Jonah 3, and I'll be reading the entire chapter. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then the word came to the king of Nineveh, He arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them. And he did not do it. We thank God for this marvelous passage in his word. We think of what we have just sung, and we ask that you would take your word now and plant it deep in us. That you would stir us and grow us in the grace and knowledge of Christ again this evening, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Now please turn with me to Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3 is the passage this evening. We'll be looking at verses 5 to 10, Jonah chapter 3. Now the title of this message is Behold the Work of God. I want to begin this sermon with a short account of the Great Awakening that took place in 1740 to 1742 under predominantly the man Jonathan Edwards in Northampton. What we see is in Jonah 3, it's a historical account of God's great awakening in Nineveh. I want us to look at the great awakening in Northampton, and then know that the God who reigned in Jonah's day, the God who reigned in Edward's day, is the God who reigns in our day. Now, Isaac Watts, speaking of the great awakening in Northampton, He writes, that in this time it pleased God two years ago to display His free grace and His sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time. Watts says we saw how easy it is for him with one turn of his hand, with one word of his mouth, to awaken a whole country, a whole country of sleeping sinners and kindle divine life in their souls. It was a deep discovery of sin, the danger of the wrath to come, and the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ to relieve us of all our spiritual distresses. And that's in summation what happened to Nineveh. They saw the danger of the wrath to come. And they saw the Gospel. They saw from afar the all-sufficiency of the One to come. The One who removes the wrath of God. The One who loves to save sinners. Now as we look at Jonah 3.5-10, what we really see is the effect of Jonah's preaching. It wasn't just this man who brought about this great awakening, But it was the Spirit of God who accompanied the preaching of Jonah's message that flipped over this nation right side up. And so we see in v. 4 of chapter 3. Again, we saw last time that Jonah proclaims God's message this time. If you look in v. 4 of chapter 3, Jonah says, The text says, then he cried out, he lifted up his voice, that's what the word indicates, korah, lifting up his voice, crying out loud, proclaiming, he said what? Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. The word there, overthrown, we saw was the same word that was used in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This idea of judgment, of God wiping out a nation because of their sin against Him. And so Jonah stands before this great and mighty nation. Yet 40 days and you will be overthrown. If you do not repent of your sin, if you do not believe upon the Savior to come, you'll face the wrath of God. Repent or perish. But there's this glimpse we saw, this glimpse of hope within the proclamation. Jonah says, yet 40 days. Yet 40 days and then Nineveh shall be overthrown. In 40 days, this phrase signaling a period of grace, a period of time, that if you repent today, if you believe, if you turn from your sin and come to the Savior today, there will be mercy. Today is the day of salvation. So there's this grace that's proclaimed. That if Nineveh repents of their sin, they will receive the mercy of God. And then in v. 5-10, we see You see the characteristics of this work of God. I want you to see three things. I want you to notice first the humbled city in verse 5. Jonah proclaims in verse 4 and notice the result in verse 5. It's a humbled city. So, as a result, the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Now would this be the result that you would think takes place as Jonah proclaims this message? Jonah stands before the greatest enemy of Israel, the Assyrian Empire. These men who nailed their enemies to the wall to publicly show how fierce and wicked this nation is, that they're to be feared. What we see, it's a work of God. God humbles this city. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Jonah proclaimed God's word, and Nineveh received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God. They realized that this was a message from God and for them. They received it like the Thessalonians. If you look with me in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 2. Or chapter 2, verse 13, sorry, of 1 Thessalonians. We see Paul identifies how the Thessalonians, this Gentile city, this Gentile people group, how they received the word of God. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 13. Paul says, for this reason we also thank God without season. Paul, why do you thank God for how the Thessalonians received the Word of God? What caused Paul to rejoice? He says, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who Believe. So the Thessalonians, Paul proclaimed this message of salvation to them. And Paul says, I can thank God that you received it not as my very own words, words from men, but you received it as the Word of God. A God-sent message. A divine message. And so I would suggest to you that the Ninevites receive the Word of God as the Thessalonians did. Jonah presents this message of judgment. Repent or perish. They received it as the Word of God. Our text back in Jonah chapter 3 says the people of Nineveh believed God. Now, what does it mean they believed God? What is the text getting at? Well, if you think of someone saying, well, I believe you, you could either take it one way or the other. You could present Facts to the unconverted and say, this is your state before God, that you're a rebel, that you're under His judgment and His wrath, and this is your destiny if you do not repent of your sin. That judgment awaits. But there's a Savior. Now, if someone could answer that and say, yeah, I believe you, I believe you. Let's get on to another conversation. I'll put that thought in the back of my mind. Well, they could say, I believe you that way, but it's not genuine. The other person could say, well, I genuinely believe you. That they are moved to action. That they seriously receive that word and believe it. That the sinner is moved by the Spirit of God to call upon God Himself. To see their great need and the all-sufficient Savior. So what does it mean that the people of Nineveh believed God? Well, the same word here in the Hebrew, believed. Well, it's the same word that's used in Genesis 15, verse 6, that the Ninevites believed God, they trusted God. If you look with me in Genesis 15, verse 6, a familiar text, with Abraham being accounted as righteous by faith alone, justified by faith alone. Genesis 15, we'll begin in verse 5. This is God proclaiming His promise, spreading it before Abraham. The seed of the woman will bless the nations, and there will be a Savior through the seed of the woman. Verse 5 of Genesis 15. Then He brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to number them. And He said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he believed. That's Abraham. He believed in the Lord. That's the same word that's used for the Ninevites. They believed in the Lord. They believed God. And notice, God, because of Abraham's faith in the Lord, his belief, God accounted it to him for righteousness. So we see in the Old Testament that sinners were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in the promised seed, which is Christ alone. Abraham believed the promises of God that through your seed the Savior will come. He believed that promise. He cast himself upon the promises of God by faith. God declares him righteous in His sight, justified by faith alone. He received God's Word, believed it, He was moved to action. One will come who will redeem us from sin and death. So what we see then is throughout the Bible, throughout the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament, saving faith. Belief in the Lord is not some abstract belief in facts, where you simply store it in the back of your head, but it is this personal trust in the God who saves sinners. Abraham was a man who cast himself on the promises of God. Look with me in Hebrews chapter 11. We see this. Hebrews chapter 11. In our text, we see in 11 verse 8, about Abraham's faith. Hebrews 11 verse 8, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. He was given this promise, he pressed on by faith in God. He waited for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Now, Wayne Grudem helpfully summarizes saving faith. In light of the new covenant, he says, saving faith is trust in Jesus as a living person for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. So we see that connection, the Ninevites, Nineveh, they believed God. Same word here, casting themselves upon the God of mercy. But what were they convinced of? What did they believe God about? How did they believe God? What did He tell them? Well, they were convinced of their judgments. They were convinced and convicted of their own spiritual danger before God. They believed that this is their true state, that they stand separated from God. And this realization, believing God at His Word, it moved them. It moved them to call upon God for mercy. So if you look back in Jonah 3, verse 8, you see the city, it's humbled. They cry out to God. Verse 8. The king says, but let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his anger so that we may not perish? This was a proud, arrogant, boastful, wicked city. And now you see them humble before the God of mercy. They believe the Lord about their spiritual state. They're calling upon the God of grace. If we call upon Him, cry mightily to Him that He may pour out His mercy, that we may be recipients of mercy. What power does this? This wasn't in the man Jonah. This wasn't in the preacher himself. How are kings humbled? Look at the king of Nineveh. This man was the elite man. He was the one to be feared. And this king is on his face before God. He's in sackcloth and ashes, crying out to God. How does that happen? How are men and women brought to an end of their selves? at the mercy of God. Well, I would suggest to you, this account is a powerful working of the Spirit of God. This is the Spirit of God's ministry working through His Word. If you look with me in John 16, the Lord Jesus Christ identifies the Spirit's ministry. The Spirit is the Spirit of truth. And Jesus Christ says, sanctify them in truth. Your Word is truth. The Spirit of God is always accompanying the Word of God. And so if you look in John 16, verse 18, we see the Spirit's ministry. The Spirit is at work to humble the proud and bring grace to the repentant sinner. If you look in verse 7 of chapter 16, Jesus says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. Why is it to our advantage that Jesus Christ goes away to the Father? Well, Jesus gives us the reason. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. Jesus Christ says, it's to your advantage that I go, and the Spirit of Christ comes upon you and dwells within you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you. And notice the ministry of the Holy Spirit, verse 8. And when He has come, will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in Me. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more. Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." That's the work of the Spirit. That's what changes nations. That's what brings about revival through the preaching of the Word of God. It's the Spirit of truth coming to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Sinclair Ferguson writes, talking about the revival in Nineveh, such workings of the Spirit are glorious, but are also frightening. It's glorious to see the Lord work in this majestic way. but it's also frightening. It exposes the need of our own hearts, the sin within our own lives. But God, in His infinite knowledge and infinite perfect wisdom, not only touches our innermost being, but He also unravels His grace and pours in the medical balm of His love. Spirit comes, exposes who we are by nature, cuts to the heart, but also pours out this medical balm within our own soul. Do you remember that medical balm that came first to your soul, brothers and sisters? You saw your sin before God. You saw His pardoning mercy for the first time. You saw the beauty of Christ. The Spirit came and exposed our sin. The Spirit also moved us to look to Jesus Christ. To experience a restored fellowship with God. Do you see that love? That's the love that humbles us. The love that snatched us from the fire. The love that saved us by grace. The love that clothed us in His righteousness. Cleansing every wound of sin and death within us. Nineveh's experienced something of this humbling grace that leads to restoring grace, reconciling grace. Nineveh came to an end of their selves, and they believed in God. They were humbled before the face of God. But secondly, I want you to see their repentance. They were humbled. They were repentant. They were a repentant city. We see again this in verse 5-9. Verse 5, they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. And to put on sackcloth is to reflect outwardly what is happening inwardly. That they are humbled before God, that they are repentant, and they are showing it in every ounce of their being. Their sorrow and remorse over sin. This wicked city repents. Not only do they regret their sin, but they turn from it. Now, Grudem again defines repentance as a heartfelt sorrow. We see this with the Ninevites. This heartfelt sorrow over their sin against God. A godly sorrow. Sorrow for sin. Renouncing of it. A sincere commitment to forsake sin. And to walk in Christ by faith alone. It's all by grace. If you look again in verse 5, they had this grievance over sin. They were grieved from the least to the greatest. not only the peasant, but also the king. Verse 6 to 8, we see that it reaches the king. Now, the question is, was this repentance just left on its own, without faith, or was there faith and repentance? I would suggest, in any In biblical repentance, there's also saving faith. John Murray calls repentance, believing repentance. In other words, repentance, turning from sin, always has saving faith with it. It's two sides of the same coin, if you think of it that way. There's repentance and sin. And we can think, when we turn to Christ, we are simultaneously turning from sin. And so in verse 6 and 8, we see one side of the coin, Nineveh's repentance. They turn from their wicked ways. And then in verse 8, halfway through to verse 9, we see Nineveh's faith. They say, cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Verse 9. Here's their faith, looking to the God of mercy. Who can tell? if God will turn and relent and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish." They turn. They plead the mercies of God. They trusted in God's gracious character. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Ferguson, again, helpfully writes that this was not a mature faith, but it was faith nonetheless. It grasped something of God. That He was a God who might have mercy upon them. Trusting in His gracious character, they pled with God that He might be merciful to them. There's always this believing repentance and saving grace. Always. By faith, we look to Christ and simultaneously, we look away from sin. Thomas Watson says that a broken heart and a broken Christ do well agree. He goes on to say the more bitterness we taste of sin, the more sweetness we taste in Christ. That's how it works. The more we see the bitterness of sin, the more we see how vile and wicked sin is, even as we grow in grace, we realize how much of a sinner we still are and how much sin dwells within. We taste the bitterness of sin again and again and again and again. We hate it. Have you tasted the bitterness of sin? Do you see the sweetness of Christ? Do you see His tender mercy? That He doesn't put away with the smoldering stick of fire. He doesn't crush the weak person. He comes alongside them. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. This tender mercy. Now God, God shows us that if you've repented, the Word of God says that if you've repented of your sins, that's a miracle of God. It's God who grants repentance. Look with me in Acts chapter 11. We see God granting repentance. We see this wonderful grace of God. The reason we can stand here today as Christians is because God was merciful to us and turned us from our wicked ways. Acts chapter 11, verse 18. When they heard these things, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. It's God who granted the Gentiles repentance to turn away from their sin, to look to the Savior. He granted the Jews the same thing, that there's neither Jew nor Gentile, all are one in Christ, who are found in Christ. It's God who granted this repentance. So we can look back, we can say, We know the Savior. We know of His sweetness. We know of His tenderness. We know of the vileness of sin. We want to put sin to death. We want to know Christ more. That's a grace of God in your life, brothers and sisters. It was God who did this work of grace in your soul. He granted you and I repentance. He also granted us faith. He also granted us the belief in Jesus Christ. He didn't just grant repentance, but He also gave us saving faith to look upon Christ, to know who He is, that He is the Savior, that He is the One who came to seek and save the lost. Look with me in Romans 12. Romans 12, verse 3. We see this truth that God also grants Faith, a measure of saving faith among the body of Christ. Romans 12 verse 3, For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. So Paul says, don't be boasting. Don't be arrogant, thinking that you'll weld up all this faith within your own soul. Yes, we can use the means of grace to grow in faith and the intensity of our faith, but Paul says God's dealt among all of you a measure of faith. It's God who's worked this grace within your soul to repent and to believe. But you may say, well then, does that just mean that I step back here? If I'm not a Christian here tonight, does that mean that I'm not morally accountable to God and I just simply sit back and then I don't have to believe upon the Savior and sit in my chair and wait for God to do this work within me? Well, that's not the call of the Bible. That's sinners. All men, all women are morally responsible to God. There's both the sovereignty of God in grace and man's responsibility to believe upon Jesus Christ. You have to have both. You can't elevate the one and diminish the other. Or elevate the other and diminish that one. We need to know that God is sovereign in grace. Repenting graciously. Gracious saving faith. but also sinners. The reason they perish in their sins is because of their own rejection of Christ. There's a balance here. Now this leads into our third point, then, as we look at Jonah 3 again. We've seen the humbled city, the repentant city. I want you to see the God of grace. Notice in verse 10 here. Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that He said He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. Now how do we understand that? Acts 10, God relented from the disaster that He said He would bring upon them. Didn't He say He was going to annihilate them yet in 40 days? How is it that He turned from His way of bringing disaster upon them? Well, R.C. Sproul writes, God is free to hide the secret will from us and warn us of judgments He knows that will never come to pass. He's free to hide His secret will, and He's free to warn us of judgments He knows will never come to pass. Now, when we seek to understand this within the context of Nineveh, God has called them to repentance and faith. If you do not repent of your sins, You'll perish. But what we see here is that the purpose of this warning was that God was using the warning as a God-ordained means to bring them to repentance and faith. This sovereign grace working through the call of the Gospel as it were. And so we can look at this then from the human standpoint, man's responsibility in God's sovereignty. First, man's responsibility, the human side. We see that once Nineveh repented of their sin, the situation was different. From the human standpoint, God responded in mercy. There was a condition. If you do this, then this will take place. If you look with me in Jeremiah 18, we see this condition clause. Jeremiah 18, verse 5 to 10, and I hope this helps us understand this passage. Jeremiah 18, verse 5. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter, says the Lord? Look as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. The instance I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it. And notice verse 8. If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. So if they repent of their sins, God will pour out His mercy. In verse 9, in the instance I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant in it. Notice in verse 10, if, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, Then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. So we see the if and then. If you repent, you'll receive mercy. If you do not repent, God will pour out His wrath. There's this responsibility of man. This warning goes out. And the warning, because God sends this warning, it doesn't mean that we have to be inactive. Rather, this warning, though God is sovereign, this warning should move man to action. So we consider the responsibility of man to repent and believe in the sovereign grace of God, bestowing, repenting, and saving faith upon nations. They both work together perfectly. Thomas Watson says repentance in Jonah 3.10 is attributed to God figuratively. There may be a change in God's work, but not in His will. God threatened Nineveh, the people repented, and God spared them. In verse 10, God changed His sentence, but not His decree. It was with Him that it was laid in the womb of His purposes from all of eternity. So God didn't change His plan. God set His love upon Nineveh in eternity past. We see His sovereign grace that before the creation of all things, God set His love upon the Ninevites. He determined to save them through the warning of Jonah, through the proclamation of yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. His sovereign, gracious decree But we also see Nineveh is morally responsible. There's a curse if they disobey God's command to repent and believe. There's a blessing that if they repent, they receive mercy. We see that truth then in v. 10 of chapter 3. Because they repented of their sin, God bestowed saving mercy upon them. Sovereign grace. Man's responsibility. Step back again and think of this personally. Spurgeon gives a wonderful example of one who is outside of Christ and then one who comes to Christ. And you can imagine a doorframe. I may have said this before, but it wonderfully portrays man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. Man's responsibility. We were dead in our sin, under God's wrath. We look upon a door that says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. So, out of faith we come to the Savior, and we enter through that narrow gate. We enter through the door of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, our responsibility to obey the gospel's call. And then you enter through that door, and you look to the other side of the door, and you see on the back of it, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And we see that the only reason we came through that door in saving faith was because God first set His love upon us, that He sought us when a stranger. Matt Boswell says, while we were dead in sin, dead in untold sin, the Sovereign purchased us. So step back further and understand that these two principles They're friends, Spurgeon says. We can't comprehend it. We think of this on such a finite level. And when we say, this is a divine mystery, and it is. But we can't separate two friends. We know that the infinite, eternal God works this together perfectly. How He's sovereign in grace. How man's responsible to come to Christ. It's a divine mystery that should humble us. It's a divine mystery that should melt our heart and stir our soul. That He would set His love upon me. That when a stranger in the far field, wanting nothing to do with God, seeing sin in a perverted sense, thinking that it's all sweet, and then God in His saving grace changes our hearts, a new heart. We find out we're just eating in the slums. We're just eating in mud and dirt. There's a rich feast of eternal life there. Matt Boswell says, how free and costly was the love displayed upon the cross. How vast and measureless the flood of mercy unrestrained. This vast flood of God's mercy came to your soul. Measureless mercy. Mercy greater than all your sin. Salvation, what a priceless gift received by grace through faith. John Owen wonderfully gives this picture of the Savior coming to us when we were outside of Christ. Knocking and coming and wooing us to the Savior. Owen says this is somewhat of the word which Christ spoke to you at conversion. And if you're not a Christian, this is somewhat of the word that Christ calls you tonight. Why will you die? Why perish? Why will you not have compassion over your own soul? Can your heart endure the day of wrath? Look to Me and be saved. Come to Me and I will ease you of all your sins, ease you of all your sorrows, all your fears, all your burdens. I'll give you rest for your souls. Come to Me. I entreat you. Lay aside all delays. Put Me off no more. Eternity lies at the door." And Owen concludes that these things the Lord continually declares, proclaims, pleads, and urges upon poor sinners. That's what God did by grace. We wanted nothing to do with Him, but by saving grace, He came to you and showed you the sweetness of the Savior. Come to me and I'll give you rest. And so we came. He sought us and bought us with his own precious blood on Calvary. So we've seen three things this evening. The humbled city, the repentant city, the God of all grace. Now two things as we conclude. First thing, we need to know our God. Know your God. There's a great quote that says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. We know that God's sovereign. We know that the God of grace in Jonah chapter 3 is the same God of grace that can turn this nation for the better, that can bring both the lowest person in the nation and the highest person in the nation, the peasant and the king. We know God can do that. We know He can bestow His saving mercy to the most proud individual, to the human eye. We know that theoretically, but in our daily circumstances, as we turn on the news, it's as if God's not on His throne. It's as if Christ is not building His church. Do you know that the God of saving power in Jonah chapter 3, the God that worked in Northampton under Edwards, He's the God who reigns today. We need to know our God. The God who spoke all things into existence by the power of His Word. He's the one who's able to revive His church, to raise the dead. The one who called forth Lazarus from the grave. He's the one that calls sinners day by day and is building His church from the least to the greatest. We need to have a high view of God in these days. That will change how we function in this world. That will change how we operate tomorrow at work, in the workplace. To know that whatever I face tomorrow, God's on the throne. That He's working all things according to His purpose. That for those who love Jesus Christ, those who are children of God, all things work together. for our good. Thomas Watson, a Puritan, says that it's like a watch. You look into the gears and see all the different movements this way, and that's so much like our life. We see our country going this way, and we say, what's happening? But God's working all things for our good and His glory. So we need a high view of God. That our God's in the heavens. He does everything that He pleases. So we call upon the name of the Lord in the day of trouble, knowing that He's a strong tower. that we plead His pardoning mercies, that we pray for our nation, that we pray for our leaders, knowing that He can do what He's done in Jonah chapter 3. It's the work of His Spirit. So know your God. And secondly, know your salvation. We've been saved by grace, not to boast in ourselves, but to praise His glorious grace. How do we be useful as we've experienced this grace of God in our own life? Well, Paul says it's the love of Christ for him that compels him. Paul, what fuels your ministry in the hardest times? What fueled you to serve the Lord Jesus Christ when you were in prison, when there was no visible fruit, when Nero was slaughtering Christians? Paul says it's the love of Christ that compelled him and moved him. We need to be We need to behold the love of Christ. We need to see Christ's love afresh day by day to pray that this love, this sweet love, this tender love would stir us. I want to conclude with reading from 2 Corinthians chapter 8. See this great love of Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Verse 9, whatever difficulty we face this week, whatever discouraging moments, whatever dark, cloudy providences we face, keep your eyes on this Christ, Savior of the world. Look no further. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know it. We've experienced it. We need to know it afresh. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that through his poverty might become rich. Well, may we pray that God would help us experience afresh this grace, to know it more deeply, to serve him more faithfully. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for This great pardoning and saving mercy that we've seen in Nineveh. And we pray for our nation that you would do what you've done in the past. Bring about a great revival in our day. Give us new affections, stronger affections. Stir our heart to serve you and to know more intimately the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.