uh before we look at our text uh this<\/p>\n
afternoon I I want to give a review of<\/p>\n
what has happened so far in The<\/p>\n
Narrative of Jonah and so what was what<\/p>\n
was the ninevites problem in chapter one<\/p>\n
we read that their problem was that they<\/p>\n
were so wicked that they had become<\/p>\n
extremely offensive to the<\/p>\n
Lord and Jonah 1 verse 2 it tells us or<\/p>\n
it tells Jonah um arise go to Nineveh<\/p>\n
that great City and call out against it<\/p>\n
for the evil has come up before me and<\/p>\n
so the the story of Jonah in some ways<\/p>\n
reminds us of the story of the city of<\/p>\n
Sodom and Gomorrah that God destroyed<\/p>\n
because of its people's great<\/p>\n
wickedness God is righteous uh which we<\/p>\n
sing about this morning and uh which aan<\/p>\n
Tim mentioned as he was leading the<\/p>\n
music<\/p>\n
and so because God is righteous it means<\/p>\n
that he always does what is good he<\/p>\n
always does what is right and in order<\/p>\n
for God to uphold his righteousness he<\/p>\n
must punish those who are evil and break<\/p>\n
his<\/p>\n
Commandments he wouldn't be righteous if<\/p>\n
he didn't he wouldn't be a good judge of<\/p>\n
the earth if he didn't do this and so<\/p>\n
the the first strike against Nineveh was<\/p>\n
that the the ninevites were evil before<\/p>\n
the Lord they they were not holy and so<\/p>\n
they attacked God's righteousness and<\/p>\n
Holiness the second strike against<\/p>\n
Nineveh was that it was in the land of<\/p>\n
Assyria which meant it wasn't part of<\/p>\n
the land of<\/p>\n
Israel they weren't included in God's<\/p>\n
chosen people that God had made a<\/p>\n
special promise to to be a God to them<\/p>\n
he hadn't promised them all the same<\/p>\n
blessings that he had promised the<\/p>\n
nation of Israel and so in chapter one<\/p>\n
we read of Jonah's problem he refuses to<\/p>\n
take God's message to Nineveh and takes<\/p>\n
off in the opposite<\/p>\n
direction God has every right to destroy<\/p>\n
Jonah for his sin against<\/p>\n
him at the end of chapter 1 and the<\/p>\n
beginning of chapter 2 we see that this<\/p>\n
is not God's plan so out of God's<\/p>\n
righteous love he disciplined Jonah by<\/p>\n
sending a storm while he was on a ship<\/p>\n
on the<\/p>\n
sea and Jonah knows the the storm is his<\/p>\n
fault and so he convinces the sailors on<\/p>\n
on board the ship with him to throw him<\/p>\n
overboard God is a God full of mercy and<\/p>\n
Grace again that we sing about this<\/p>\n
morning God actually rescues Jonah from<\/p>\n
drowning because he is merciful and<\/p>\n
gracious God had every right to allow<\/p>\n
Jonah to drown because of his<\/p>\n
disobedience<\/p>\n
but God rescued<\/p>\n
him so at the beginning of chapter 3<\/p>\n
which is our text today we have these<\/p>\n
two accounts of great sin the first<\/p>\n
account is of Jonah God has shown grace<\/p>\n
and mercy to Jonah Jonah is one of his<\/p>\n
prophets one of his people so we might<\/p>\n
expect God would rescue him even though<\/p>\n
he was a great<\/p>\n
sinner the question that remains is what<\/p>\n
will happen to the extremely Wicked city<\/p>\n
of Nineveh whose people are not part of<\/p>\n
Israel God's special people will God<\/p>\n
destroy it or will he extend his grace<\/p>\n
and mercy to them like he did to Jonah<\/p>\n
so let's look at our text and find<\/p>\n
out then the word of the Lord came to<\/p>\n
Jonah the second time saying arise go to<\/p>\n
Nineveh that great City and call out<\/p>\n
against it the message that I tell you<\/p>\n
so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh<\/p>\n
according to the word of the Lord now<\/p>\n
Nineveh was an exceedingly great City<\/p>\n
three days journey in breath Jonah began<\/p>\n
to go into the city going a Day's<\/p>\n
Journey and he called out yet 40 days<\/p>\n
and Nineveh shall be<\/p>\n
overthrown and the people of Nineveh<\/p>\n
believed God they called for a fast and<\/p>\n
put on sackcloth from the greatest of<\/p>\n
them to the least of them the word<\/p>\n
reached the king of Nineveh and he arose<\/p>\n
from his throne removed his robe covered<\/p>\n
himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes<\/p>\n
and he issued a proclamation and<\/p>\n
published through Nineveh by the decree<\/p>\n
of the king and his Nobles let neither<\/p>\n
man nor Beast herd nor flock taste<\/p>\n
anything let them not feed or drink<\/p>\n
water but let man and Beast be covered<\/p>\n
with sackcloth<\/p>\n
and let them call out mightily to God<\/p>\n
let everyone turn from his evil way and<\/p>\n
from the violence that it is in his<\/p>\n
hands who knows God may turn and relent<\/p>\n
and turn from his Fierce anger so that<\/p>\n
we may not<\/p>\n
perish when God saw what they did how<\/p>\n
they turned from their evil way God<\/p>\n
relented of the disaster that he had<\/p>\n
said he would do to them and he did not<\/p>\n
do it<\/p>\n
the grass withers and the flower Fades<\/p>\n
but the word of our God will stand<\/p>\n
forever the first point I I would like<\/p>\n
to look at in our text today is that<\/p>\n
God's saving love that rescues from<\/p>\n
wrath it transcends all<\/p>\n
boundaries and so let's look briefly at<\/p>\n
God's<\/p>\n
love God's love for for Nineveh we see<\/p>\n
that by God sending Jonah to take his<\/p>\n
message to them a second time<\/p>\n
God has a message to send to them and<\/p>\n
there is nothing that will stand in his<\/p>\n
way of getting that message to them and<\/p>\n
so God's love is steadfast and nothing<\/p>\n
will prevent him from loving those that<\/p>\n
he has set out to<\/p>\n
love and what are the the two main ways<\/p>\n
that God shows his love in our<\/p>\n
text he shows it through his grace and<\/p>\n
mercy we see several times in our our<\/p>\n
text how God displays his love to n<\/p>\n
through<\/p>\n
Grace he gives them good things that<\/p>\n
they do not deserve that they are<\/p>\n
undeserving of Nineveh is notoriously<\/p>\n
Wicked but we see God's Grace by giving<\/p>\n
them 40 days before he will destroy the<\/p>\n
city and we also see God's grace in the<\/p>\n
message<\/p>\n
itself God used the preaching of his<\/p>\n
message to convict those who he wanted<\/p>\n
to rescue from sin<\/p>\n
in verse four we see the message J Jonah<\/p>\n
has been commanded to<\/p>\n
preach yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be<\/p>\n
overthrown and from from this message we<\/p>\n
don't know if God will relent of his<\/p>\n
righteous wrath against Nineveh sin but<\/p>\n
when we look at chapter 4 it sheds light<\/p>\n
back on chapter three and we see that it<\/p>\n
was a message of Love sent by God<\/p>\n
what looked like a message of<\/p>\n
condemnation was really a message meant<\/p>\n
for<\/p>\n
salvation In 4:2 Jonah gives us the<\/p>\n
reason he disobeyed God the first time<\/p>\n
he was commanded to go to<\/p>\n
Nineveh and it says and he prayed to the<\/p>\n
Lord and said oh Lord is this not what I<\/p>\n
said when I was yet in my country this<\/p>\n
is why I made haste to flee to Tarsus<\/p>\n
for I knew that you you are a gracious<\/p>\n
God and merciful slow to anger and<\/p>\n
abounding in steadfast love and he knew<\/p>\n
that God was a God who and so Jonah knew<\/p>\n
God's character he knew that God was a<\/p>\n
God who loves to save and that the<\/p>\n
message that he was to preach could very<\/p>\n
well be intended as a message of Grace<\/p>\n
rather than a message of<\/p>\n
Destruction and what about God's mercy<\/p>\n
we see God's mercy toward Nineveh and<\/p>\n
that he relented of the punishment that<\/p>\n
he said that he would do to him he did<\/p>\n
not overthrow them he did not destroy<\/p>\n
them and so we've looked at at God's<\/p>\n
saving love expressed through his grace<\/p>\n
and mercy let's look now at how that<\/p>\n
saving love transcends all<\/p>\n
boundaries let's look at nineveh's Great<\/p>\n
sin one boundary we would think that<\/p>\n
would prevent God<\/p>\n
from loving Nineveh would be their great<\/p>\n
sin against God they are oozing with<\/p>\n
sin and we see<\/p>\n
that and it's ultimately a sin against<\/p>\n
God every sin that we commit even if it<\/p>\n
involves someone else it's ultimately a<\/p>\n
sin against God and so nineveh's great<\/p>\n
sin didn't prevent God from rescuing<\/p>\n
Nineveh they were extremely Wicked and<\/p>\n
offensive to God<\/p>\n
but he chose to save<\/p>\n
them what about nineveh's<\/p>\n
nationality nineveh's nationality also<\/p>\n
didn't keep God from rescuing them from<\/p>\n
destruction Assyria was a great threat<\/p>\n
to Israel's National Security they had<\/p>\n
to oppressed Israel and so in Jonah's<\/p>\n
eyes God was calling him to go and to<\/p>\n
possibly save his enemies and the<\/p>\n
enemies of his<\/p>\n
nation and so Jonah's sinful heart<\/p>\n
towards Nineveh prevented him from going<\/p>\n
and preaching the message of hope that<\/p>\n
God had given him and so he set up<\/p>\n
boundaries for himself and said I will<\/p>\n
not go and preach to my<\/p>\n
enemies but God didn't hold the same<\/p>\n
mentality as Jonah and so we see in our<\/p>\n
text that God doesn't put up boundaries<\/p>\n
around those he who he will rescue and<\/p>\n
so neither should we and it's easy for<\/p>\n
us to to put up boundaries on those that<\/p>\n
are around us and say God shouldn't love<\/p>\n
this person for this and this it's easy<\/p>\n
to to look at someone else's sin that<\/p>\n
that rubs us the wrong way or someone<\/p>\n
who actually sins against us and say God<\/p>\n
should not show them<\/p>\n
Grace and the story of Jonah shows us<\/p>\n
that we all need God's grace the story<\/p>\n
of Jonah shows us that we are all need<\/p>\n
and need of God's mercy we are all<\/p>\n
sinners who have offended our righteous<\/p>\n
God<\/p>\n
we are undeserving of God's love and it<\/p>\n
is only by his grace that we can be<\/p>\n
rescued and when we have these desires<\/p>\n
of wanting God to restrict his love and<\/p>\n
mercy to others we need to realize that<\/p>\n
we are acting like Jonah we are putting<\/p>\n
up boundaries that God doesn't have so<\/p>\n
we need to take them<\/p>\n
down we should want our our church to<\/p>\n
look as diverse as possible because God<\/p>\n
doesn't make distinctions between people<\/p>\n
groups he doesn't make distinctions<\/p>\n
between<\/p>\n
nationalities God loves the<\/p>\n
Nations we should desire for those who<\/p>\n
are sinners and who have committed<\/p>\n
notorious sin to be part of the<\/p>\n
church we should desire for God to show<\/p>\n
others the same grace and mercy that he<\/p>\n
has shown<\/p>\n
us we've looked at how God's saving love<\/p>\n
that rescues from his wrath transcends<\/p>\n
all<\/p>\n
boundaries so how do people receive<\/p>\n
God's saving love let's look now at how<\/p>\n
God's saving love that rescues from his<\/p>\n
wrath is received through faith and<\/p>\n
repentance the first way uh the<\/p>\n
ninevites respond to God's word is<\/p>\n
belief it says in in verse 5 and six<\/p>\n
verses 5 and 6 and the people of nin<\/p>\n
himself with sackcloth and sat in<\/p>\n
ashes the people and King they believe<\/p>\n
God's word they believe that the<\/p>\n
destruction God has said will come to<\/p>\n
them really will come to them and notice<\/p>\n
how quickly they respond to the message<\/p>\n
in verse four it says Jonah began to go<\/p>\n
into the city going a Day's Journey and<\/p>\n
so Jonah Jonah only preached for for one<\/p>\n
day and the S the city listens right<\/p>\n
away the text also tells us that the<\/p>\n
repentance was WID spread throughout the<\/p>\n
city it had also reached every societ<\/p>\n
societal level of the city because it<\/p>\n
says in verse 5 they called for a fast<\/p>\n
and put on sackcloth from the greatest<\/p>\n
of them to the least of them<\/p>\n
and so the message that Jonah had<\/p>\n
preached was taken seriously and it<\/p>\n
spread<\/p>\n
quickly and wouldn't it be wonderful if<\/p>\n
this happened in<\/p>\n
Bangkok it really could a Revival where<\/p>\n
people responded to God's worth in faith<\/p>\n
and<\/p>\n
repentance we know it could happen<\/p>\n
because we know God is gracious and<\/p>\n
merciful and we see here another example<\/p>\n
in Jonah of God's grace and also a<\/p>\n
demonstration of his<\/p>\n
power in Isaiah 55 10-11 we are told of<\/p>\n
the power of the word of the<\/p>\n
Lord says for as the rain and snow come<\/p>\n
down from heaven and do not return there<\/p>\n
but water the Earth making it bring<\/p>\n
forth and Sprout giving seed to the<\/p>\n
sewer and bread to the eater so shall my<\/p>\n
word be that goes out from my mouth it<\/p>\n
shall not return to me empty but it<\/p>\n
shall accomplish that which I purpose<\/p>\n
and shall succeed in the thing for which<\/p>\n
I sent<\/p>\n
it and so God's word is a powerful mean<\/p>\n
that God uses to give Grace to those who<\/p>\n
hear it He blesses people through it<\/p>\n
when he has a specific P purpose for it<\/p>\n
like he had for saving the ninevites it<\/p>\n
will accomplish what he planned for it<\/p>\n
to<\/p>\n
do we look at the the simple message of<\/p>\n
Jonah we realize that the power of God's<\/p>\n
L uh word is great it doesn't come from<\/p>\n
the ability of of Jonah to to um to<\/p>\n
preach the word uh and it doesn't come<\/p>\n
from the complexity of the word uh Jonah<\/p>\n
can you imagine uh Jonah going and<\/p>\n
preaching to the city of Nineveh that<\/p>\n
the God would rather be anywhere else<\/p>\n
besides Nineveh and preaching to the<\/p>\n
ninevites and Nineveh it was the last<\/p>\n
place that he wanted to be and the last<\/p>\n
thing that he wanted to<\/p>\n
do and Jonah doesn't have the the<\/p>\n
ability or the desire to give the grace<\/p>\n
needed to change the nites heart but God<\/p>\n
does the nites don't believe uh God's<\/p>\n
word because of Jonah's rhetorical skill<\/p>\n
but rather because God's word it<\/p>\n
targeted their hearts and minds and it<\/p>\n
accomplished the plan that he had for<\/p>\n
it God loved the ninevites and so he<\/p>\n
sent his word to them as a means of<\/p>\n
Grace to rescue them from his<\/p>\n
wrath and the living and active word of<\/p>\n
the Lord it not only brings people to<\/p>\n
Faith In God's promises it also convicts<\/p>\n
people of their<\/p>\n
sins the nites responded to God's word<\/p>\n
by<\/p>\n
repenting and uh verses 5-8 we read and<\/p>\n
the people of n believed God they called<\/p>\n
for a fast and put on sackcloth<\/p>\n
from the greatest of them to the least<\/p>\n
of them the word reached the king of<\/p>\n
Nineveh and he arose from his throne<\/p>\n
removed his roove covered himself with<\/p>\n
sackcloth and sat in ashes and he issued<\/p>\n
a proclamation published through<\/p>\n
Nineveh by the decree of the king and<\/p>\n
his Nobles let neither man nor Beast<\/p>\n
herd nor flock taste anything and let<\/p>\n
them<\/p>\n
all cry out uh mightily<\/p>\n
uh to the<\/p>\n
Lord let everyone turn from his evil way<\/p>\n
and from the violence that it is in his<\/p>\n
hands and so the The Fast and the<\/p>\n
sackcloth and the King sitting in ashes<\/p>\n
they are all external ways that display<\/p>\n
that display they are taking the offense<\/p>\n
that they have committed against God<\/p>\n
seriously and they are signs of<\/p>\n
repentance Corey tinon a holocaust<\/p>\n
Survivor tells in her Memoir the in<\/p>\n
place about a conversation she had with<\/p>\n
her dad on a train one day uh she was<\/p>\n
about 10 years old and had read a a poem<\/p>\n
The the previous year and in the poem it<\/p>\n
had mentioned the word sex sin and so<\/p>\n
she didn't know what sex sin meant so<\/p>\n
she asked her father about it and her<\/p>\n
dad turned to her and to her surprise he<\/p>\n
said nothing and he stood up and pulled<\/p>\n
down his suitcase that was on the rack<\/p>\n
above above their heads and he set it<\/p>\n
down on the<\/p>\n
floor and Cory's dad owned a a watch and<\/p>\n
a clock that had purchased that morning<\/p>\n
was full of watches and spare parts that<\/p>\n
her father had purchased that<\/p>\n
morning and he has Corey will you carry<\/p>\n
my suitcase off the train and she stood<\/p>\n
up and she tugged at the<\/p>\n
bag and she knew that she couldn't lift<\/p>\n
it and told her father it's too heavy<\/p>\n
and her father replied yes and it would<\/p>\n
be a pretty poor father who would ask<\/p>\n
his little daughter to carry such a load<\/p>\n
it's the same way Corey with knowledge<\/p>\n
some knowledge is too heavy for children<\/p>\n
when you were old and stronger you can<\/p>\n
bear it but now you must trust me to car<\/p>\n
it for<\/p>\n
you and so<\/p>\n
notice that the nites they don't do<\/p>\n
anything to take care of their sin<\/p>\n
they respond to God's message that was<\/p>\n
given by Grace out of hearts that were<\/p>\n
convicted by that same Grace but they<\/p>\n
don't do anything to deal with their<\/p>\n
sin and the reason is because they can't<\/p>\n
the suitcase of their mountainous sin is<\/p>\n
too heavy for them to carry it's too<\/p>\n
heavy for them to do anything with and<\/p>\n
so all they can do is receive God's word<\/p>\n
by faith in Repentance and hope in him<\/p>\n
to relent in his wrath against them and<\/p>\n
so we are just like Jonah and Nineveh<\/p>\n
and that our sins are many and in the<\/p>\n
same way we can't take care of them<\/p>\n
ourselves it is too heavy of a burden<\/p>\n
for us to carry we must have someone to<\/p>\n
carry it for us and the good news is<\/p>\n
that there is someone who loves us who<\/p>\n
has oh in verse n we see the king's hope<\/p>\n
who knows God may turn and relent and<\/p>\n
turn from his Fier Fierce anger so that<\/p>\n
perish and so his hope is in God it's<\/p>\n
not certain is shaky but it is<\/p>\n
there he had hoped that if they believed<\/p>\n
in God and turn from their Wicked Ways<\/p>\n
then he might save them the king's Hope<\/p>\n
was in God he didn't know<\/p>\n
well and God by his grace he has given<\/p>\n
us his word so that we know our god well<\/p>\n
we know God well because we know Jesus<\/p>\n
well we know that he has carried our<\/p>\n
sins to the Cross where he dealt with<\/p>\n
them so that we would not<\/p>\n
perish during his time on Earth he<\/p>\n
preached that all those who trust in him<\/p>\n
and repent will be<\/p>\n
saved and in verse 10 we see that God<\/p>\n
relents he relents of his<\/p>\n
anger when God saw what they did how<\/p>\n
do it so the ninevites didn't receive<\/p>\n
the destruction that God said that he<\/p>\n
would do to them they didn't receive the<\/p>\n
destruction that their wickedness<\/p>\n
deserved God because of his great love<\/p>\n
for the nites showed them his grace and<\/p>\n
mercy by sending them his message to<\/p>\n
spare them from his<\/p>\n
wrath and the story of Jonah is a story<\/p>\n
that reminds us that we can rest assured<\/p>\n
that our righteous God who is full of<\/p>\n
grace and mercy has relented of his<\/p>\n
anger towards us because of our<\/p>\n
sins all of those who have received his<\/p>\n
message the message of Christ by faith<\/p>\n
and repentance will be<\/p>\n
saved our sins that are like Crimson<\/p>\n
they have been washed white as<\/p>\n
snow and so what have we seen in our<\/p>\n
text today our God loves to rescue<\/p>\n
sinners from wrath he loves to pour out<\/p>\n
his grace and mercy upon<\/p>\n
them and he hasn't set up boundaries to<\/p>\n
prevent them or to prevent him from<\/p>\n
pouring his love and mercy out on others<\/p>\n
and so we should have the same love for<\/p>\n
others uh that God has for us and we can<\/p>\n
rest assured that God has relented of<\/p>\n
his anger towards us because we have<\/p>\n
received his message of Salvation in<\/p>\n
Christ through faith and rep<\/p>\n
repentance let's go before him now and<\/p>\n
pray and thank him for the wonderful<\/p>\n
love that he has shown To Us by rescuing<\/p>\n
us from his righteous<\/p>\n
wrath dear Lord we we thank you so much<\/p>\n
for your<\/p>\n
gospel we thank you that you have shown<\/p>\n
us your great<\/p>\n
love through your mercy and Grace like<\/p>\n
you have shown like you shown to the<\/p>\n
ninevites like you shown to Jo uh<\/p>\n
Jonah I pray that as we live our lives<\/p>\n
dear Lord I just pray that you will<\/p>\n
remind us daily of your<\/p>\n
gospel I pray that only us of your grace<\/p>\n
of your<\/p>\n
mercy dear Lord uh not only so that we<\/p>\n
can thank you and praise you for what<\/p>\n
you've done for us and so that we are<\/p>\n
assured of your salvation but also so<\/p>\n
that we have hearts<\/p>\n
that desire to see you pour out your<\/p>\n
grace and mercy upon others you don't<\/p>\n
have boundaries to Lord you have not set<\/p>\n
up boundaries and said I am not going to<\/p>\n
show my love and mercy and Grace to<\/p>\n
people and so I pray that you will help<\/p>\n
us not to to put up boundaries either<\/p>\n
and I pray that if we have those I pray<\/p>\n
that you will help us to take them down<\/p>\n
we ask all this in Jesus name amen<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20241120","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nBs2ymLnDNE","video_id":"nBs2ymLnDNE","video_duration":"23:58","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}