← ArchiveJonahSunday, February 4, 2018DateFebruary 4, 2018Speaker—TextJonah 3Passages in this sermonJonah 31:47Jonah 3:13:54John 219:09TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*Dramatic music*0:30*Dramatic music*1:00*Dramatic music* Welcome to part four of Jonah, God's relentless grace.1:29I don't know if I've introduced myself yet. You've seen me several times on the screen and live, but my name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel. If you don't know who I am, nice to meet you for the first time. If you have your Bibles with you, and I hope that you do, if you would join me in Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. It's imperative that we open up God's word. This is God's word to us.1:58It is not dead ancient book. It is living. It is active. And not only is it active, but it changes us and molds us into the image of God. I want to begin with a story. Cleveland Cavaliers, you might know who that is. In June of 2016, they were down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors. Which everyone believed at that time was the better team. And miraculously, they came back and won three games in a row to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland.2:28Who would have thought? Who would have thought? Only God himself. That Cleveland would have a championship. At the end of the game, the coach said this. So Tyronn Lue referred to King LeBron James. He said this, "Great things happen to great people." Great things happen to great people. Now in the realm of pro sports, that's accurate.2:54There's a game tonight that you might watch. Some of you are watching because you love the Patriots. Some of you are watching because you hate the Patriots. Regardless, they are great athletes. But the gospel says something different. The gospel does not say that good things happen to good people. The gospel says that great things happen to bad people, to unworthy people, to little people, to poor people, and to unrighteous people.3:16This is the good news of Jesus Christ. Today, we're going to see in God's word that bad things can happen to a great city and to great people. So I just want to share a message called simply this. The power of good news. The power.3:45The power. Anyone need good news this morning? Okay, I do. The power of good news. Let's begin to read in Genesis. In Jonah, chapter 3, verse 1. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Now you might want to underline second time. This is the word of the Lord. Get up. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message I tell you.4:12Jonah got up and he went to Nineveh according to the Lord's commands. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city. A three-day walk. Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, "In 40 days, Nineveh will be demolished." Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth from the greatest to the least.4:39When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, sat on sackcloth and sat in ashes. Then he issued a decree in Nineveh. By order of the king and his nobles. No person or animal or herd or flock is to taste anything at all.5:02They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. Who knows? God may turn and relent. He may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.5:29One of the most beautiful verses in all of scripture. God saw their actions. That they had turned from their evil ways. So God relented from the disaster he had threatened with them and he did not do it. Let's pray. Lord, may we be like Nineveh. May we hear a message of good news and may we believe.5:55Lord, may you see our belief in the wrath that is fully satisfied in Jesus Christ. And may we live in freedom through the blood of your son. This is our prayer and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So I want us to begin with this thought and I need your participation. Put your finger, if you have a phone, you can still do this. Put your finger on verse one of chapter three and follow along with me.6:22Okay? So why am I doing this? It'll make sense shortly. So put your finger on chapter three, verse one. I'm going to read chapter one, verse one. So you are in three. I am in one. Does that make sense? Follow along with me. In three, I'm in one. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai. Get up. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it.6:48Sound familiar? This is already what God has said. Now, here's the truth. Here is our hope in this. God is patient and he is gracious. Yahweh gives second chances. You say, well, how do you know that? Put your finger on verse one of chapter three. What has happened in verse one? The same thing. The word of the Lord came to Jonah.7:17What? A second time. Anyone need a second chance? Anyone thankful that God gives us second chances? Absolutely. You see, this is not some hero prophet. This is the same prophet that ran from God. Because God had called him. A prophet has one job. Speak the word of the Lord. God said, Jonah, go to Nineveh. Jonah said, no. So Jonah ran.7:46And he runs onto a ship. And he runs into a storm. And he runs into a well. And he hid from the Lord. And he was angry at God so much that he wanted to die. And Jonah is here today to tell us this. God is the God that gives us second chances. I am so thankful that God gives us those chances. A man named Peter would echo the same story 700 years later in the book of John.8:08Peter was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. He lived with Jesus for three years. He slept when Jesus slept. He walked when Jesus walked. He saw the miracles. He saw the joy. He saw the difficulties. And at the very end, the very end of Jesus' life, on the night that would probably be one of the most difficult in the life of Christ, a servant girl comes up to Peter and says, are you with Jesus?8:29And he says, no. And again, a servant girl comes up and says, you sound like you are not from here or surely you are with this Messiah. And Peter said, no. Third time, you have to be with Jesus Christ. And Peter said, no.8:58And as soon as Peter said no and denied Jesus, what happened? The rooster crowed. And as Jesus had predicted, Peter betrayed him. And you go to the end of the book in John 21 and you find Peter, after Jesus has died on the cross, Peter is back fishing again, fishing for people. Peter has gone back to his old life. And one day while they're fishing, they see Christ. And Peter is living in shame. He's gone back to an old life. By the way, Jesus has told him, you will no longer fish for fish, but you will fish for men.9:27Peter has gone back to his old life. And when he sees Christ, you know what he does? He wraps his outer garment around him and he jumps and he swims and he gets to shore. And Jesus is there cooking. Guys can cook too. And it was a really good breakfast of fish. And Jesus asked this question to Peter. Peter, do you love me?9:55Peter said, you know, I love you, Lord. Well, tend to my sheep. Again, Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? Peter is at this time. I'm sure he's going back to the time where he's betrayed Christ. He said, Lord, you know, I love you. Feed my sheep. A third time, Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? Peter says, Lord, you know that I love you.10:22Feed my sheep. What would Peter tell us? Peter would say, our God is the God of second chances. Why would Jesus come to him three times and affirm him? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, where is Peter's mind going? The last time this happened, I blew it. Lord, the last time you called me, I ran. I was scared. I didn't stand up.10:51And Jesus is saying, Peter, I'm giving you a second chance. And Peter and Jonah are screaming to us today, God is giving you a second chance. It's called today. It's called today. It's called today. See, the beauty of ancient writing is this. In the cuneiform writing, the way that they would write, the Assyrians would write Nineveh. You can go Wikipedia this. Don't do it right now. Some of you are thinking this.11:20Go home and Wikipedia Nineveh. And they'll show you the Sanskrit or the cuneiform of Nineveh. You know what the symbol for Nineveh is? Okay, that's good. It's a fish inside of a house. So Jonah is going to the fish people. He knew that before he got swallowed by the fish. And he's going to a place where he says, God, I'm not going to blow it.11:47God, I thank you that you gave me a second chance. And can you imagine the prophet going to the fish town saying, you guys aren't going to believe it, but guess where I just came from? The fish. And he can declare to these people that God is good and he is patient and he is kind. God is the God of second chances. But do not mistake me. He will not be mocked. So I don't want you to leave here thinking, well, you know what?12:16He gives second chances. So I'm not going to follow him today because he'll give me one tomorrow. Your second chance is now. Right now. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. This is the power of good news. God is gracious and he is kind. And may we follow him with full righteousness and full truth found in Jesus Christ. So we see this in Jonah's life.12:45He does not blow it. Look at verse two. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. And guess what he does? He listens. Now, ladies, I'm gonna be honest. Guys, we have trouble following directions. But if I run into a storm and I get thrown overboard and I get swallowed by a fish. When the Lord gives me the repeat 2.0 instructions, we're gonna listen. Because of this, God says, Jonah, get up.13:15Go to the great city of Nineveh. Nineveh. Now, this is not the first time that Jonah has heard this. Let's go back really quickly in verse three of chapter one or verse two. Sorry. The Lord comes to Jonah and says this. Chapter two. Get up. Very simple. Get up. So now Jonah's on the boat sleeping. Look at chapter one, verse six. The captain approached Jonah and said, what are you doing?13:44Sound asleep. Get up. Call to your God. Chapter three, verse two. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time. Get up. Chapter three, verse six. When the word of the Lord reached king of Nineveh, he got up. Get up. So what is the application in our lives?14:13Very simply, the Lord wants you to get up. We need to take a stand for Christ. God wants us. He's empowered us to take the stand. This is the power of the good news. The good news of Jesus Christ moves us. Show me someone that is unmoved by the gospel. I will show you someone who does not believe. Right? If we can just sit there and say, well, I believe in God.14:41He's really awesome. And he's very kind and he gives second chances. Do you think that's how Jonah is telling the message of what the Lord has done in his life? I can see Jonah running and screaming through the streets. Guys. Hey, fish people. The fish ate me. Like it literally ate me because I ran from God. And I want to tell you, if you will not run to God, if you will not run from God, but run to God, if you will stand up and be moved by the gospel, he will save you.15:08And if you don't fish people, he will send a fish to get your attention. Stand up. Nowhere in scripture does it say for us sit and be comfortable. Sit and be comfortable. It doesn't say that. And I don't want to fool you. I don't want to tell you if you take a stand for God, it's going to be the greatest place, the safest place in your life.15:36Oftentimes the most dangerous place that we can be here on this earth is just take a stand for Jesus. And you know what the Bible says? Everything gained in my life. I now count as rubbish for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. My Lord, will you take a stand? God is calling one of us. He just needs one. One Jonah.16:05One Jonah. Take a stand. Stand up in your homes. Fathers, be a leader. Don't take a back seat. Stand up for Christ. You live in a pagan work environment. God just wants one of you to stand up. It just takes one. D.L. Moody says it this way. The person who stands with God, he will stand with you. This is the power of the good news. Verse 2. Stand up. Jared and J.T. powerfully stood up for Jesus Christ earlier today.16:34And they were saying we are dying to ourselves. And we are raised in new life. Are you willing to take the same stands? It is worth it. It is worth it. Never underestimate what the Lord can do through one person who takes a stand. He just needs one. He needs one Saul that becomes Paul.17:03He needs one Jonah to a town of 120,000. In 1955, on December 1st, in Montgomery, Alabama, this is the power of one person taking a stand. A lady named Rosa Parks refused to obey a bus driver named James Blake when he gave her an order to give up her seat in the colored section because a white passenger needed to sit down.17:19This action was pivotal in the civil rights movement, a movement that was built on the biblical grounds that all men are created in the image of God. And you know why she had the faith and the courage to take that stand?17:46She had heard a sermon earlier by a man at Montgomery named Martin Luther King. And it was the word of God that made her say, I will take a stand for what is right. Will you stand up? Will you say, Lord, I am ready. I am willing. 2,000 years ago, one man stood up and walked a road to the cross.18:11That all might find forgiveness and redemption. One man. As sin came into the world through one man. One man stood up and said, I will live a sinless life. And I will die for sinful people. And God, I will take your full wrath.18:38And I will stand up because these people are worth it. And one man has given us redemption. And his name is Jesus Christ. Just one. Get up. Will we live a radical life of faith? Here's why we can stand, church. We do not stand because one day we hope for victory. Because of Jesus Christ, we stand because we already have victory. We are not hoping, Lord, where are you?19:07One day you're going to save us. We stand because we say, God, you have saved me. And what can the world do? You kill me, I win. And I will see my savior face to face. And if you let me live, Satan, I am going to be a burr. As they say in Mississippi, I'm going to be a burr in your tail. And the gates of hell will not prevail against us. This is the power of the gospel.19:35Get up. Go to that great city. Let us look at the power of this good news. May we get up. Jonah's message is simply this. This fascinates me. The Lord says, get up, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I will tell you. What's the message? Right? Here's the message. Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord's command. He set out in verse 4 and he proclaimed this.20:04Here's Jonah's message. In 40 days, Nineveh will be demolished. In 40 days, Nineveh... I can see Jonah. That's his message. I can see Jonah walking through the town saying, You're demolished. And you're demolished. And you're demolished. And you're demolished. And you're demolished. And now he's sitting back saying, Lord, demolish them. Get them. And what happens here?20:32This is the power of the good news. Verse 5. The people of Nineveh... Belief. What's the message? You are going to be destroyed. And they believe God and they proclaim a fast. This is the power of the good news. Romans reminds us. Faith comes from what is heard. And what is heard comes from the message of Christ.20:58Do you believe the message? This is the power of the good news. I believe. I would not stand right here if I did not believe. Do you believe the message that God is who he says he is? The message is if I continue in my sin, I will walk and I am walking a road to destruction. That should be enough to say, God, I don't want to do it. God, I believe.21:26God, I believe. Do you believe? Church, if we believe like we say we believe, we would share that message. Now, don't go to work saying, you're destroyed. And you're destroyed. Everyone's destroyed. Wake up, Nineveh. Fire and damnation and meteors are coming your way. No, we proclaim that our sin leads to death and separation. But we also proclaim that if you believe in Christ, he will give you a new life.21:55A new life that's not filled with destruction. A life that's filled with eternal hope. And if we believe that, we would share it. So why don't we share it? Because we believe the enemy. Look at what Jonah is not told by God. Jonah did not tell. Jonah was not told by the Lord. If you dress real nice. And if you make sure you just master the presentation.22:21And make sure by all means, these are angry people. They're fishy. We've already discussed that. Wait for the right opportunity. Make sure the town is awake. And by all means, don't deliver the message until after they've had their coffee. Then they might believe. You know what this tells me about the good news of Jesus Christ? Quit putting the pressure on yourself to get it right.22:47Hey, why do we say, Lord, if I just dress, if I just wait for the right opportunity. They're a little angry looking today. And they haven't had their coffee. And God, if I just nail the landing, they will believe. The power is not in my words. The power is in the word of God. We must deliver. We must deliver. This is the power of the goodness. We must deliver. And here is the beauty of the message of God. The same God who gives us this message is the same God that prepares hearts.23:15Look at the message. Look at the message. It's a horrible message. This is the worst message ever. You're going to die. Done. 40 days starting right now. And we see that they believed. Why? Because God had put it in their hearts to know him. God had readied their hearts. And I just began to weep over this passage this week, thinking, Lord, who in my life have23:42you put us ready and they're not believing in you because I haven't shared? God, who have you prepared and I have failed you? God, let me be bold because it is not my message. It is yours. Tragically, most Christ followers will not share the message of Jesus. Not even in a year, not even in their life. Last year in Panama City Beach, two young boys got caught in a rip current and swept them24:07away from the shore. It was so quick and so steady. The mom tried to rush in and she also got swept in. So there was a lady on the shore that realized, you know what? We need to save these people. And so she started gathering up everyone on the shore. She said, look, I need you and I need you and I need you and I need you. And they began to link arms. And after about 80 people began to link arms, they had a human ladder from the shore24:34to the people who were being drowned. And because of that quick thinking and because they were working together, those three people were saved. God is not asking you to save anyone. Because we can't. God is not asking this church to save anyone. There is no church.25:02There is no building. There is no dynamic worship service. There is no elegant speech that could save a single person. There is only one and his name is Jesus Christ. But maybe what God is calling us to do is to share and to link arms with someone else. And he is saying, Josh, you share. And let someone else share. And let someone else share. And let someone else love. And let someone else encourage. And when you do that, when we as a church rise up and say, we will glorify our God,25:28that those who are far from him would see the glorious truth that sinners can find redemption. Are you ready to link arms? Some of you are terrified right now because you think of knocking on someone's door and giving them the whole Bible all at once. Just nail them. Tell them, you know what? Right now, destruction. You're going to be overthrown. And God said, I'm not asking you to do that. I've asked you to link arms with someone who has gone before.25:57Someone who is coming after. And not only will I give them the good news, I will prepare their heart to receive the good news. May we share the gospel. This is the power of good news. And look at the results. Verse 5. The people of Nineveh believed. They believed. And so belief, true belief in God always leads to godly repentance. It always, you cannot believe in God without turning from your sin.26:26And I cannot believe in God without turning from my sin. Look at what the king does. He forms a nice, beautiful model of repentance and a beautiful literary chiasm at that. Which is an X. Think of an X. Here's what the king does in verse 7. Sorry, in verse 6. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his what? His throne. Some of us aren't on thrones right now, but we're on high horses.26:54He gets up from his throne. He takes off his royal robe. He puts on sackcloth and he sits down in ashes. You know what he's doing here? This is a sign of repentance and sorrow. The king literally says, I'm not on the throne anymore. If God is who he says he is, then I can't be on the throne. Because he belongs there.27:22This is the power of our confession that Jesus is Lord. When I say Jesus is Lord, I am saying, God, I am removing myself off the throne. Because I make a lousy king. And the true king needs to be there. This is repentance. Godly belief always leads to repentance. And this is what the king does. So much so, he issues that the entire kingdom should repent. He says that no animal should eat or drink any water.27:49And as I was thinking about this, at this point in the edict, my family would have been executed. Because we have a pug and he eats everything. He's sick right now because he ate one of the kid's toys. He just eats the little figurines, like candy. If the king comes to my door and says, your dog will not eat or drink water, go ahead and kill me now. I just can't. We can't stop him. He has a mind of his own.28:17But what is the king telling us? That repentance changes everything about us. As they would say in New Orleans, from the dog catcher to the mayor. Everything in my life is radically changed because of repentance. And the kingdom, the servants would have known that the king was saying, we're going to have to turn from our gods.28:38Because one of the gods that they worshiped was the god Hadad. And Hadad, you can't make this up. Hadad was one of the chief gods of the pantheon for the Ninevites. And you know what he was a god of? The storm and the god of war. And Jonah walks into town to the fish people and says, look, I want to tell you, the god that sent a storm to get my attention, the god that commands the storms and the god that created the fish is the same god that tells your little gods that they are nothing.29:02And for you to believe in the one true God must radically shift the way that your kingdom operates. This is godliness. Godliness always leads to repentance.29:29Do you believe? Is there anything in your life right now that is off limits? Is there anything in your life that you say, God, I will let you touch everything. You can have the house, you can have the kids, you can have the dog, but Lord, don't touch football. God, you know that's off limits. That's not repentance then. God, I trust you in everything, but I just can't give right now.29:56You know that I can't make ends meet. God, we'll worry about that later. That's not repentance. God, you know that I'll go to a church, but they better sing the songs that I like. That's not repentance. Because when I put my faith in Christ, when I heard that I should turn from my sins, I told God, God, there is nothing in my life that you cannot have. And Lord, there is nothing in my life that is worth keeping compared to the glorious riches in Jesus Christ.30:23But I cannot believe Christ and still sit on the throne. Even this pagan king understood that. Look what he did. He gets up off his throne. And maybe right now in your life, God is calling you to get up and to get off the throne. Because maybe your life looks a lot like your life before Christ and nothing has changed.30:50If nothing has changed, Jesus Christ is not king in your life. And the rightful king wants to sit on his rightful throne. And may we today say, Lord, I believe you. I trust in you. Let me turn from myself. So how do we end today? This is what the king says in verse nine. After he issues this edict, he says simply, who knows?31:16Who knows? God may turn and relent. He may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish. I know someone that knows. His name is Jesus Christ. And he tells us and promises us is that if we will turn from our ways and believe in our heart and confess him as Lord, that you will be saved.31:40And so powerful is the repentance of the Ninevites that the Jewish scriptures, the Christian scriptures and the Muslim Koran all tell about the repentance of Nineveh. We can't agree on anything. But they all say the same history of Nineveh, that they believed God and God relented.32:09Who knows? We have the promise that God will forgive us if we turn to him. And look at verse 10. God saw their actions that they had turned from their evil ways. So God relented from the disaster. You see, repentance stirs the heart of God. Repentance stirs the heart of God. And my story is this.32:38I grew up in a small Baptist church in a small town in Mississippi. And I was sitting in the back one day and it was actually at a revival, a scheduled revival. I've always struggled with that. Can we schedule revival? But that's a different discussion. And I remember in that revival, people coming forward and I remember the Holy Spirit grabbing my heart and saying, Josh, you don't know me like you think you do. And I remember wrestling with God. Lord, you know, I do know you. I remember arguing with God. God, I know you. You know that I know that you know.33:06And I remember God saying, but why haven't you gotten off your throne? And I remember I said, Lord, I'm not going to go up there and confess you as Lord because I don't want people to think I'm doing it because everyone else is. And that day I told the Lord, Lord, I don't want your grace. I'd rather sit on my throne than believe you. And I'm so thankful that our God is the God of second chances.33:31Because I remember sitting in that same church, same pew. I can't tell you a word that was said in the whole service, but I know that every word God was shooting arrows my direction. And I said, Lord, if you're going to give me a second chance to run to you, I would be a fool to run away. And this is the promise of the gospel that when we come to Christ, we will find him like we found him on the cross.33:58Arms open wide, willing to forgive every sin that we have if we turn to him. That is the power of the gospel. And some of you right now are hearing that for the first time because God has prepared your hearts. The same God that sent his son to die for you is the same God that has prepared you to hear that right now.34:26And God is simply asking you this. Verse two, right? Get up. Don't wait. Come to me and I will forgive you and I will radically change your life. Some of you are here and you've been moved by the Holy Spirit, but you sat back down on your throne. And God is telling you this right now. Get up. Take off your royal robes and I will crown you with robes of righteousness.34:55And God is saying, I only need one of you to stand up and watch me change the world. May we not sit idly by. Because he is faithful. This is the power of good news. Let's pray.← Previous in JonahSunday, January 14, 2018More sermons on Jonah →
