330
00:19:20,842 --> 00:19:25,492
Now you get this amazing picture.

331
00:19:25,502 --> 00:19:28,292
Jonah has been in the belly
of the fish for three days.

332
00:19:28,897 --> 00:19:32,757
With all the gastric juices of this
fish's stomach washing over him.

333
00:19:33,097 --> 00:19:36,447
He would have been bleached white,
white hair, glowing like an angel.

334
00:19:36,457 --> 00:19:39,287
That would have been a nice effect, right?

335
00:19:39,397 --> 00:19:43,607
Now what's interesting is, historians
at this time, they say for Assyria,

336
00:19:43,607 --> 00:19:47,957
like Nineveh, the capital of
Assyria, that there was crazy

337
00:19:47,957 --> 00:19:49,837
stuff happening to their nation.

338
00:19:50,117 --> 00:19:55,357
There were famines, there were,
like crazy storms that were

339
00:19:55,357 --> 00:19:57,877
recorded, there were eclipses.

340
00:19:58,417 --> 00:20:03,217
And so there was all these things
happening that, historically that as

341
00:20:03,217 --> 00:20:08,317
they were the world power, you could
start to see how God is starting to

342
00:20:08,327 --> 00:20:13,177
work through history itself to bring
them to this place of like, maybe

343
00:20:13,177 --> 00:20:14,647
we're not as in control as we thought.

344
00:20:16,257 --> 00:20:17,237
And, and then this.

345
00:20:17,587 --> 00:20:21,747
bleached prophet shows up, from
a fish belched on the land by a

346
00:20:21,747 --> 00:20:26,797
fish and, and he begins to preach
this message of God's judgment.

347
00:20:27,797 --> 00:20:32,537
he's got an eight word message,
five words in Hebrew, yet 40 days

348
00:20:32,537 --> 00:20:34,437
in Nineveh shall be overthrown.

349
00:20:34,437 --> 00:20:42,027
And the people of Nineveh, verse five,
believed God and they called for a fast

350
00:20:42,027 --> 00:20:48,317
and put on sackcloth from the greatest
of them to the least of them, the word

351
00:20:48,317 --> 00:20:52,327
reached the king of Nineveh and he arose
from his throne, removed his robe, covered

352
00:20:52,327 --> 00:20:54,227
himself with sackcloth and satin ashes.

353
00:20:54,227 --> 00:20:56,247
So, and the people of
Nineveh believed God.

354
00:20:56,407 --> 00:20:57,787
And what did they believe about God?

355
00:20:57,787 --> 00:21:01,107
They didn't have a lot of info about him,
but they believed God's assessment of

356
00:21:01,107 --> 00:21:05,207
him, And one of the most amazing things
that the author is doing is contrasting

357
00:21:05,387 --> 00:21:09,167
how long it took Jonah to repent.

358
00:21:10,072 --> 00:21:19,352
in the length and how quick the pagans are
like instantly we're repenting and so it's

359
00:21:19,402 --> 00:21:24,682
to undo it's to like it because again as
the Hebrews say as they read this story to

360
00:21:24,682 --> 00:21:31,692
one another we are Jonah like we're Jonah
so often like Jesus said it's the pimps

361
00:21:31,692 --> 00:21:35,162
and the prostitutes in Matthew 21 that
get into the kingdom of God before you

362
00:21:35,242 --> 00:21:39,097
guys Like, they're closer to the kingdom.

363
00:21:39,447 --> 00:21:40,237
They get it.

364
00:21:40,267 --> 00:21:41,727
They know that they're broken.

365
00:21:41,727 --> 00:21:44,477
the whole thing is brokenness forever.

366
00:21:45,367 --> 00:21:49,267
we need, we're broken and we
realize our need for Christ.

367
00:21:50,187 --> 00:21:54,887
Day two, we're still broken and
we realize our need for Christ.

368
00:21:55,087 --> 00:22:00,227
Day 400, we're still broken and
we realize our need for Christ.

369
00:22:00,947 --> 00:22:01,757
Day 1000.

370
00:22:02,937 --> 00:22:03,817
We're still broken in.

371
00:22:03,967 --> 00:22:09,557
It is into his arms to be
carried all the way home.

372
00:22:11,357 --> 00:22:16,717
Like walking with Jesus is
often being carried by him.

373
00:22:16,807 --> 00:22:20,417
That's the whole story
all the way through.

374
00:22:20,447 --> 00:22:23,727
one thing I just want to highlight, and
we'll just wrap up, but we can keep on

375
00:22:23,727 --> 00:22:25,167
in chapter three next week a little bit.

376
00:22:25,677 --> 00:22:30,127
I do want to get to chapter
four, but is, I read pretty

377
00:22:30,127 --> 00:22:32,807
broadly in the, in Christendom.

378
00:22:33,447 --> 00:22:35,847
I grew up thinking you can only
read these certain books and they'd

379
00:22:35,847 --> 00:22:41,037
approve them and any other books,
they would, I, I literally lost my

380
00:22:41,107 --> 00:22:44,287
first ordination because I went and
listened to John Piper at a conference.

381
00:22:44,817 --> 00:22:45,217
Yeah.

382
00:22:46,457 --> 00:22:47,467
My first ordination.

383
00:22:47,467 --> 00:22:47,707
Yeah.

384
00:22:48,507 --> 00:22:49,597
The other ordinations.

385
00:22:50,227 --> 00:22:50,617
I did.

386
00:22:50,717 --> 00:22:51,217
Oh yeah.

387
00:22:51,267 --> 00:22:56,157
we had, I had, I had pastor come in
and say, do you have any books by so

388
00:22:56,157 --> 00:22:57,927
and so please, please get rid of them.

389
00:22:58,387 --> 00:23:03,667
Once our bookstore started getting rid
of Spurgeon, because he has Calvinistic

390
00:23:03,677 --> 00:23:06,937
leanings, I was like Yeah, it's Spurgeon?

391
00:23:08,447 --> 00:23:11,117
I know you Calvary Chapel guys
are popular, but Spurgeon?

392
00:23:12,117 --> 00:23:14,607
but anyways, I do read, I do read broadly.

393
00:23:14,607 --> 00:23:22,217
One of the things that has come up, and
it's a, because of our modern cultural

394
00:23:23,372 --> 00:23:27,602
uncomfortableness with justice and wrath.

395
00:23:29,082 --> 00:23:32,652
We don't like thinking that
God is a God of just wrath.

396
00:23:33,442 --> 00:23:39,432
and so one of the things that I've
read a lot in more, I would say in

397
00:23:39,432 --> 00:23:45,922
some more liberal leaning circles is
that, the whole God pouring out his

398
00:23:45,982 --> 00:23:48,602
wrath on Jesus is divine child abuse.

399
00:23:49,072 --> 00:23:52,142
And, And so they say,
Jesus was more an example.

400
00:23:52,152 --> 00:23:57,882
He was more a symbol of suffering, like
the father wasn't, abusing his son.

401
00:23:58,302 --> 00:24:01,942
And, and I just, I can't go there.

402
00:24:02,762 --> 00:24:06,882
you lose so, you lose, you lose so
much, and one of the amazing things

403
00:24:06,902 --> 00:24:08,632
is that, Do you know the trinity?

404
00:24:08,632 --> 00:24:10,192
That the trinity is one God?

405
00:24:10,502 --> 00:24:11,602
It's himself.

406
00:24:12,112 --> 00:24:15,232
He's not giving his son,
it's himself that is giving.

407
00:24:15,282 --> 00:24:18,002
the son says, no one takes my
life, I lay it down freely.

408
00:24:18,822 --> 00:24:24,452
But I, it's very popular now,
because it does away with the

409
00:24:25,052 --> 00:24:27,602
God wrathing the son for our sin.

410
00:24:28,382 --> 00:24:31,952
because it's uncomfortable to
talk about God's wrath, and

411
00:24:31,952 --> 00:24:33,272
his justice, and his judgment.

412
00:24:33,962 --> 00:24:37,662
but one of the beautiful stories about
Abraham and Isaac is that God doesn't

413
00:24:37,692 --> 00:24:39,632
ask fathers to do that to their sons.

414
00:24:39,842 --> 00:24:44,522
He makes a way where he provides
himself as the sacrifice, right?

415
00:24:44,542 --> 00:24:47,052
Because he's not into human sacrifice.

416
00:24:47,052 --> 00:24:49,322
He's not into fathers
abusing their children.

417
00:24:49,632 --> 00:24:53,362
He's into giving himself as a sacrifice.

418
00:24:53,362 --> 00:24:59,752
And so, I just, Like here Jonah preaches
the message that resonates with people

419
00:24:59,752 --> 00:25:06,012
because guess what people already have a
sense that there's something wrong As much

420
00:25:06,012 --> 00:25:12,002
as we put up a front of it as much as we
you know Pretend that we're doing great

421
00:25:12,012 --> 00:25:14,352
in our self esteem is like at this level.

422
00:25:14,632 --> 00:25:18,942
When we hear a message that says
you are going to answer to a holy

423
00:25:18,942 --> 00:25:23,772
God, there is something in our
bones that whispers that's true.

424
00:25:23,772 --> 00:25:31,502
And we can run, we can pretend harder
that God doesn't exist, or we can be more

425
00:25:31,502 --> 00:25:36,242
religious and pretend like we can make a
righteousness that's acceptable to Him.

426
00:25:37,062 --> 00:25:37,312
Right?

427
00:25:37,312 --> 00:25:37,892
That's how we deal.

428
00:25:37,892 --> 00:25:40,652
We either run or we try harder.

429
00:25:41,202 --> 00:25:41,512
Right?

430
00:25:41,512 --> 00:25:41,577
Amen.

431
00:25:42,147 --> 00:25:46,807
And, I just think one of the most
beautiful things in the story of

432
00:25:46,827 --> 00:25:52,707
the gospel is that I stood, as it's
been said, my greatest need wasn't

433
00:25:52,717 --> 00:25:56,537
to be simply saved from my sins, it
was to be saved from God himself.

434
00:25:57,507 --> 00:25:59,077
He stood against me.

435
00:26:00,077 --> 00:26:05,677
Like, legally, I had failed
and fallen short of his glory.

436
00:26:06,677 --> 00:26:11,637
And in his kingdom that
he created, I said, mine.

437
00:26:12,792 --> 00:26:13,642
This is my kingdom.

438
00:26:14,962 --> 00:26:17,712
I will be the captain of my
ship, the master of my own fate.

439
00:26:17,762 --> 00:26:19,732
I will rule my life the way I want.

440
00:26:20,732 --> 00:26:22,712
I was at enmity with God.

441
00:26:24,002 --> 00:26:25,372
I was separated.

442
00:26:26,372 --> 00:26:30,962
And there was an ache in my soul that
longed to be back with Him, but too

443
00:26:30,972 --> 00:26:32,892
proud to admit that I needed Him.

444
00:26:34,642 --> 00:26:36,312
And I searched everywhere.

445
00:26:36,762 --> 00:26:37,402
Everywhere.

446
00:26:37,742 --> 00:26:41,312
And I was only storing up more
wrath for the Day of Judgment.

447
00:26:41,962 --> 00:26:45,272
And I remember the night, I was like
14, and God gave me a glimpse, I

448
00:26:45,272 --> 00:26:48,472
had, I had probably just read, for
the first time, Sinners in the Hands

449
00:26:48,472 --> 00:26:50,132
of Every God by Jonathan Edwards.

450
00:26:50,982 --> 00:26:56,532
And he talks about the spider, over the
flame, and each thread is breaking, and

451
00:26:56,532 --> 00:27:02,972
it's pop, pop, pop, pop, and there's
one left, and I was like, that's me.

452
00:27:03,972 --> 00:27:11,002
Oh, I'm only here in this simple,
tiny, time, space, continuum

453
00:27:11,002 --> 00:27:13,612
moment, because of God's mercy.

454
00:27:13,622 --> 00:27:13,682
Thank you.

455
00:27:14,682 --> 00:27:17,692
And I remember as a 14 year old
falling on my knees in my bedroom, my

456
00:27:17,692 --> 00:27:23,442
brothers were asleep and crying out
for mercy because I got a glimpse.

457
00:27:24,702 --> 00:27:27,622
I wasn't just a good kid who needed help.

458
00:27:28,352 --> 00:27:31,992
I wasn't a good person who God
wanted to make a better person.

459
00:27:32,992 --> 00:27:35,712
I was a sinner in the hands
of an angry God, just anger.

460
00:27:36,167 --> 00:27:37,057
He's not vindictive.

461
00:27:37,067 --> 00:27:38,757
He's not a two year
old throwing a tantrum.

462
00:27:39,057 --> 00:27:39,837
We talked about that.

463
00:27:39,837 --> 00:27:43,277
We have so much baggage
to that, but God is holy.

464
00:27:43,847 --> 00:27:46,107
Do you know we would hate the universe?

465
00:27:46,672 --> 00:27:51,772
If God wasn't holy, if he didn't hold
men to account for their evil, we

466
00:27:51,772 --> 00:27:55,612
would say, why would we worship a God
like that, who just throws everything

467
00:27:55,612 --> 00:28:00,252
under the carpet, who doesn't make
people answer for the wrong they did.

468
00:28:00,312 --> 00:28:01,362
I've been wounded.

469
00:28:01,372 --> 00:28:02,982
Somebody's got to answer for that.

470
00:28:04,872 --> 00:28:06,232
And I've wounded people.

471
00:28:06,382 --> 00:28:09,832
I have to answer for that, or
somebody has to, and the story of the

472
00:28:09,832 --> 00:28:12,532
cross is that Jesus is the answer.

473
00:28:13,542 --> 00:28:17,432
He is held accountable for
our, for what we've done.

474
00:28:17,722 --> 00:28:20,932
Justice is served, but
he stood in my place.

475
00:28:21,472 --> 00:28:22,422
He took it.

476
00:28:22,772 --> 00:28:24,622
He took the other person's justice.

477
00:28:24,832 --> 00:28:25,952
And so they can choose.

478
00:28:25,972 --> 00:28:30,092
They can choose either Jesus paid
or I'll pay and a life separated

479
00:28:30,092 --> 00:28:31,702
from him for all of eternity.

480
00:28:31,922 --> 00:28:35,782
And what that does to me is it
makes me bubble up with worship.

481
00:28:35,792 --> 00:28:41,072
I can't contain myself at the sense
that I get to more and more glimpse

482
00:28:41,232 --> 00:28:46,612
as I walk with him by even the word
patience, like his forbearance.

483
00:28:47,192 --> 00:28:51,572
I'm like, when I'm like, 32, I'm
like, Wow, God, you covered so much.

484
00:28:51,812 --> 00:28:52,722
I'm 46.

485
00:28:52,722 --> 00:28:58,882
I'm like, I want to cuss and be like,
you, how did you cover that much?

486
00:29:00,262 --> 00:29:03,082
I'm at a loss in his grace.

487
00:29:03,362 --> 00:29:09,042
I'm at a loss that the perfect
son of God would take my justice.

488
00:29:10,272 --> 00:29:13,892
Every ill will I have
harbored horrible thoughts.

489
00:29:14,242 --> 00:29:16,162
I've said horrible things.

490
00:29:16,412 --> 00:29:19,682
I've hated people with my guts.

491
00:29:21,407 --> 00:29:26,887
I have stolen, I have done terrible
things, and my perfect savior, the

492
00:29:26,897 --> 00:29:33,467
beautiful, perfect lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world, took it all.

493
00:29:34,467 --> 00:29:36,797
Like, we can't lose
that part of the gospel.

494
00:29:37,957 --> 00:29:42,747
It's, it's, the good news is so
good because the bad news is so bad!

495
00:29:43,212 --> 00:29:44,932
It's just realistic.

496
00:29:45,412 --> 00:29:46,412
It's, it's not weird.

497
00:29:46,482 --> 00:29:47,582
We don't have to amp it up.

498
00:29:47,612 --> 00:29:50,412
And Jonah preaches and they're like, yes.

499
00:29:50,682 --> 00:29:55,082
And the other thing I just want to
point out is the power of the gospel,

500
00:29:55,222 --> 00:29:57,262
the power of God and salvation.

501
00:29:57,372 --> 00:29:58,492
Jonah is reluctant.

502
00:29:58,512 --> 00:30:04,322
He just unleashes the word of God
and people, it changes their hearts.

503
00:30:04,647 --> 00:30:09,167
The worst thing we've ever done is we need
celebrities to make Christianity cool.

504
00:30:09,417 --> 00:30:11,747
We need to be legit in
the eyes of the world.

505
00:30:11,747 --> 00:30:14,417
We need Christian music to
match, the music of Like,

506
00:30:14,687 --> 00:30:16,477
like, no, we are the foolish.

507
00:30:16,677 --> 00:30:17,937
We are the unwise.

508
00:30:17,977 --> 00:30:19,427
We are the outsiders.

509
00:30:19,427 --> 00:30:21,327
We are the, like, the lame.

510
00:30:21,547 --> 00:30:22,537
We are the nerds.

511
00:30:22,557 --> 00:30:24,407
We are like Even though
it's cool to be nerds now.

512
00:30:24,727 --> 00:30:25,907
Like, guys.

513
00:30:27,357 --> 00:30:30,277
We have spent so much
energy trying to win!

514
00:30:30,827 --> 00:30:34,977
Christianity is not for winners,
it's a religion of losers!

515
00:30:35,227 --> 00:30:38,387
It's the gospel for
losers, we are the losers!

516
00:30:39,247 --> 00:30:41,117
And it thrives in that!

517
00:30:41,617 --> 00:30:46,707
Like, the thing we've done in
America is we've mixed Christian, the

518
00:30:46,707 --> 00:30:50,217
Christian, Christian victory, like,
the Christ, what was the old saying?

519
00:30:50,217 --> 00:30:51,937
The victorious Christian life.

520
00:30:52,492 --> 00:30:53,142
as winning.

521
00:30:53,142 --> 00:30:54,412
We've associated the two.

522
00:30:54,662 --> 00:30:59,162
No, the Christian, victorious Christian
life is leaning into our weakness and our

523
00:30:59,162 --> 00:31:03,532
foolishness and our brokenness and letting
God shine through us and letting people

524
00:31:03,532 --> 00:31:10,112
see that He is truly a treasure and that
if everything's taken away, we are rich

525
00:31:10,152 --> 00:31:14,552
and we are full because we have Jesus
and He'll never be taken away from us.

526
00:31:15,332 --> 00:31:23,167
So I just like such a crazy thing that We
don't want to lose, and it, there, it will

527
00:31:23,167 --> 00:31:25,227
be the temptation of this next generation.

528
00:31:26,587 --> 00:31:30,637
It's already been the temptation of
my generation, but the temptation

529
00:31:30,637 --> 00:31:33,197
in the next generation to lose this,

530
00:31:34,197 --> 00:31:35,177
I think that's my phone.

531
00:31:35,177 --> 00:31:35,967
I turned off Siri.

532
00:31:35,977 --> 00:31:36,937
So that wouldn't happen anymore.

533
00:31:37,937 --> 00:31:39,037
I thought I was like.

534
00:31:40,587 --> 00:31:41,707
It's called Next Generation.

535
00:31:42,707 --> 00:31:43,777
But it's by Scarface.

536
00:31:44,777 --> 00:31:47,697
That's how I'm playing myself out, Can
I have the worship leader come forward?

537
00:31:48,797 --> 00:31:50,007
God is not cranky.

538
00:31:51,977 --> 00:31:56,807
He is not looking forward
to the day of judgment.

539
00:31:57,807 --> 00:31:58,547
How do we know that?

540
00:32:00,192 --> 00:32:02,942
Because he provided himself for judgment.

541
00:32:04,352 --> 00:32:13,912
So the beauty is that no sin is
ever swept under the carpet, but is

542
00:32:14,032 --> 00:32:19,222
answered in its full force either by
the Son taking it and absorbing it.

543
00:32:19,222 --> 00:32:22,352
And that's why we can
be friends with people.

544
00:32:24,142 --> 00:32:25,652
we've done horrible things.

545
00:32:26,652 --> 00:32:30,422
So too, God's forgiveness
because the justice was paid.

546
00:32:30,922 --> 00:32:34,402
It wasn't just, God wasn't
just like, Oh, I'm just loving,

547
00:32:34,562 --> 00:32:36,092
sending vibes out into the world.

548
00:32:36,092 --> 00:32:36,452
No.

549
00:32:37,327 --> 00:32:40,127
That's why Jesus, when he looked
into the cup that he was going

550
00:32:40,127 --> 00:32:42,977
to drink on that night of nights,
he's like, is there any other way?

551
00:32:42,977 --> 00:32:46,997
Like I, the perfect Lamb of God who
can't even be in the presence of

552
00:32:46,997 --> 00:32:54,497
sin, as 2 says, I'm going to become
the sin substitute, like all of it.

553
00:32:55,757 --> 00:32:59,057
And then that justice that
we all stand to deserve.

554
00:32:59,147 --> 00:33:00,037
It was the only way.

555
00:33:00,047 --> 00:33:01,947
There's no other way for man to be saved.

556
00:33:03,057 --> 00:33:04,117
he absorbed it.

557
00:33:05,117 --> 00:33:08,817
The innocent one, for the guilty,
so that you might be made innocent.

558
00:33:09,477 --> 00:33:12,387
And so that our fellow believers,
even if they're in different

559
00:33:13,027 --> 00:33:18,867
denominations, and they believe different
theology, and they have been saved.

560
00:33:19,057 --> 00:33:20,827
And the price has been paid.

561
00:33:22,267 --> 00:33:28,947
For the word of the cross is folly to
those who are perishing, but to us, who

562
00:33:28,947 --> 00:33:32,937
are being saved, it is the power of God.

563
00:33:32,937 --> 00:33:39,327
the gospel will always be a stumbling
block, for some, I remember, I think

564
00:33:39,367 --> 00:33:42,932
it was Keller who said, if you're
not, if the right, the conservatives,

565
00:33:43,022 --> 00:33:46,342
aren't upset at your message, and the
liberals aren't upset at your message,

566
00:33:46,342 --> 00:33:47,602
then you're not preaching the gospel.

567
00:33:48,092 --> 00:33:50,862
you'll always have that
dynamic, right, happening.

568
00:33:51,422 --> 00:33:54,952
you'll have the wise who are, who
think the gospel's foolish, right?

569
00:33:55,202 --> 00:33:58,362
Oh, just a, a, a guy who died as
a criminal, he's gonna save you?

570
00:33:58,812 --> 00:34:02,462
you'll have people who love
power thinking that it's foolish

571
00:34:02,482 --> 00:34:03,642
because, pfft, pfft, pfft.

572
00:34:03,992 --> 00:34:04,892
He died as a criminal.

573
00:34:04,912 --> 00:34:06,782
He's, you'd be saved in weakness.

574
00:34:06,782 --> 00:34:07,912
Weakness is the true power.

575
00:34:07,912 --> 00:34:09,272
you have to admit that you can't do it.

576
00:34:09,572 --> 00:34:11,371
Oh, Christianity is a crutch.

577
00:34:11,371 --> 00:34:12,812
No, it's the whole hospital.

578
00:34:12,831 --> 00:34:15,072
Like, yes, you nailed it, right?

579
00:34:15,542 --> 00:34:17,612
but that's, offensive to people.

580
00:34:17,672 --> 00:34:18,272
It's offensive.

581
00:34:18,282 --> 00:34:20,152
God forgives any who will come.

582
00:34:20,193 --> 00:34:23,273
so, let's just, sit under His grace.

583
00:34:23,382 --> 00:34:27,433
I was listening to a pastor, last
week, or this week, and they painted.

584
00:34:28,483 --> 00:34:30,273
the door on their church red.

585
00:34:31,163 --> 00:34:32,632
I'm like, Oh, we have a red door.

586
00:34:33,163 --> 00:34:35,443
because yes, nice.

587
00:34:35,493 --> 00:34:40,193
that's his point is he wants everybody
who comes in to remember that they've

588
00:34:40,193 --> 00:34:44,033
been covered by the blood, that anybody
can come under the blood and that the

589
00:34:44,033 --> 00:34:46,013
blood of Jesus forgives us from all sin.

590
00:34:46,013 --> 00:34:46,273
Right.

591
00:34:46,443 --> 00:34:52,233
And, just that core reminder of
what God did that he passed over.

592
00:34:52,243 --> 00:34:52,652
Why?

593
00:34:53,013 --> 00:34:57,243
Was it because, the
youngest Hebrew was awesome?

594
00:34:57,693 --> 00:34:58,053
No.

595
00:34:58,713 --> 00:35:00,003
It was because he was
covered in the blood.

596
00:35:00,883 --> 00:35:04,343
Was it because the youngest, the
firstborn wasn't, wasn't fearful?

597
00:35:05,043 --> 00:35:07,833
No, he could have been out of
his, scared out of his gourd.

598
00:35:09,033 --> 00:35:10,173
But he was covered in the blood.

599
00:35:11,183 --> 00:35:15,243
any, where the blood covered,
was that death passed over,

600
00:35:15,243 --> 00:35:16,603
that judgment passed over.

601
00:35:17,333 --> 00:35:17,553
so.

602
00:35:18,393 --> 00:35:21,763
Man, there's so much to
rejoice about in our stories.

603
00:35:21,963 --> 00:35:25,633
just thinking again of that
patience, patient forbearance,

604
00:35:26,163 --> 00:35:27,823
and what he's done, so thank you.

605
00:35:30,653 --> 00:35:32,083
Father, we thank you for this morning.

606
00:35:32,093 --> 00:35:33,933
We thank you for all
the, just, encouragement.

607
00:35:34,813 --> 00:35:38,422
The stories, the insights and
God, we just pray that you

608
00:35:38,422 --> 00:35:40,072
would, just bless this time now.

609
00:35:41,392 --> 00:35:47,532
Oh, just minister to our hearts and
Lord take what is currently like

610
00:35:47,622 --> 00:35:51,682
outside of our hearts and beautiful.

611
00:35:53,212 --> 00:35:55,582
but I pray that you plan it now
deep in our hearts that it would

612
00:35:55,582 --> 00:35:58,102
remain and bear lasting fruit.

613
00:35:58,303 --> 00:36:05,957
For your