1 00:00:10,914 --> 00:00:11,564 Joshua Kehler: Jonah 4. 2 00:00:13,054 --> 00:00:13,904 Kind of finishing out. 3 00:00:13,904 --> 00:00:17,544 We may have one more As a group we've been going through the book of Jonah. 4 00:00:18,134 --> 00:00:21,484 And this is just an incredible story. 5 00:00:22,394 --> 00:00:23,834 A narrative of the gospel. 6 00:00:24,604 --> 00:00:26,404 And Let's pick up in verse one. 7 00:00:26,434 --> 00:00:29,964 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. 8 00:00:30,734 --> 00:00:33,004 And he was angry. 9 00:00:33,874 --> 00:00:37,034 And he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I 10 00:00:37,044 --> 00:00:38,954 said when I was yet in my country? 11 00:00:39,879 --> 00:00:43,809 That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you 12 00:00:43,809 --> 00:00:50,719 are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast 13 00:00:50,719 --> 00:00:53,189 love and relenting from disaster. 14 00:00:53,189 --> 00:00:57,279 Therefore now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better 15 00:00:57,279 --> 00:00:59,249 for me to die than to live. 16 00:01:00,169 --> 00:01:05,209 And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry? 17 00:01:06,464 --> 00:01:09,184 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and 18 00:01:09,184 --> 00:01:10,974 made a booth for himself there. 19 00:01:11,204 --> 00:01:15,744 He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. 20 00:01:16,274 --> 00:01:19,974 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that 21 00:01:20,024 --> 00:01:24,314 it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. 22 00:01:24,954 --> 00:01:27,904 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 23 00:01:28,594 --> 00:01:32,894 But when the dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that 24 00:01:32,894 --> 00:01:35,259 attacked the plant So that it withered. 25 00:01:36,098 --> 00:01:40,069 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the 26 00:01:40,069 --> 00:01:42,719 sun beat down on the head of Jonah, so that he was faint. 27 00:01:43,069 --> 00:01:47,509 And he asked that he might die, and said, Is it better for me to die than to live? 28 00:01:47,539 --> 00:01:52,059 But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? 29 00:01:52,169 --> 00:01:54,009 And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry. 30 00:01:54,009 --> 00:01:55,179 Angry enough to die. 31 00:01:55,919 --> 00:01:59,209 And the Lord said, You pity the plant. 32 00:01:59,854 --> 00:02:04,254 For which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being 33 00:02:04,254 --> 00:02:05,764 in a night and perished in a night. 34 00:02:06,634 --> 00:02:11,334 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more 35 00:02:11,334 --> 00:02:15,734 than a hundred twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from 36 00:02:15,734 --> 00:02:19,114 their left, and also much cattle. 37 00:02:19,994 --> 00:02:21,014 This is the word of the Lord. 38 00:02:21,244 --> 00:02:26,494 So I titled this, and I usually don't read titles, but this morning 39 00:02:26,494 --> 00:02:31,704 it's called A Very Uncomfortable God, or A Most Uncomfortable God. 40 00:02:32,694 --> 00:02:37,494 Robert Cappin, in his book Between Noon and Three, he writes, If we are 41 00:02:37,494 --> 00:02:45,074 to ever fully enter into the glorious liberty as the children of God, we 42 00:02:45,074 --> 00:02:49,103 are going to have to spend more time thinking about freedom than we do. 43 00:02:49,964 --> 00:02:54,344 The church, by and large, has had a poor record of encouraging freedom. 44 00:02:55,103 --> 00:03:00,664 It has spent so much time inculcating us in the fear of making mistakes. 45 00:03:01,479 --> 00:03:05,409 That it has made us like ill taught piano students. 46 00:03:05,839 --> 00:03:11,899 We play our pieces, but we never really hear them because our main concern is 47 00:03:11,899 --> 00:03:16,599 not to make music, but to avoid some flub that will get us into trouble. 48 00:03:17,299 --> 00:03:22,199 The church, having put itself in loco parentis, or in the place of 49 00:03:22,199 --> 00:03:26,969 the parent, has been so afraid we will lose sight of the need to do 50 00:03:26,969 --> 00:03:28,949 right that it has made us care more. 51 00:03:30,904 --> 00:03:32,694 About than about who Jesus is. 52 00:03:33,944 --> 00:03:35,084 And who is Jesus? 53 00:03:36,014 --> 00:03:41,774 The one who is full of grace and truth. 54 00:03:42,774 --> 00:03:46,844 Gethard Ferdy, in his book, Justification, A Matter of Life and Death, toward the end 55 00:03:46,844 --> 00:03:50,024 of his book, he asks this question after talking about everything that we have 56 00:03:50,024 --> 00:03:51,924 in Christ, because what Jesus has done. 57 00:03:52,464 --> 00:03:53,824 And this is the sum of his book. 58 00:03:53,824 --> 00:03:55,004 It's so good. 59 00:03:55,624 --> 00:03:59,824 He says, in light of the gospel, in light of what God has done for 60 00:03:59,964 --> 00:04:04,844 you, what are you going to do now that you don't have to do anything? 61 00:04:05,844 --> 00:04:06,234 What? 62 00:04:06,954 --> 00:04:08,234 You can't say that! 63 00:04:09,194 --> 00:04:11,984 What about this and, what about that? 64 00:04:11,984 --> 00:04:17,074 You've gotta put this regulation on it or that or qualify that kind of statement. 65 00:04:17,074 --> 00:04:17,474 But St. 66 00:04:17,483 --> 00:04:20,103 Augustine, he said something centuries earlier, he said, 67 00:04:20,113 --> 00:04:21,934 Love God and do what you please. 68 00:04:23,294 --> 00:04:23,774 Why? 69 00:04:24,494 --> 00:04:24,974 Why? 70 00:04:26,484 --> 00:04:35,354 Because freedom is so amazing in the Christian life that you're actually free. 71 00:04:36,964 --> 00:04:37,884 You're actually free. 72 00:04:39,534 --> 00:04:41,324 To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. 73 00:04:41,354 --> 00:04:42,644 Like, that's St. 74 00:04:42,654 --> 00:04:43,244 Augustine. 75 00:04:44,084 --> 00:04:44,474 Yeah. 76 00:04:45,384 --> 00:04:46,054 Yes. 77 00:04:46,464 --> 00:04:48,174 Love God and do what you please. 78 00:04:48,474 --> 00:04:54,084 Because if the first one is taken care of, that's, you're going to please God. 79 00:04:54,144 --> 00:05:00,944 but we so often are like, Wait, if you, if we're free here it's it's Romans, right? 80 00:05:00,944 --> 00:05:03,784 Where it says, wait a minute, you're talking about grace. 81 00:05:04,104 --> 00:05:06,724 Are you saying, we should sin so that grace might abound? 82 00:05:06,744 --> 00:05:10,114 And Paul says, in essence, in the Greek, he says, if you ask that 83 00:05:10,114 --> 00:05:12,794 question, you don't understand it. 84 00:05:13,424 --> 00:05:16,744 grace is so amazing, you're not going to want anything else. 85 00:05:17,244 --> 00:05:18,724 Grace is amazing. 86 00:05:18,784 --> 00:05:21,044 It is like mind blowing. 87 00:05:21,044 --> 00:05:21,454 It is. 88 00:05:22,334 --> 00:05:24,374 It is something otherworldly. 89 00:05:24,494 --> 00:05:25,864 we kind of get mercy. 90 00:05:26,344 --> 00:05:27,584 We kind of get love. 91 00:05:27,964 --> 00:05:33,214 But grace is this otherworldly thing that just makes no sense to us. 92 00:05:33,714 --> 00:05:35,894 It's a contradiction, almost. 93 00:05:36,574 --> 00:05:38,174 I love this definition by Paul Zoll. 94 00:05:38,194 --> 00:05:42,444 He says, grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. 95 00:05:43,844 --> 00:05:48,294 Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. 96 00:05:49,704 --> 00:05:53,334 Grace is being loved when you're unlovable. 97 00:05:54,654 --> 00:05:57,554 The cliché definition of grace is unconditional love, 98 00:05:57,594 --> 00:06:00,584 but it's a right cliché. 99 00:06:01,164 --> 00:06:03,864 Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. 100 00:06:03,864 --> 00:06:07,434 It has everything and only to do with the lover, Jesus. 101 00:06:07,944 --> 00:06:11,954 Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights. 102 00:06:12,679 --> 00:06:17,419 And measurements has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so 103 00:06:17,419 --> 00:06:19,709 called gifts, whatever they may be. 104 00:06:20,009 --> 00:06:24,959 It reflects the decision on part of the giver, the one who loves in relation 105 00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:26,839 to the receiver, the one who is loved. 106 00:06:27,329 --> 00:06:30,799 It negates any qualifications the receiver may possibly hold. 107 00:06:31,039 --> 00:06:34,599 Grace is one way love. 108 00:06:36,189 --> 00:06:36,979 It's amazing. 109 00:06:37,979 --> 00:06:41,609 In fact, grace, in other words, doesn't make demands, it just gives. 110 00:06:41,629 --> 00:06:44,959 And from our vantage point, It always gives to the wrong person. 111 00:06:45,569 --> 00:06:47,019 I mean us, we get it, right? 112 00:06:47,519 --> 00:06:48,439 But not them. 113 00:06:49,319 --> 00:06:50,649 They're too far gone. 114 00:06:50,959 --> 00:06:52,329 No, they've blown it. 115 00:06:53,209 --> 00:06:55,719 From our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person. 116 00:06:55,719 --> 00:06:57,549 We see this over and over in the Gospels. 117 00:06:57,558 --> 00:06:59,879 Jesus is always giving to the wrong people. 118 00:07:00,549 --> 00:07:03,409 Prostitutes, tax collectors, half breeds. 119 00:07:03,969 --> 00:07:09,739 The most extravagant sinners of Jesus day receive His most compassionate welcome. 120 00:07:11,019 --> 00:07:15,589 Grace is a divine vulgarity that stands caution on its head. 121 00:07:15,789 --> 00:07:18,229 It refuses to play it safe and lay it up. 122 00:07:18,479 --> 00:07:22,689 Grace is recklessly generous, uncomfortably promiscuous. 123 00:07:22,869 --> 00:07:25,229 It doesn't use sticks, carrots, or time cards. 124 00:07:25,419 --> 00:07:27,999 It doesn't keep score. 125 00:07:28,999 --> 00:07:33,829 One other thing I read this week was that true Christian maturity 126 00:07:33,989 --> 00:07:37,719 is not getting better, but the humility to admit that you're not. 127 00:07:38,219 --> 00:07:41,449 We have that, that picture, maybe you guys have seen it, Footprints. 128 00:07:41,529 --> 00:07:42,879 And if you haven't, God bless you. 129 00:07:43,339 --> 00:07:45,979 I think we had it growing up, I cried when I read it, as a kid. 130 00:07:46,379 --> 00:07:47,649 But I think it leaves something out. 131 00:07:48,499 --> 00:07:51,789 The idea is that this man has a dream and, he's looking at his 132 00:07:51,789 --> 00:07:55,869 whole life, and there's two sets of footprints through the good times. 133 00:07:56,089 --> 00:07:58,879 But when the times are bad and the times are rough, there's only one 134 00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:01,529 set of footprints, and he's God, why is there only one set of footprints? 135 00:08:01,699 --> 00:08:02,699 Have you abandoned me? 136 00:08:03,249 --> 00:08:05,179 it seems like in all the hard times, there's only one set. 137 00:08:05,179 --> 00:08:05,729 Where have you gone? 138 00:08:05,729 --> 00:08:06,969 And he says, Oh, son, no. 139 00:08:07,619 --> 00:08:08,409 I haven't abandoned you. 140 00:08:08,409 --> 00:08:09,979 Those are the times I carried you. 141 00:08:10,499 --> 00:08:11,309 And you're like, Yes! 142 00:08:11,929 --> 00:08:16,679 That's amazing, and it is amazing, but the truer thing is that from day 143 00:08:16,679 --> 00:08:18,719 one, there's one set of footprints. 144 00:08:19,319 --> 00:08:22,369 From day one, God is carrying you. 145 00:08:22,539 --> 00:08:26,499 In fact, the real mark in the sand, usually, for me in my story, 146 00:08:26,739 --> 00:08:32,419 is like a ditch that's been dug where he's dragged me, into grace. 147 00:08:32,499 --> 00:08:34,779 Drag marks, not footprints. 148 00:08:35,779 --> 00:08:37,568 Guys, it's so freeing. 149 00:08:38,119 --> 00:08:43,789 Brennan Manning, he said, until you believe that God will never 150 00:08:43,789 --> 00:08:46,219 stop loving you if you never change, you'll never change. 151 00:08:47,819 --> 00:08:49,639 Because that's understanding grace. 152 00:08:50,129 --> 00:08:53,479 That's if it's God's going to love you, but you've got 153 00:08:53,479 --> 00:08:55,029 to do this, that's not grace. 154 00:08:55,029 --> 00:09:01,029 Grace is just full and complete generosity and gift to the person. 155 00:09:01,709 --> 00:09:06,829 And so, that idea that as Christians, when we grow, we do 156 00:09:06,829 --> 00:09:08,529 not just get stronger and stronger. 157 00:09:08,529 --> 00:09:11,529 We realize that we're weaker and weaker, and that we need more of God. 158 00:09:11,729 --> 00:09:14,109 That is true maturity. 159 00:09:14,519 --> 00:09:16,299 That we need more dependence. 160 00:09:16,499 --> 00:09:17,939 That we need more humility. 161 00:09:18,159 --> 00:09:21,879 That we need less self reliance, less trusting in ourselves, 162 00:09:22,009 --> 00:09:24,559 and more trusting in Him. 163 00:09:26,079 --> 00:09:27,029 But here's the thing. 164 00:09:27,929 --> 00:09:29,569 Grace is a gift, pure and simple. 165 00:09:30,279 --> 00:09:33,549 We might insist on trying to pay, but the balance has been 166 00:09:33,549 --> 00:09:35,874 settled, and our money's no good. 167 00:09:36,414 --> 00:09:39,684 Of course, even if we're able to accept one way love when it comes our way, 168 00:09:39,684 --> 00:09:43,314 we have trouble when it reaches other people, especially those who have 169 00:09:43,314 --> 00:09:45,564 done us wrong and have wounded us. 170 00:09:46,464 --> 00:09:52,324 Grace offends our sense of justice by being both implausible and unfair. 171 00:09:52,654 --> 00:09:56,644 We are uncomfortable because grace turns the tables on us. 172 00:09:58,124 --> 00:10:00,054 And that's what we're going to see in the story of Jonah right here. 173 00:10:00,644 --> 00:10:01,994 He's deeply offended. 174 00:10:01,994 --> 00:10:05,174 He literally says in his prayer, I knew you were gracious! 175 00:10:05,434 --> 00:10:07,154 And he's angry and he wants to die. 176 00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:10,639 Because God shows mercy to his enemy. 177 00:10:11,769 --> 00:10:17,099 And so, Robert Cappin, he says Here's a prayer for the grace averse heart. 178 00:10:18,289 --> 00:10:19,739 A heart that doesn't like grace. 179 00:10:21,169 --> 00:10:25,319 Restore to us, preacher, the comfort of merit and demerit. 180 00:10:26,189 --> 00:10:29,149 Prove for us that there is at least something we can do. 181 00:10:29,759 --> 00:10:33,119 That we are still, at whatever dim recess of our nature, the 182 00:10:33,129 --> 00:10:34,559 masters of our relationship. 183 00:10:34,724 --> 00:10:34,854 us. 184 00:10:35,324 --> 00:10:39,714 Tell us prophet that in spite all of our nights of losing, there will yet 185 00:10:39,724 --> 00:10:45,184 be one redeeming card on our very own to fill the inside straight we have so 186 00:10:45,184 --> 00:10:47,414 longed and so earnestly tried to draw to. 187 00:10:48,074 --> 00:10:50,084 But whatever you do not preach grace. 188 00:10:50,394 --> 00:10:52,124 We insist on being reckoned with. 189 00:10:52,314 --> 00:10:56,444 Give us something, anything, but spare us the indignity of 190 00:10:56,444 --> 00:10:58,734 this indiscriminate acceptance. 191 00:10:59,734 --> 00:11:04,064 And as much as like you were like, no one would pray that. 192 00:11:05,064 --> 00:11:12,044 Many a church builds its congregation and its people on what you do, and 193 00:11:12,044 --> 00:11:13,534 less about what God has done for you. 194 00:11:15,164 --> 00:11:19,284 Everything you do flows out of the fruit of what Jesus has done. 195 00:11:20,244 --> 00:11:23,684 Your identity is not your past. 196 00:11:24,004 --> 00:11:25,214 It's not what you've done. 197 00:11:25,214 --> 00:11:26,684 It's not what you're going to do. 198 00:11:26,994 --> 00:11:29,024 It's not on your performance. 199 00:11:29,399 --> 00:11:33,649 Your identity is so secure and invincible because it's completely based on 200 00:11:33,649 --> 00:11:38,459 what Jesus has done for you, on who Jesus is, who Jesus says you are. 201 00:11:38,749 --> 00:11:42,569 And he says you're a beloved son and that can, you'll never be plucked 202 00:11:42,569 --> 00:11:45,519 out of the sand, that can never go away, that is never diminished. 203 00:11:46,339 --> 00:11:47,959 That's your identity. 204 00:11:48,289 --> 00:11:50,529 That survives anything. 205 00:11:51,779 --> 00:11:54,909 It survives any relationship, it survives any heartbreak, it 206 00:11:54,909 --> 00:11:56,989 survives any relational pain. 207 00:11:58,019 --> 00:12:00,549 Who Jesus says you are. 208 00:12:00,749 --> 00:12:02,739 But, there's something in us. 209 00:12:02,869 --> 00:12:07,569 Calvin, I think, said that it's like in us where, self righteousness is 210 00:12:07,579 --> 00:12:10,649 the most basic of human qualities. 211 00:12:11,069 --> 00:12:12,699 it's our default. 212 00:12:12,699 --> 00:12:13,689 It's what we go to. 213 00:12:13,689 --> 00:12:15,079 We need to prove ourselves. 214 00:12:15,079 --> 00:12:17,679 We need to tell, show people that we're better. 215 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,079 We need to show people the counterfeit. 216 00:12:20,449 --> 00:12:23,549 We need to show people that we're this and we're this. 217 00:12:23,549 --> 00:12:26,079 So today we're going to look at The Stonewall, The Shady Plant, 218 00:12:26,119 --> 00:12:27,349 and The Mysterious Author. 219 00:12:28,929 --> 00:12:29,939 The Mysterious Author. 220 00:12:30,229 --> 00:12:31,219 Ah, it's so good. 221 00:12:32,529 --> 00:12:33,269 The Stonewall. 222 00:12:34,299 --> 00:12:35,169 Verse one to four. 223 00:12:35,579 --> 00:12:36,359 Let's look at verse one. 224 00:12:36,359 --> 00:12:40,259 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. 225 00:12:40,309 --> 00:12:44,979 Jonah chapter 4 is one of the most unexpected and overlooked final 226 00:12:44,979 --> 00:12:46,759 chapters of any book of the Bible. 227 00:12:47,594 --> 00:12:49,234 Most people have heard the story of Jonah. 228 00:12:49,234 --> 00:12:52,234 You've seen it in VeggieTales what's the story of Jonah? 229 00:12:52,234 --> 00:12:53,994 It's about Jonah getting swallowed by a big fish. 230 00:12:54,374 --> 00:12:54,784 That's it. 231 00:12:55,204 --> 00:12:57,444 That's not the point of the story, right? 232 00:12:58,124 --> 00:13:01,984 There's so much more to the story, and there's so much more than just the fish. 233 00:13:02,984 --> 00:13:06,664 They think it's his being swallowed and his release from the fish. 234 00:13:06,704 --> 00:13:10,564 A smaller number of people will say he gets recommissioned, and he goes and he 235 00:13:10,564 --> 00:13:13,854 preaches successfully to Nineveh, and they repent, and that's the end of the story. 236 00:13:14,549 --> 00:13:15,599 That's not the end of the story. 237 00:13:15,599 --> 00:13:19,049 Chapter 4 is like the most important part of the book. 238 00:13:19,549 --> 00:13:24,069 So it displeased Jonah, and he was angry. 239 00:13:24,069 --> 00:13:26,689 So just a little bit, since some of you haven't been with us on this 240 00:13:26,689 --> 00:13:29,039 journey, I want to talk a little bit about Jonah and who he was. 241 00:13:29,729 --> 00:13:33,079 Jonah appears one other time in the Old Testament, and it's in 2 242 00:13:33,079 --> 00:13:35,579 Kings chapter 14, verse 23 to 27. 243 00:13:36,139 --> 00:13:43,139 And we find out there that Jonah is to go to Rehoboam II, or maybe it's Jeroboam II. 244 00:13:43,579 --> 00:13:47,409 And he was a wicked king even more wicked than his father. 245 00:13:49,309 --> 00:13:53,879 And so he's to go, commissioned by God as a prophet, one who speaks for God. 246 00:13:54,299 --> 00:13:56,139 The message, God gives him a message. 247 00:13:56,429 --> 00:13:59,309 But what's strange is that the message that he's to give Jeroboam 248 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:00,749 is that God's gonna bless him. 249 00:14:02,289 --> 00:14:06,509 In the face of his brokenness and his sinfulness, Jonah preaches a 250 00:14:06,509 --> 00:14:09,149 message of grace and what happens. 251 00:14:09,649 --> 00:14:12,749 Second Kings 1423 to 27. 252 00:14:13,749 --> 00:14:21,169 So what happens is that Jarbo, the second junior, continues in his sinfulness. 253 00:14:23,129 --> 00:14:25,439 And so here Jonah is, he's a prophet. 254 00:14:25,439 --> 00:14:30,199 He's like, gets his big assignment and he gives the message that God gave him. 255 00:14:30,259 --> 00:14:36,899 And he does not see, like he would expect the other prophets are calling out, woe 256 00:14:36,899 --> 00:14:39,959 to you, coon, woe to you, woe to you. 257 00:14:39,959 --> 00:14:43,594 And they're just like, God's gonna judge and he's gonna, turn you over 258 00:14:43,594 --> 00:14:47,394 and demolish you and Jonah's called to preach a message of grace And he doesn't 259 00:14:47,404 --> 00:14:49,804 see what he expects to see from it. 260 00:14:50,724 --> 00:14:55,084 Jonah is seeing God's gracious message to his own wicked rebellious people and now 261 00:14:55,084 --> 00:14:59,364 he's called to take a message not to his own broken people That's one thing to do 262 00:14:59,364 --> 00:15:05,534 it for your own people, but to his most hated enemies And these guys were bad. 263 00:15:06,374 --> 00:15:10,654 They weren't just like the neighbor who, throws things over your fence. 264 00:15:11,014 --> 00:15:13,764 Or, who plays music too loud on Saturday nights. 265 00:15:14,654 --> 00:15:16,414 These were cruel. 266 00:15:16,414 --> 00:15:19,394 The cruelest people in history up to that moment. 267 00:15:19,774 --> 00:15:24,594 They would take you captive, they would skin people alive, they would bury you up 268 00:15:24,594 --> 00:15:27,894 to your head in the sand, and they would stake your tongue in the ground, and then 269 00:15:27,894 --> 00:15:29,764 they would let the birds pick you apart. 270 00:15:29,804 --> 00:15:33,884 they would make the families, after they killed the patriarch, they 271 00:15:33,894 --> 00:15:36,504 would put the head on a stake, and they'd make the family do 272 00:15:36,504 --> 00:15:38,074 this mock parade through the city. 273 00:15:39,024 --> 00:15:39,494 Horrible. 274 00:15:39,894 --> 00:15:40,834 Cruel. 275 00:15:41,064 --> 00:15:44,164 Cruel to kids, cruel to women, especially cruel to women. 276 00:15:44,864 --> 00:15:47,404 And so, here's this wicked people. 277 00:15:48,029 --> 00:15:52,119 who are the world power at that time, and guess who's just to the west? 278 00:15:52,359 --> 00:15:53,739 It's the northern tribes of Israel. 279 00:15:53,959 --> 00:15:55,619 It's the first ones they run into. 280 00:15:55,799 --> 00:16:02,389 And so Jonah has seen over and over the cruelty and the oppression and the 281 00:16:02,409 --> 00:16:07,669 wickedness and the evil done to the people who he's trying to call back to God. 282 00:16:08,839 --> 00:16:12,379 And so God says, Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh. 283 00:16:13,449 --> 00:16:14,589 I have a message for them. 284 00:16:15,589 --> 00:16:16,399 And what does Jonah do? 285 00:16:16,419 --> 00:16:19,229 He says, No way in H E double hockey. 286 00:16:20,109 --> 00:16:24,819 He says, and in fact, he says he, goes to Joppa and he flees to Tarshish. 287 00:16:25,249 --> 00:16:30,329 He goes the furthest possible known location in the known world 288 00:16:30,329 --> 00:16:31,989 at that time away from Nineveh. 289 00:16:32,379 --> 00:16:35,579 There was, it was just unknown at the rest of the world was unknown. 290 00:16:35,579 --> 00:16:37,719 He literally goes the furthest place away. 291 00:16:38,459 --> 00:16:41,539 And so Jonah goes down into the ship and he's sleeping and he's 292 00:16:41,539 --> 00:16:42,989 like, fine, I got away from this. 293 00:16:43,279 --> 00:16:46,869 I'm away, I'm scot free, but the hound of heaven is set loose on 294 00:16:46,869 --> 00:16:50,029 his case and chases after Jonah and hurls a great storm at him. 295 00:16:50,259 --> 00:16:52,639 And all the language of Jonah, everything's great. 296 00:16:52,939 --> 00:16:55,879 It's a great fish, a great storm, a great ship, a great city. 297 00:16:56,119 --> 00:16:57,009 a great message. 298 00:16:57,109 --> 00:17:00,099 Just over and over there's this language in this book. 299 00:17:00,634 --> 00:17:04,814 and so they come and they're, the sailors are throwing everything off 300 00:17:04,834 --> 00:17:07,694 because they're going to go down and the storm is just getting worse and worse. 301 00:17:07,944 --> 00:17:09,394 Finally, they find Jonah sleeping. 302 00:17:09,654 --> 00:17:11,804 They draw straws and they say, Hey, what's up with you? 303 00:17:12,154 --> 00:17:13,674 Why we keep coming back to that? 304 00:17:13,674 --> 00:17:14,434 You're the problem. 305 00:17:14,684 --> 00:17:15,634 And he's yeah, I am. 306 00:17:15,884 --> 00:17:17,614 God told me to go and I did it. 307 00:17:17,644 --> 00:17:20,743 And instead of saying all we got to do is turn around and head back. 308 00:17:20,743 --> 00:17:22,164 He's like, throw me over the boat. 309 00:17:22,674 --> 00:17:23,914 I don't even want to go back. 310 00:17:24,164 --> 00:17:24,973 Like I'm done. 311 00:17:25,368 --> 00:17:29,109 And so, they try throwing more stuff off, and they're like, fine, Lord, 312 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:30,999 hold this blood not, on our account. 313 00:17:31,289 --> 00:17:35,499 And they throw him over, and as soon as he hits the water, it's like glass. 314 00:17:36,709 --> 00:17:38,349 And the raging storm is stilled. 315 00:17:39,299 --> 00:17:42,999 Much a foreshadow of what our Jesus would do as he was thrown 316 00:17:42,999 --> 00:17:44,589 into the chaos of God's wrath. 317 00:17:45,519 --> 00:17:51,129 As he went, and as he took the wrath, that storm, the chaos 318 00:17:51,379 --> 00:17:54,109 of judgment, it was stilled. 319 00:17:54,494 --> 00:17:57,374 Like the sailors on that ship and they fell on their knees and they began to 320 00:17:57,374 --> 00:18:02,814 worship Yahweh They were worshiping their pagan gods They were throwing their pagan 321 00:18:02,814 --> 00:18:06,804 gods off, to try to lighten the ship and now they started to worship Yahweh 322 00:18:07,454 --> 00:18:10,254 So Jonah, he's like, okay that worked. 323 00:18:10,344 --> 00:18:13,654 He's like, I'm gonna take one more breath He's going down and all of a 324 00:18:13,654 --> 00:18:15,764 sudden a fish a great fish swallows him. 325 00:18:15,764 --> 00:18:24,564 He's like great, And what's fascinating is Jonah does not repent for three days. 326 00:18:24,874 --> 00:18:27,574 He's in gastric acid juices. 327 00:18:27,724 --> 00:18:31,614 He's fish around him, seaweed wrapped around his head, 328 00:18:31,614 --> 00:18:32,914 his skin's being bleached. 329 00:18:33,374 --> 00:18:35,524 Suffocating to get a breath. 330 00:18:35,524 --> 00:18:40,524 Sharing that, fish's oxygen just to survive and for three days, 331 00:18:40,574 --> 00:18:42,204 he's like, nope, I'm stubborn. 332 00:18:42,204 --> 00:18:43,064 I'm not going to do it. 333 00:18:43,304 --> 00:18:44,364 I'm not going to repent. 334 00:18:44,404 --> 00:18:49,194 And finally that third day, he says, salvation belongs to the Lord. 335 00:18:50,144 --> 00:18:51,274 You get to choose. 336 00:18:51,904 --> 00:18:52,904 You get to choose. 337 00:18:53,594 --> 00:18:56,374 He's like, okay. 338 00:18:57,114 --> 00:19:02,874 And he repents and the fish vomits him out and he goes in and still, 339 00:19:03,134 --> 00:19:07,504 yes, he goes in, but he preaches in Hebrew, a five word sermon. 340 00:19:09,164 --> 00:19:12,184 And doesn't tell him anything about Yahweh, doesn't tell him what to do, 341 00:19:12,224 --> 00:19:17,354 doesn't tell, call, he just says, In 40 days, your city's gonna be overthrown. 342 00:19:18,454 --> 00:19:18,704 That's it. 343 00:19:19,744 --> 00:19:22,344 And it, it says that when he goes into this great city, 344 00:19:22,344 --> 00:19:24,084 the city was three days walk. 345 00:19:24,644 --> 00:19:25,664 But he makes it a day. 346 00:19:26,734 --> 00:19:27,834 He doesn't even go the length. 347 00:19:27,844 --> 00:19:29,904 He's like, okay, I'm done, I've done enough. 348 00:19:30,394 --> 00:19:34,074 But word starts to spread and it even goes to the king, and 349 00:19:34,074 --> 00:19:36,824 the king calls for a Fast. 350 00:19:37,094 --> 00:19:41,854 He calls not for just a fast for the nobles, and the important people, and 351 00:19:41,854 --> 00:19:45,724 the rich people, but for the poor, and the peasants, and the working 352 00:19:45,724 --> 00:19:49,514 class, and not even that, the kids, and they're all to wear sackcloth and 353 00:19:49,524 --> 00:19:52,004 ashes, and not only that, for the cattle! 354 00:19:52,204 --> 00:19:54,694 He says put sackcloth and ashes on the animals! 355 00:19:54,814 --> 00:20:01,484 Like, if this is true, we need to get right, and we need to not even have a... 356 00:20:02,179 --> 00:20:09,069 A moment where we're not serious about this, and so, Jonah would have 357 00:20:09,069 --> 00:20:14,849 been happy going if he was sure God was going to obliterate them, but 358 00:20:14,849 --> 00:20:17,259 Jonah was suspicious of God's mercy. 359 00:20:19,069 --> 00:20:25,249 God might actually forgive them, and his scandalous love, he might let them 360 00:20:25,299 --> 00:20:27,719 off, and Jonah can't stomach that. 361 00:20:28,084 --> 00:20:32,644 Jonah didn't run because he was afraid the mission would fail, he 362 00:20:32,644 --> 00:20:34,114 was afraid the mission would succeed. 363 00:20:35,114 --> 00:20:38,684 He cannot trust God to be unmerciful. 364 00:20:39,684 --> 00:20:43,824 What's beautiful is in this five word sermon, he uses the word hapok in Hebrew. 365 00:20:44,354 --> 00:20:45,164 Kind of like hot pocket. 366 00:20:45,594 --> 00:20:46,044 Hapok. 367 00:20:46,464 --> 00:20:47,924 And it just means overturned. 368 00:20:48,374 --> 00:20:51,404 And what's fascinating is in the Old Testament that word generally is 369 00:20:51,414 --> 00:20:53,274 used for like destroying something. 370 00:20:54,774 --> 00:20:58,204 It would be like the Etch A Sketch, you draw something, you spend 371 00:20:58,204 --> 00:21:00,264 hours doing it, and then your brother comes in and he shakes it. 372 00:21:00,594 --> 00:21:01,294 That's the idea. 373 00:21:01,294 --> 00:21:02,894 It destroys what you've created. 374 00:21:03,114 --> 00:21:04,324 He turns it upside down. 375 00:21:04,854 --> 00:21:06,729 For instance, in Lamentations 4. 376 00:21:06,729 --> 00:21:13,514 6, for the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, 377 00:21:13,914 --> 00:21:16,354 which was overthrown, Hapik, in a moment. 378 00:21:16,859 --> 00:21:18,569 And no hands were rung for her. 379 00:21:18,569 --> 00:21:19,739 And we know Sodom, right? 380 00:21:19,799 --> 00:21:20,969 It was destroyed in a moment. 381 00:21:20,974 --> 00:21:23,199 It was overturned in a moment. 382 00:21:24,309 --> 00:21:25,359 Hosea 11, eight. 383 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:26,829 How can I give you up? 384 00:21:26,949 --> 00:21:27,699 O efrim. 385 00:21:27,699 --> 00:21:30,279 How can I hand you over Ois Israel? 386 00:21:30,609 --> 00:21:32,199 How can I make you like Admira? 387 00:21:32,229 --> 00:21:33,219 How can I treat you? 388 00:21:33,224 --> 00:21:33,669 Like zeum? 389 00:21:34,419 --> 00:21:37,329 My heart haik within me. 390 00:21:37,629 --> 00:21:40,179 My compassion grows warm and tender. 391 00:21:40,419 --> 00:21:43,389 So all of a sudden there's also another use of the word and 392 00:21:43,389 --> 00:21:44,859 that's to overturn for good. 393 00:21:46,069 --> 00:21:48,929 Where you overturn something for good, like when you till the land 394 00:21:49,419 --> 00:21:54,489 so that the seeds might seep down and that it might bring forth fruit. 395 00:21:54,749 --> 00:21:56,539 There is a bad use of it. 396 00:21:57,424 --> 00:21:58,084 Destroy. 397 00:21:58,114 --> 00:22:01,044 And there's a good use of it where it's overturned for good. 398 00:22:01,044 --> 00:22:05,534 And Jeremiah 31 13, then shall the young women rejoice in the dance and the 399 00:22:05,534 --> 00:22:07,844 young men and the old shall be merry. 400 00:22:07,884 --> 00:22:09,864 I will turn their morning into joy. 401 00:22:09,864 --> 00:22:12,734 I will happen their morning into joy. 402 00:22:12,774 --> 00:22:15,754 I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. 403 00:22:15,954 --> 00:22:18,014 I'm going to overturn what was painful. 404 00:22:19,824 --> 00:22:24,384 So what's beautiful is Jonah goes in and he sabotages the job. 405 00:22:25,024 --> 00:22:28,764 He like preaches five words and then he's out like two days early. 406 00:22:29,074 --> 00:22:30,584 He doesn't, go before the king. 407 00:22:30,594 --> 00:22:32,054 He's just going to give this message. 408 00:22:32,054 --> 00:22:33,644 He's going to give him as little information. 409 00:22:33,854 --> 00:22:39,824 And he thinks his message is in 40 days, God will overturn. 410 00:22:39,824 --> 00:22:41,224 He's going to shake your etch a sketch. 411 00:22:41,224 --> 00:22:43,514 He's going to destroy your city like Sodom and Gomorrah. 412 00:22:44,904 --> 00:22:48,724 Through Jonah, God is saying in 40 days. 413 00:22:49,724 --> 00:22:53,704 I'm going to turn things over so that you might see my grace and my 414 00:22:53,704 --> 00:22:55,264 forgiveness and my mercy and love. 415 00:22:55,934 --> 00:22:57,484 I'm going to turn over your hardness. 416 00:22:57,834 --> 00:23:01,364 I'm going to turn over and bring repentance and humility 417 00:23:01,404 --> 00:23:02,464 and the whole city repent! 418 00:23:03,689 --> 00:23:07,929 Like that's insane, it's so funny because when we hear on the news about, 419 00:23:07,999 --> 00:23:11,919 some great evil being perpetuated in a country or genocide, we're like yeah. 420 00:23:12,599 --> 00:23:19,119 But we're like, can't believe that God could use a reluctant prophet to bring 421 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,869 a revival to a people in three days. 422 00:23:23,364 --> 00:23:26,734 And it's just this beautiful story and image of God's grace. 423 00:23:26,744 --> 00:23:33,444 So that kind of picks us up to Jonah and where he's at, but it displeased Jonah 424 00:23:33,494 --> 00:23:37,044 exceedingly and he was angry and prayed to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, is this not 425 00:23:37,044 --> 00:23:41,534 what I said when I was yet in my country, that this is why I made haste to flee 426 00:23:41,534 --> 00:23:45,904 to Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, 427 00:23:46,234 --> 00:23:48,114 fast love and relenting from disaster. 428 00:23:48,824 --> 00:23:49,624 Normal things that. 429 00:23:50,004 --> 00:23:51,644 Most people would love about God, right? 430 00:23:52,284 --> 00:23:55,344 Therefore now, Lord, please take my life for me, for it is better 431 00:23:55,344 --> 00:23:56,724 for me to die than to live. 432 00:23:56,724 --> 00:23:59,634 And the Lord said, And here's the point of the whole book of Jonah. 433 00:24:00,634 --> 00:24:02,294 Nineveh really wasn't the mission. 434 00:24:03,594 --> 00:24:04,314 It's a by product. 435 00:24:05,394 --> 00:24:10,294 The whole point of Jonah, and the whole point of the mission, was Jonah himself. 436 00:24:11,084 --> 00:24:12,004 Was saving Jonah. 437 00:24:12,734 --> 00:24:18,194 And saving him from this hard hearted bigotry and hate that he had. 438 00:24:18,679 --> 00:24:23,919 And God patiently over and over is going after Jonah. 439 00:24:24,779 --> 00:24:25,579 I'll send a storm. 440 00:24:26,299 --> 00:24:27,249 I'll send a fish. 441 00:24:28,159 --> 00:24:28,989 I'll send a plant. 442 00:24:29,799 --> 00:24:30,599 I'll send a worm. 443 00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:32,209 and he starts to counsel him. 444 00:24:32,289 --> 00:24:33,839 Jonah, is it right to be angry about this? 445 00:24:34,229 --> 00:24:35,049 Is this good anger? 446 00:24:36,029 --> 00:24:36,679 Is this good anger? 447 00:24:36,719 --> 00:24:39,299 And Jonah, he stonewalls him. 448 00:24:39,489 --> 00:24:41,099 He doesn't even respond to God right here. 449 00:24:41,909 --> 00:24:45,269 Right when he says, do you do well to be angry, Jonah went out of the 450 00:24:45,269 --> 00:24:46,679 city and sat to the east of the city. 451 00:24:46,699 --> 00:24:48,849 He's like, I'm not even going to talk to you about this. 452 00:24:48,999 --> 00:24:50,359 I knew this was going to happen. 453 00:24:51,399 --> 00:24:53,989 Do artists get angry when a prominent museum accepts 454 00:24:53,989 --> 00:24:55,349 their art for an installation? 455 00:24:56,229 --> 00:24:59,429 As a prophet, he's had the most successful campaign. 456 00:24:59,599 --> 00:25:03,009 All the prophets in Israel didn't have success. 457 00:25:03,369 --> 00:25:06,709 Jeremiah, he's thrown in a pit and he's like, I quit. 458 00:25:06,719 --> 00:25:07,289 He quit. 459 00:25:07,469 --> 00:25:08,209 I'm done. 460 00:25:08,594 --> 00:25:13,484 God, you keep, I talk for you and I end up in a worst place. 461 00:25:13,844 --> 00:25:19,194 And Jonah, he preaches and everybody's like, yeah, we're saved, thank you, right? 462 00:25:19,424 --> 00:25:22,561 And he's like, do musicians get angry when they're given a 463 00:25:22,561 --> 00:25:24,421 standing ovation at Carnegie Hall? 464 00:25:25,701 --> 00:25:30,851 but the will of God and the political fortunes of Israel seem to be diverging. 465 00:25:31,851 --> 00:25:36,181 And here's, as we've studied Jonah, he really likes Israel. 466 00:25:36,941 --> 00:25:38,501 He really likes his country. 467 00:25:38,881 --> 00:25:40,341 He's really for his country. 468 00:25:40,681 --> 00:25:48,021 And he can't reconcile that God would allow Israel's enemy repentance. 469 00:25:49,021 --> 00:25:50,221 One would have to choose. 470 00:25:50,271 --> 00:25:52,911 And Jonah leaves no doubt as to which of these two concerns 471 00:25:52,911 --> 00:25:53,671 are more important for him. 472 00:25:55,291 --> 00:25:58,811 God's glory and His forgiveness and His mercy and His grace, or 473 00:25:58,831 --> 00:26:01,531 Israel's security and future safety. 474 00:26:02,531 --> 00:26:06,191 Of course, anyone who cared for his own country would have been 475 00:26:06,211 --> 00:26:10,671 anxious about Assyria's survival, about Nineveh's survival. 476 00:26:10,921 --> 00:26:12,481 It was a terrorist state. 477 00:26:13,411 --> 00:26:16,781 Jonah, however, did not turn to God with anxiety, trusting in 478 00:26:16,781 --> 00:26:18,391 Him as so many in the Psalms. 479 00:26:18,771 --> 00:26:23,001 had done and written about their enemies, taking it to the Lord and wrestling 480 00:26:23,001 --> 00:26:26,861 with the Lord in that, if he had to choose between the security of Israel 481 00:26:26,861 --> 00:26:31,651 and loyalty to God while he was ready to push God away, that is not just 482 00:26:31,971 --> 00:26:36,161 concern and love for one's country, that's a kind of deification of it. 483 00:26:37,231 --> 00:26:40,931 When country becomes more important than God and His mercy. 484 00:26:42,871 --> 00:26:44,731 And he's no, I'm not gonna go there. 485 00:26:44,961 --> 00:26:45,791 That's the line. 486 00:26:46,001 --> 00:26:47,871 That's where I... 487 00:26:48,201 --> 00:26:48,811 Stop. 488 00:26:50,181 --> 00:26:54,031 When Christian believers, when we, when me, care more for our own interests and 489 00:26:54,031 --> 00:26:58,491 security than for the good and salvation of other races and ethnicities and other 490 00:26:58,521 --> 00:27:01,221 countries, we end up becoming like Jonah. 491 00:27:01,221 --> 00:27:06,451 And remember we said that on Yom Kippur, Jonah is read by Jewish people, and 492 00:27:06,451 --> 00:27:08,731 at the end they all say, I am Jonah. 493 00:27:10,191 --> 00:27:11,581 Because it's a mirror. 494 00:27:11,581 --> 00:27:15,451 Jonah is a mirror number one, our tendency to... 495 00:27:16,926 --> 00:27:22,456 Love God's grace for ourselves, but hold our hands out to anybody and 496 00:27:22,466 --> 00:27:26,076 everybody, and especially our enemies. 497 00:27:27,386 --> 00:27:32,006 And to say, they don't get the mercy, they don't deserve the mercy that I deserve. 498 00:27:32,256 --> 00:27:34,646 Once we start saying deserve and stuff like that, we've lost the plot. 499 00:27:35,466 --> 00:27:36,396 We've lost the whole plot. 500 00:27:37,426 --> 00:27:42,496 And number two, to remember, and this is what a rabbi said, that God chases 501 00:27:42,496 --> 00:27:44,796 us and won't let us stay that way. 502 00:27:45,241 --> 00:27:52,061 And will pursue us night and day with storm and creation and animals and 503 00:27:52,141 --> 00:27:54,731 plants and all of nature at his disposal. 504 00:27:54,731 --> 00:28:00,121 He'll throw at us to rescue us and set us free from that kind of idolatry. 505 00:28:01,301 --> 00:28:03,691 So God quietly rebukes Jonah with a question. 506 00:28:04,211 --> 00:28:07,071 Is it good for you to burn with such anger? 507 00:28:08,111 --> 00:28:09,741 See, it's such a good question. 508 00:28:09,761 --> 00:28:10,791 Anger isn't wrong. 509 00:28:11,681 --> 00:28:14,941 If you love something and it's threatened or harmed, anger is a 510 00:28:15,081 --> 00:28:17,671 appropriate and proper response. 511 00:28:18,091 --> 00:28:23,271 But such anger, inordinate anger, self righteous anger and fear, 512 00:28:23,531 --> 00:28:28,401 is a sign that the thing Jonah loves is a counterfeit god. 513 00:28:29,361 --> 00:28:35,941 Anything, even a good thing, that we make the ultimate thing, becomes 514 00:28:35,941 --> 00:28:37,221 a counterfeit god in our life. 515 00:28:37,491 --> 00:28:42,661 And as a terrible master, I struggle with it with family, right? 516 00:28:42,911 --> 00:28:44,051 I want to be the dad. 517 00:28:44,051 --> 00:28:47,341 I want to, Oh, I want to, I want to be the best dad. 518 00:28:47,341 --> 00:28:48,591 I want to be loved. 519 00:28:48,611 --> 00:28:54,691 But if I make my kids, my source of happiness, then I rise and I 520 00:28:54,721 --> 00:28:58,981 fall on their emotions, their days, what they say, what they don't say. 521 00:28:59,321 --> 00:29:02,731 And all of a sudden I've made them the source of my happiness, the 522 00:29:02,731 --> 00:29:07,931 source of my security, the source of my comfort and my approval. 523 00:29:08,331 --> 00:29:10,941 for my identity in this life. 524 00:29:11,971 --> 00:29:14,931 It's okay to want that, but if that is my ultimate and that's what I live 525 00:29:14,931 --> 00:29:19,091 for, that becomes a counterfeit God and it's a terrible master and it will 526 00:29:19,151 --> 00:29:24,431 leave you broken because you will always fall short of those counterfeit gods. 527 00:29:24,931 --> 00:29:27,731 You can never serve them well enough, good enough, hard enough. 528 00:29:28,051 --> 00:29:36,711 The only God who will not destroy you is Yahweh, is God himself, because 529 00:29:36,711 --> 00:29:39,091 he's for you and not against you. 530 00:29:39,631 --> 00:29:43,461 Because he's for your freedom and your joy and his glory. 531 00:29:44,271 --> 00:29:45,581 So Jonah Stonewall's god. 532 00:29:45,591 --> 00:29:46,961 He's just like, I'm done. 533 00:29:46,961 --> 00:29:48,071 I don't want to talk about it. 534 00:29:48,701 --> 00:29:53,971 What's fascinating is Jonah does not go, like you would, back on the ship. 535 00:29:55,171 --> 00:29:58,031 And maybe, I wouldn't get back in the sea if I was Jonah. 536 00:29:58,591 --> 00:30:02,191 I'd find a land route even if it took me, to the upper part of Asia or whatever. 537 00:30:02,191 --> 00:30:04,891 I'm just like, I am not going back into the sea. 538 00:30:05,491 --> 00:30:07,921 I will travel for two years, on a donkey. 539 00:30:08,611 --> 00:30:12,871 But Jonah doesn't look for public transportation. 540 00:30:13,151 --> 00:30:14,341 He doesn't, rent a donkey. 541 00:30:14,681 --> 00:30:25,561 He posts up outside the city because he's like, maybe it's fake repentance. 542 00:30:26,631 --> 00:30:29,351 Maybe, as the whole city's mourning and crying out, he's 543 00:30:29,351 --> 00:30:33,421 like, okay, this is a little much, sackcloth and all this and that. 544 00:30:33,431 --> 00:30:37,131 He hears the animals bleat, he's like, okay, performative art. 545 00:30:37,171 --> 00:30:41,611 We've all done that, so he's like, maybe, God's gonna see through, like I do. 546 00:30:41,871 --> 00:30:42,811 I see through. 547 00:30:42,981 --> 00:30:43,891 They're all fakes. 548 00:30:43,941 --> 00:30:46,571 They're gonna be back to their old ways, just like that. 549 00:30:46,671 --> 00:30:50,681 I'm gonna post up out here, and I'm gonna wait, and man, I'm gonna 550 00:30:50,681 --> 00:30:52,731 watch it burn with a front row seat. 551 00:30:54,411 --> 00:30:56,831 Amazingly, God keeps coming after him. 552 00:30:56,831 --> 00:30:59,911 Verse 6 to 11, now the Lord God appointed a plant. 553 00:31:00,081 --> 00:31:03,591 And made it come up over Jonah that he might have shade over his head 554 00:31:03,591 --> 00:31:04,811 to save him from his discomfort. 555 00:31:05,151 --> 00:31:07,971 I heard that somebody used this to say weed is good. 556 00:31:08,311 --> 00:31:11,621 A plant, a shady plant that saves people from his discomfort. 557 00:31:11,651 --> 00:31:13,791 We, not allowed to use the Bible that way. 558 00:31:14,081 --> 00:31:15,231 That's not what it's talking about. 559 00:31:15,231 --> 00:31:17,451 It's probably a castor oil plant, comes up in a night. 560 00:31:17,811 --> 00:31:18,421 Funny though. 561 00:31:18,581 --> 00:31:19,531 That's hilarious. 562 00:31:19,851 --> 00:31:20,811 It's amazing what we'll do. 563 00:31:21,271 --> 00:31:23,881 Now the Lord God appointed a plant, made it come up over Jonah that 564 00:31:23,881 --> 00:31:27,101 he might have shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. 565 00:31:27,101 --> 00:31:30,081 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 566 00:31:31,401 --> 00:31:34,611 So it's the first time Jonah's excited about something in the whole book. 567 00:31:35,671 --> 00:31:37,691 He's like, Yes! 568 00:31:38,321 --> 00:31:38,721 A plant! 569 00:31:39,561 --> 00:31:40,601 I have shade! 570 00:31:41,761 --> 00:31:45,881 But when the dawn came up the next day, So God appointed a 571 00:31:45,881 --> 00:31:48,371 plant, and God appointed a worm. 572 00:31:48,381 --> 00:31:52,496 And it all, there's this beautiful, like narratively, It's so 573 00:31:52,496 --> 00:31:53,666 beautiful how this book's written. 574 00:31:54,006 --> 00:31:54,966 It all hinges. 575 00:31:55,016 --> 00:31:55,956 Everything's been great. 576 00:31:55,966 --> 00:31:56,526 It's been great. 577 00:31:56,556 --> 00:31:57,126 It's been great. 578 00:31:57,156 --> 00:31:57,786 A great city. 579 00:31:57,786 --> 00:31:58,326 A great fish. 580 00:31:58,326 --> 00:31:58,886 A great storm. 581 00:31:58,886 --> 00:31:59,396 A great boat. 582 00:31:59,396 --> 00:31:59,886 A great ship. 583 00:31:59,896 --> 00:32:00,496 A great message. 584 00:32:00,496 --> 00:32:01,316 Like, over and over. 585 00:32:01,466 --> 00:32:02,026 A great king. 586 00:32:02,066 --> 00:32:02,846 A great repentance. 587 00:32:03,756 --> 00:32:04,756 And now it's a small worm. 588 00:32:05,766 --> 00:32:10,326 Because we're all supposed to go, Okay, this is like a main point of the story. 589 00:32:10,876 --> 00:32:11,846 As you would read it. 590 00:32:12,846 --> 00:32:15,586 When dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked 591 00:32:15,586 --> 00:32:17,056 the plant so that it withered. 592 00:32:17,366 --> 00:32:21,786 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down 593 00:32:21,786 --> 00:32:23,886 on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. 594 00:32:23,976 --> 00:32:28,386 And he asked that he might die and said, It is better for me to die than live. 595 00:32:29,056 --> 00:32:33,196 But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? 596 00:32:34,546 --> 00:32:37,766 And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry enough to die. 597 00:32:39,106 --> 00:32:42,516 And the Lord said, You pity the plant for which you did not labor. 598 00:32:42,991 --> 00:32:46,421 Nor did you make grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a 599 00:32:46,421 --> 00:32:50,151 night, and should I not pity Nineveh, the great city, in which there are 600 00:32:50,151 --> 00:32:53,481 more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand 601 00:32:53,481 --> 00:32:55,351 from their left, and also much cattle. 602 00:32:57,021 --> 00:33:00,871 The wrath of God had earlier come upon Jonah in that lethal storm, and he had 603 00:33:00,871 --> 00:33:03,001 survived only because of the mercy of God. 604 00:33:03,471 --> 00:33:07,391 He too, and he knew it, he repents in the belly in chapter three, 605 00:33:07,911 --> 00:33:11,711 deserved judgment, and received mercy, or chapter two, and received 606 00:33:11,711 --> 00:33:14,251 mercy instead, and been glad for it. 607 00:33:14,611 --> 00:33:16,171 Now, all that is forgotten. 608 00:33:17,011 --> 00:33:19,991 Jonah is like the ungrateful servant who, having been forgiven, 609 00:33:20,361 --> 00:33:22,161 refuses to forgive others. 610 00:33:22,191 --> 00:33:22,591 You see it. 611 00:33:22,591 --> 00:33:24,031 Remember that story in Matthew 18? 612 00:33:24,761 --> 00:33:25,911 That's such a gnarly story. 613 00:33:26,911 --> 00:33:33,141 There's a servant who's in charge of the king's accounts, some of them, in an area. 614 00:33:33,921 --> 00:33:38,931 And he's short something like, 20 billion. 615 00:33:39,211 --> 00:33:41,501 It just, he's like, okay. 616 00:33:42,081 --> 00:33:43,631 He's like, I've wasted it all. 617 00:33:43,941 --> 00:33:44,291 It's gone. 618 00:33:44,291 --> 00:33:45,431 I can't even recoup it. 619 00:33:45,751 --> 00:33:46,211 I've just... 620 00:33:47,861 --> 00:33:51,291 And the king's okay, then I'm going to throw you, and you and your family and you 621 00:33:51,291 --> 00:33:56,161 guys can work it off in debtor's prison for the next 10, 000 years is the idea. 622 00:33:56,161 --> 00:33:59,801 It's like, it's going to take you forever, like to pay this debt. 623 00:33:59,841 --> 00:34:00,841 Oh, interesting. 624 00:34:00,851 --> 00:34:04,151 It's going to take you forever to pay this debt if you take it upon yourself. 625 00:34:04,151 --> 00:34:05,961 So he casts himself at the mercy of the king. 626 00:34:07,491 --> 00:34:08,721 And the king says, okay, forgive you. 627 00:34:09,721 --> 00:34:13,951 Now that something interesting in that story is the king has to absorb the debt 628 00:34:15,610 --> 00:34:17,130 because it was a debt that was incurred. 629 00:34:18,286 --> 00:34:19,076 Swoop it under the count. 630 00:34:19,085 --> 00:34:20,065 He doesn't print more money. 631 00:34:20,516 --> 00:34:26,576 He has to absorb that money has been blown that he takes on that debt himself. 632 00:34:27,815 --> 00:34:30,366 So, the servant's like skipping. 633 00:34:30,366 --> 00:34:33,065 He's like, can't believe how forgiven he is, but then he encounters a 634 00:34:33,065 --> 00:34:35,536 fellow servant who owes him 250. 635 00:34:36,966 --> 00:34:40,906 And he says, pay me everything you have and pay it right now. 636 00:34:40,906 --> 00:34:41,496 I need it right now. 637 00:34:41,525 --> 00:34:43,295 And the servant says, can you have mercy? 638 00:34:43,306 --> 00:34:44,196 He says the same thing. 639 00:34:44,505 --> 00:34:47,476 And he says, he grabs him by the throat and he like throws him against the wall 640 00:34:47,596 --> 00:34:48,826 and then he throws him into prison. 641 00:34:50,630 --> 00:34:55,210 And so the king hears about it and he's like, yeah, I guess he didn't 642 00:34:55,251 --> 00:34:56,920 understand this whole process. 643 00:34:58,381 --> 00:35:00,681 And Jesus says, unforgiveness is like that. 644 00:35:00,711 --> 00:35:05,941 And if we have been forgiven so much, it's shown so much mercy. 645 00:35:06,211 --> 00:35:08,881 Not just a little bit or even the things we remember. 646 00:35:08,891 --> 00:35:10,981 You know what's gonna blow us away in eternity? 647 00:35:11,321 --> 00:35:14,471 Is when he shows us the books that he had been wiped away. 648 00:35:14,521 --> 00:35:16,581 the things we weren't even aware of. 649 00:35:16,991 --> 00:35:19,711 Their sins of commission, the things we knew. 650 00:35:20,141 --> 00:35:22,571 That we were doing wrong, but there's sins of omission, the things we're 651 00:35:22,571 --> 00:35:24,161 supposed to do right, and we didn't do it! 652 00:35:24,711 --> 00:35:26,001 there's so... 653 00:35:26,781 --> 00:35:29,901 The debt is so big for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 654 00:35:31,011 --> 00:35:37,001 We can never pay the debt, except for all eternity spent paying it off. 655 00:35:37,931 --> 00:35:39,541 10, 000 years, 20, 000 years. 656 00:35:40,541 --> 00:35:42,991 And so we cast ourselves on his mercy, and he forgives us. 657 00:35:42,991 --> 00:35:46,161 And so he says, I didn't forgive you because you're 658 00:35:46,171 --> 00:35:47,361 such a good servant with money. 659 00:35:47,986 --> 00:35:50,766 Like, oh, what a great investment, it'll work out in the king is good. 660 00:35:50,766 --> 00:35:53,725 He forgave him because he's just good. 661 00:35:53,726 --> 00:35:54,026 That's it. 662 00:35:54,026 --> 00:35:55,006 And so Jonah had forgotten. 663 00:35:56,006 --> 00:36:01,726 And we so easily forget, so quickly, the mercy and the cost, that it cost 664 00:36:01,836 --> 00:36:05,976 God himself, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the uncaused 665 00:36:05,976 --> 00:36:09,886 cause, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who sustains everything right 666 00:36:09,936 --> 00:36:14,646 now, in the universe by the word of his power, who has angels night and day. 667 00:36:14,911 --> 00:36:18,671 shielding themselves with angelic wings because he's so holy. 668 00:36:18,671 --> 00:36:22,161 The radiance of his glory is so strong, they can't look on him. 669 00:36:22,281 --> 00:36:27,191 But when a little of his holiness, the light of glory, flips through their wings, 670 00:36:27,201 --> 00:36:30,891 they say, holy, like in a whole new way. 671 00:36:31,131 --> 00:36:37,941 Like they've lived a million years, and they've spent a, a majesty. 672 00:36:38,441 --> 00:36:41,341 And God himself wrapped himself in human flesh and blood for you and me. 673 00:36:42,341 --> 00:36:44,141 That's amazing! 674 00:36:45,041 --> 00:36:45,881 That's mercy! 675 00:36:45,881 --> 00:36:46,871 That's grace! 676 00:36:47,061 --> 00:36:48,921 But he doesn't just wipe the slate clean! 677 00:36:49,071 --> 00:36:51,781 Grace says that he also gives everything that belongs to him! 678 00:36:52,781 --> 00:36:53,801 That's the inheritance! 679 00:36:54,461 --> 00:36:58,121 the father's like, Son, you get all things, you get the universe! 680 00:36:58,291 --> 00:37:00,241 And he's like, let's share it! 681 00:37:01,436 --> 00:37:07,846 He makes you royalty, he calls you sons and daughters, he, he has the audacity 682 00:37:07,846 --> 00:37:10,826 to say you're his treasured possession. 683 00:37:11,616 --> 00:37:13,066 You're his prize. 684 00:37:13,456 --> 00:37:13,946 What? 685 00:37:14,516 --> 00:37:15,746 I'm dust. 686 00:37:16,076 --> 00:37:16,886 I'm a rebel. 687 00:37:17,456 --> 00:37:18,666 I'm stiff necked. 688 00:37:18,756 --> 00:37:20,276 No, you're my prize. 689 00:37:21,536 --> 00:37:23,326 You're my special treasure. 690 00:37:23,326 --> 00:37:24,126 that's. 691 00:37:24,536 --> 00:37:25,296 Crazy! 692 00:37:25,426 --> 00:37:27,296 He gives us everything! 693 00:37:28,436 --> 00:37:29,156 can't get over it. 694 00:37:29,676 --> 00:37:34,106 But Jonah returns to the same angry opposition to God 695 00:37:34,106 --> 00:37:35,116 that he had at the outset. 696 00:37:35,116 --> 00:37:38,466 This time, however, God does not send a towering storm, but instead 697 00:37:38,666 --> 00:37:41,256 begins to counsel Jonah gently. 698 00:37:42,356 --> 00:37:48,346 What's beautiful is that like us, He sees Jonah's excited about something. 699 00:37:49,346 --> 00:37:53,806 And though Jonah's excited, and God even calls it out, Oh, you 700 00:37:53,816 --> 00:37:55,216 had compassion on this plant. 701 00:37:56,236 --> 00:37:57,896 so he had to shave for his head. 702 00:37:58,566 --> 00:38:01,001 But God's like, I can work with that. 703 00:38:02,911 --> 00:38:03,681 I can work with that. 704 00:38:04,751 --> 00:38:11,081 Like, the littlest glimpses of our turning, our shuva, our 705 00:38:11,351 --> 00:38:14,481 returning home, but just the glance back, I can work with that. 706 00:38:15,481 --> 00:38:20,261 It's not Jonah going back and teaching a class in Nineveh and like, 707 00:38:20,261 --> 00:38:25,361 okay, I'm gonna, it's the slightest bit that God hopes on for me. 708 00:38:26,281 --> 00:38:27,171 This is unlike all I've been doing. 709 00:38:28,851 --> 00:38:29,231 So. 710 00:38:30,886 --> 00:38:33,856 Even though God declared a stay of execution, Jonah still wants to see 711 00:38:33,856 --> 00:38:36,446 what would happen in the city, meaning he still had hopes that God would not 712 00:38:36,446 --> 00:38:39,096 spare Nineveh for a long period of time. 713 00:38:39,976 --> 00:38:44,266 What John Calvin calls his greatest sin, namely, that he was very inhuman 714 00:38:45,016 --> 00:38:46,446 in his attitude toward Nineveh. 715 00:38:46,506 --> 00:38:48,066 Which is just, bruh, brutal. 716 00:38:48,106 --> 00:38:50,046 Just very that's the greatest sin of Joe. 717 00:38:50,216 --> 00:38:51,136 He's just being inhuman. 718 00:38:51,826 --> 00:38:53,226 He's treating those people... 719 00:38:53,616 --> 00:38:54,876 Like they're less than human. 720 00:38:55,386 --> 00:38:59,496 He, it, he's caricaturing an entire group of people. 721 00:38:59,736 --> 00:39:03,796 They're not complex human beings who gestated in their mother's womb for 722 00:39:03,796 --> 00:39:07,466 nine months and were born and had highs and lows and had a parent who 723 00:39:07,466 --> 00:39:12,176 maybe didn't like a whole story that they're fearfully and wonderfully made. 724 00:39:12,256 --> 00:39:14,186 They're just evil, bad people. 725 00:39:16,106 --> 00:39:20,796 And it's a sin, it's the sin of Jonah, as Calvin points out, that we can 726 00:39:20,856 --> 00:39:26,706 caricature whole groups of people and just say, Those people bad, us people good. 727 00:39:26,766 --> 00:39:30,166 And you have to talk like that when say, a caveman, because that's what you're doing. 728 00:39:31,206 --> 00:39:34,456 All of a sudden, people made in the image of God are not complex. 729 00:39:35,551 --> 00:39:42,881 with a story that God is desperately pursuing and who also went to the 730 00:39:42,881 --> 00:39:48,141 cross for and bled for and wants to write their name in his book of 731 00:39:48,141 --> 00:39:51,911 life, but they're just out there. 732 00:39:52,581 --> 00:39:52,931 They're a group. 733 00:39:53,301 --> 00:39:53,791 They're this. 734 00:39:53,991 --> 00:39:57,521 And we have to see people as complex individuals. 735 00:39:58,401 --> 00:40:00,891 Most scholars point out that those who don't know their right hand 736 00:40:00,891 --> 00:40:02,571 from their left are probably kids. 737 00:40:03,571 --> 00:40:05,281 So Jesus sees this whole city of kids. 738 00:40:05,781 --> 00:40:10,651 Some scholars say, but it might be people who also just, they've 739 00:40:10,651 --> 00:40:11,701 grown up in this culture. 740 00:40:13,271 --> 00:40:15,741 And they haven't had anybody coming and showing up and 741 00:40:15,741 --> 00:40:16,961 saying, Hey, there's another way. 742 00:40:17,816 --> 00:40:19,156 There's another way of life. 743 00:40:19,616 --> 00:40:22,846 And so there, there's an ignorance to sin. 744 00:40:22,846 --> 00:40:24,296 It creates a delusional feeling. 745 00:40:25,206 --> 00:40:29,106 Remember Jesus saying, Father, they're torturing and killing me. 746 00:40:29,106 --> 00:40:30,656 They're denying and betraying me. 747 00:40:31,146 --> 00:40:33,866 But none of them, not even the Pharisees, really completely 748 00:40:33,866 --> 00:40:35,166 understand what they're doing. 749 00:40:35,416 --> 00:40:36,216 Father, forgive them. 750 00:40:36,216 --> 00:40:37,166 They know not what they do. 751 00:40:37,626 --> 00:40:39,516 There's so much compassion in God. 752 00:40:40,886 --> 00:40:41,896 Like, he's being killed. 753 00:40:42,586 --> 00:40:44,466 And he's like, they don't really understand. 754 00:40:45,636 --> 00:40:46,336 Forgive them. 755 00:40:46,556 --> 00:40:49,906 What grace We can only look and wonder at such a heart. 756 00:40:49,906 --> 00:40:52,436 He doesn't say they're not guilty of wrongdoing. 757 00:40:52,436 --> 00:40:53,006 They are. 758 00:40:54,181 --> 00:40:55,721 That is why they need forgiveness. 759 00:40:55,811 --> 00:40:58,811 Yet Jesus is also remembering that they're confused, somewhat clueless, 760 00:40:59,081 --> 00:41:02,001 and not really able to recognize the horror of what they're doing. 761 00:41:02,531 --> 00:41:05,871 Here is a perfect heart, perfect and generous love, not 762 00:41:05,921 --> 00:41:08,961 excusing, not harshly condemning. 763 00:41:09,631 --> 00:41:13,531 He is the weeping God of Jonah 4 in human form. 764 00:41:13,761 --> 00:41:15,101 He's the greater Jonah. 765 00:41:15,381 --> 00:41:17,381 Jesus is the prophet Jonah should have been. 766 00:41:17,431 --> 00:41:20,171 Yet, of course, he is infinitely more than that. 767 00:41:20,811 --> 00:41:23,791 Jesus did not merely weep for us, he died for us. 768 00:41:24,536 --> 00:41:28,026 Jonah went outside the city hoping to witness its condemnation. 769 00:41:28,421 --> 00:41:31,771 But Jesus Christ went outside the city to die on a cross 770 00:41:31,771 --> 00:41:33,661 to accomplish his salvation. 771 00:41:34,611 --> 00:41:38,671 Here, God says he is grieving over Nineveh, which means he is letting 772 00:41:38,671 --> 00:41:44,181 the evil of the city weigh on him, twist him, like, to turn him over. 773 00:41:44,181 --> 00:41:47,321 In some mysterious sense, he is suffering because of its sin. 774 00:41:47,971 --> 00:41:50,971 When God came into the world in Jesus and went to the cross, however, he 775 00:41:50,971 --> 00:41:56,301 didn't experience only emotional Pain, but every kind of pain unimaginable 776 00:41:56,321 --> 00:42:01,241 dimensions, the agonizing physical pain of the crucifixion included torture, 777 00:42:01,561 --> 00:42:03,861 slow suffocation and excruciating death. 778 00:42:04,061 --> 00:42:07,781 But even beyond that, when Jesus hung on the cross, he underwent the infinite 779 00:42:07,851 --> 00:42:10,611 and most unfathomable pain of all. 780 00:42:10,816 --> 00:42:14,636 Separation from God and all the eternal alienations, the wages of sin. 781 00:42:14,946 --> 00:42:19,566 He did it all for us out of his unimaginable compassion. 782 00:42:21,086 --> 00:42:22,216 Jesus is the greater Jonah. 783 00:42:23,156 --> 00:42:25,896 Where Jonah failed, Jesus didn't, right? 784 00:42:26,386 --> 00:42:30,176 And Jesus even says, Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the 785 00:42:30,186 --> 00:42:32,136 whale, so will the Son of Man be, right? 786 00:42:32,476 --> 00:42:37,746 As he went into the tomb to conquer sin and death and to rise in victory for us. 787 00:42:38,416 --> 00:42:39,496 He came for us. 788 00:42:39,496 --> 00:42:41,076 He did it for us. 789 00:42:41,736 --> 00:42:42,536 It's so amazing. 790 00:42:42,936 --> 00:42:46,076 So let me just close with The mysterious author. 791 00:42:47,076 --> 00:42:47,706 We... 792 00:42:48,551 --> 00:42:52,071 I kind of feel when you read chapter four that there's a page missing. 793 00:42:53,071 --> 00:42:55,231 Why would the story end so abruptly? 794 00:42:55,231 --> 00:42:59,671 There's no conclusion, there's no Here's the point. 795 00:42:59,731 --> 00:43:04,671 There's no the chief in demand, you know kind of summary like even 796 00:43:04,671 --> 00:43:10,021 in Ecclesiastes There is just, the narrative just goes silent. 797 00:43:11,021 --> 00:43:13,921 One commentator, like many others, suggests the book forces us to 798 00:43:13,921 --> 00:43:16,991 contemplate our personal responsibility. 799 00:43:17,771 --> 00:43:22,441 It remains unfinished in order that we may provide our own conclusion. 800 00:43:22,901 --> 00:43:23,951 For you are Jonah. 801 00:43:24,601 --> 00:43:25,441 I am Jonah. 802 00:43:26,401 --> 00:43:30,255 It is as if God shoots this arrow of a question at Jonah, disappears, and 803 00:43:30,255 --> 00:43:34,865 we realize the arrow is aimed at us, and we all will say, how will I answer? 804 00:43:36,315 --> 00:43:39,395 As God asks us, with where we live. 805 00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:43,380 With where we work, with the people that we're around. 806 00:43:45,020 --> 00:43:46,260 Should I not be compassionate? 807 00:43:47,510 --> 00:43:48,630 Should I not be forgiving? 808 00:43:48,630 --> 00:43:50,100 Should I not be merciful? 809 00:43:51,530 --> 00:43:55,780 Should I not care that there are people who don't know me? 810 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:00,930 Should I not care that the city I live in, Stockton, I love it and hate it? 811 00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:04,770 It's horrible, but it's beautiful, and it's brokenness. 812 00:44:05,860 --> 00:44:09,020 people need God's rescue there. 813 00:44:09,290 --> 00:44:12,530 I've worked in Santa Barbara, we've lived in Ventura, I hated working 814 00:44:12,530 --> 00:44:16,110 in Santa Barbara, because there's a bunch of people who were convinced 815 00:44:16,110 --> 00:44:17,630 that they didn't need God's rescue. 816 00:44:18,630 --> 00:44:19,150 But guess what? 817 00:44:19,150 --> 00:44:19,570 They do! 818 00:44:20,570 --> 00:44:21,250 And Stockton does. 819 00:44:22,010 --> 00:44:23,110 And I do every day. 820 00:44:23,700 --> 00:44:24,880 I need God's mercy. 821 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,610 growing in Christ, is realizing, Oh, I need God's rescue 822 00:44:28,670 --> 00:44:29,790 every moment of every day. 823 00:44:29,820 --> 00:44:32,190 I need to live on his everlasting arms. 824 00:44:32,190 --> 00:44:34,280 People say, Oh, Christianity is a crutch. 825 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:35,400 No, it's the whole hospital. 826 00:44:37,350 --> 00:44:37,950 It's the whole thing. 827 00:44:38,010 --> 00:44:39,570 It's the whole thing. 828 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,370 I need God to carry me. 829 00:44:43,370 --> 00:44:44,600 So, here's what I love. 830 00:44:46,135 --> 00:44:51,565 Most scholars say that Jonah wrote Jonah. 831 00:44:52,835 --> 00:44:58,375 That might seem obvious, because it's named Jonah, but that's not always 832 00:44:58,525 --> 00:45:00,065 the case in the books of the Bible. 833 00:45:00,745 --> 00:45:05,885 But if that's true, or even if somebody else authored it, if you're going to write 834 00:45:05,885 --> 00:45:11,515 an autobiography about your life, Are you gonna write this story about yourself? 835 00:45:12,425 --> 00:45:16,515 Are you gonna write how you blew it and failed in every way imaginable? 836 00:45:16,535 --> 00:45:19,105 How hard hearted you were, how you ran from God. 837 00:45:19,165 --> 00:45:22,925 Is that the story you want preserved for thousands of years? 838 00:45:23,765 --> 00:45:29,325 The only way that would be the story you want told, if you're authoring it, 839 00:45:29,495 --> 00:45:31,885 is because he actually got God's grace. 840 00:45:31,885 --> 00:45:31,955 That 841 00:45:32,955 --> 00:45:33,725 he got it! 842 00:45:34,725 --> 00:45:39,755 That he realizes that the gospel is not for winners, it's for losers! 843 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:42,730 That it's for him. 844 00:45:44,060 --> 00:45:48,460 That it's for the arrogant and the proud and the bigoted. 845 00:45:48,570 --> 00:45:51,100 That it rescues and it changes us. 846 00:45:51,100 --> 00:45:57,430 And he can say and tell his story in such a way that look at how I blew it. 847 00:45:57,460 --> 00:45:58,952 And yet God kept coming after me. 848 00:45:58,952 --> 00:46:00,140 And he didn't stop. 849 00:46:00,770 --> 00:46:02,290 And he won't stop in your life. 850 00:46:02,290 --> 00:46:03,600 He won't give up on you. 851 00:46:03,950 --> 00:46:05,160 He'll tear heaven and earth. 852 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:10,690 He'll use all of nature to peel back every bit of scale, every 853 00:46:10,690 --> 00:46:14,260 bit of harness, every bit of rock that's been formed over your heart. 854 00:46:14,410 --> 00:46:17,360 He'll break it up, and he'll keep pursuing you because he loves 855 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,540 you, and he wants your freedom. 856 00:46:19,820 --> 00:46:21,510 He is after your joy. 857 00:46:21,540 --> 00:46:24,700 He's after your freedom, and Job is like, telling the story! 858 00:46:26,070 --> 00:46:27,670 What a beautiful thing! 859 00:46:28,190 --> 00:46:32,480 And so he leaves the end open because, what are you gonna do, guys? 860 00:46:33,530 --> 00:46:39,080 I know what I did, I know where I was, I know how bad off I was, and 861 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:43,960 yet God plucked me out and He rescued me, and He wants to rescue you. 862 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,910 How will we respond to His grace? 863 00:46:48,450 --> 00:46:53,870 Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. 864 00:46:54,580 --> 00:46:58,260 Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. 865 00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:01,250 Grace is being loved when you're unlovable. 866 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:05,410 Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved, it has 867 00:47:05,460 --> 00:47:07,010 everything and only to do with the lover. 868 00:47:07,010 --> 00:47:09,730 Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do 869 00:47:09,740 --> 00:47:10,750 with weights or measurements. 870 00:47:11,190 --> 00:47:14,580 It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so called gifts. 871 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,920 It reflects the decision on the part of the giver, the one who loves, in 872 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,790 relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, and negates any qualifications 873 00:47:22,180 --> 00:47:23,560 the receiver may personally hold. 874 00:47:23,830 --> 00:47:26,930 Grace is one way love. 875 00:47:28,210 --> 00:47:33,840 So anyways, what are we going to do, and I pray that we become a channel 876 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,970 of that, like Jonah, where we can realistically tell our stories. 877 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:39,110 We're the broken, right? 878 00:47:39,610 --> 00:47:42,450 Fellow beggars showing other beggars where to buy bread. 879 00:47:42,870 --> 00:47:46,280 like, C Brown, and so man, what do we do? 880 00:47:46,290 --> 00:47:47,850 We tell our stories. 881 00:47:48,210 --> 00:47:50,590 People aren't helped by our perfection. 882 00:47:51,305 --> 00:47:52,575 They're not helped by our... 883 00:47:52,815 --> 00:47:53,565 Because guess what? 884 00:47:54,340 --> 00:47:55,710 We kind of photoshopped those. 885 00:47:56,310 --> 00:47:57,980 I photoshopped my story all the time. 886 00:47:58,330 --> 00:47:59,730 I, let's get rid of that wrinkle. 887 00:47:59,870 --> 00:48:00,760 Let's, do that. 888 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,130 And airbrush it, People weren't helped by this, but they're helped by this. 889 00:48:03,580 --> 00:48:07,000 It's the realistic story that I wrote. 890 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,140 In need of a savior, and he's a good savior. 891 00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:12,470 And he rescues me every day, and he hasn't stopped. 892 00:48:13,140 --> 00:48:16,200 And every time I've failed, every time I've fallen short, every time I've 893 00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:18,150 given up on him, he has not quit on me. 894 00:48:18,635 --> 00:48:22,165 And he'll never stop and he keeps pursuing me because he's after my 895 00:48:22,165 --> 00:48:24,125 joy, his glory, and my freedom. 896 00:48:24,955 --> 00:48:27,845 Because whom the sun sets free is free indeed. 897 00:48:28,180 --> 00:48:29,970 And he wants us to dance in our freedom. 898 00:48:29,970 --> 00:48:31,730 He wants us to celebrate in our freedom. 899 00:48:31,950 --> 00:48:34,930 He wants us to experience what freedom really is. 900 00:48:36,330 --> 00:48:37,280 So what are you gonna do? 901 00:48:38,530 --> 00:48:39,750 Now that you don't have to do anything. 902 00:48:41,630 --> 00:48:42,890 That's the story, right? 903 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:45,300 Father, we thank you for your word. 904 00:48:45,300 --> 00:48:46,420 We thank you for... 905 00:48:46,980 --> 00:48:47,780 the story of Jonah. 906 00:48:48,070 --> 00:48:48,520 Man. 907 00:48:49,630 --> 00:48:50,460 So amazing. 908 00:48:51,460 --> 00:48:52,800 Thank you for the mirror that he is, 909 00:48:53,350 --> 00:48:53,690 To us. 910 00:48:54,690 --> 00:48:57,320 So Lord, we just remember you now as we've talked about. 911 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:01,430 Where grace was free to us, Lord, we remember now in communion 912 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:03,320 that it was costly to you. 913 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:11,010 It's not cheap, but it was God himself sacrificing for us. 914 00:49:12,590 --> 00:49:13,480 You were broken. 915 00:49:14,550 --> 00:49:15,960 So that we might be made whole. 916 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:17,930 We thank you for that. 917 00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:22,620 We thank you for your pursuit of rebels. 918 00:49:23,620 --> 00:49:27,490 We love you Jesus, but man, that pales in comparison to how 919 00:49:27,490 --> 00:49:28,800 much you love us this morning. 920 00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:31,630 So we receive that love right now. 921 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,210 And Lord, if there's any of us right now where we're just like, 922 00:49:35,630 --> 00:49:39,960 that sounds too good to be true, then you're understanding grace. 923 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:42,720 But Lord, we believe help our unbelief. 924 00:49:43,395 --> 00:49:43,415 We 925 00:49:44,415 --> 00:49:46,385 want to receive all that you have. 926 00:49:46,415 --> 00:49:48,455 Lord, we pray like Paul prayed in Ephesians. 927 00:49:49,835 --> 00:49:53,235 Give us power to comprehend the height, the depth, the width, and the 928 00:49:53,235 --> 00:49:55,075 breadth of the love of God, our Lord. 929 00:49:56,665 --> 00:50:00,785 Strengthen us to receive your love right now, for us. 930 00:50:01,785 --> 00:50:03,075 We thank you in Jesus name. 931 00:50:03,705 --> 00:50:04,115 Amen.