I wanted to preach this morning on the subject of preaching to the Gentiles and the difference between Old Testament preaching to the Gentiles and New Testament preaching to the Gentiles. And the comparison brought to my mind when I heard just an aside mentioned by a speaker in a scriptural debate that I was listening to in the last few days. It is true that God's law and truth were almost exclusively vouchsafed to the Jews in Old Testament times. You can think of a few exceptions like the healing of Naaman the Syrian, for example. But one prominent exception to this general rule is Jonah preaching to Nineveh, Jonah preaching to Nineveh. We all know the story so well. Jonah 1 at verse 1, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Imati, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me. Now you would have thought that Jonah would have jumped at the chance. to go to Nineveh and denounce them and declare God's wrath and imminent judgment against them. But for reasons we shall comment on a little later, he rebelled against this commandment. And we might ask the question, what was different between sending Jonah or any other prophet to decry the sins of Israel or Judah and sending Jonah to decry the sins of a Gentile nation far away. So Jonah, rather than obeying, he fled from the presence of the Lord. And we all know the story. He got on a boat and he tried to travel away from the Lord's commandment, and there was a great storm, and he was thrown overboard, and the storm was calmed, and he was swallowed by a great fish which the Lord had prepared, and he prayed for deliverance in the belly of the fish. And the Lord delivered him, and the Lord told him again, Go to Nineveh and preach. And this time, begrudgingly, he went ahead to Nineveh. He went to Nineveh to preach. And we all know the gist of his preaching. It's recorded in two short verses in Jonah 3. Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and none of us shall be overthrown. That was his sermon. All he preached was divine wrath and judgment, and it was very short term. in happening, wasn't it? It wasn't going to be one of those long, faraway prophecies. It was going to be very, very soon, a little more than a month away. Now, you would have thought that he would have enjoyed preaching this message, although perhaps he might be a little afraid that they would just take him and string him up for being so impudent. You remember when Jeremiah preached the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, they threw him in jail and calculated how they could put him to death. They didn't want to hear all that nonsense, did they? But Jonah went and preached this sermon. There was no salvation in it, only wrath and judgment. Now, what did the people do? They turned amass, didn't they, from their wicked ways, from the king all the way to the poorest person, sackcloth and ashes in repentance. It might be that the Lord will have mercy on us, they said. And sure enough, the Lord did have mercy, didn't He? The Lord withheld His judgment. And Jonah went out to see. He went and sat outside the city on a hill somewhere to watch and see if the judgment came. And presumably, he watched and he watched and it didn't come. And his attitude was what? Was it rejoicing that the Lord had delivered these people that had turned away from their sin? No, it wasn't, was it? He didn't like it one bit. It says in Jonah 4 verse 1, it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarsus, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.' Then said the Lord, Dost thou well to be angry, Jonah?" Now, I think it's pretty clear why Jonah was angry. that his message led to Nineveh's repentance and the Lord staying His hand of judgment against that great city. It was because Nineveh needed to be judged and destroyed. Justice demanded it. They had broken the law. They were evil, cruel, barbaric, and sadistic people. And they had been enemies and destroyers of Israel and against the people of Jonah wrongfully. for no good reason. If anybody needed to suffer wrath and judgment, it was Nineveh. Probably Jonah was hoping more along the lines of Sodom and Gomorrah. But here the Lord had been gracious and had spared this city, and the Lord makes the argument that this is a city that's full of many people, many children, many cattle. Why shouldn't it be saved? Why shouldn't I have mercy on it? But Jonah didn't like that answer, did he? He wanted Nineveh destroyed without warning. And here's the key, without a chance of repentance, because he knew that if he went and preached that the Lord might use his preaching to bring about repentance and then the Lord would have mercy on him. And that's not what he wanted. That's why he refused to go preach when God told him to. He wouldn't go preach to Nineveh because he didn't want Nineveh to hear any warning at all. He just wanted the wrath to fall suddenly and utterly destroy them, and that without remedy. Surely this was what the law required. Surely this was what God's justice required. And now here the Lord had gone and ruined it all. by sending, in his grace, sending to Nineveh a prophet to warn them of the impending wrath by which he induced in them a certain measure of repentance, and which resulted in his staying, his judgment." Jonah was angry because justice and the law required wrath. And here the Lord wouldn't perform it against the great enemy of Israel. Now we look at that and we think, what a horrible attitude that is. It's just terrible. And yet, as I submit to you later on, we shall find that that is the inevitable mindset of people who preach justification by the law or righteousness by law-keeping. They come to resent those people that are less law-keeping than they are. Everything becomes a comparison with them. our goodness versus those people over there and the wrath they deserve. But when Jesus came, most of the Jews thought he would impose that law and its judgment upon the world. They would love it. That's what they were looking for. They're looking for somebody who would come and save them from the Romans and impose righteousness and destroy all of his enemies. I'm sure they love to read Psalm 2. They didn't realize Psalm 2 was about them, their sin and their rebellion against Christ, as well as about the rest of the world's rebellion against Messiah. That's what they thought he would do. But then he went around saying things like, I am come not to judge the world, but to save the world. And that just grated on some of them at least, the rulers at least. And then he started talking about a righteousness that exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, without which you cannot in any wise enter into the kingdom of God. Well, what is he talking about? He's leveling us with those dirty Gentiles. He's treating us like we're nobodies. Like we're not the chosen people. Like we're not God's children. Like we're not all okay, pretty much. Every once in a while, we make a mistake. But we keep the law. We're satisfied with our righteousness of law-keeping. You see, Jonah's wrath, no doubt, was replicated in the hearts of many in Israel. And then the Lord Jesus would say things like, God so loved the world that He gave His Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I thought it was supposed to be whoever kept God's law would not perish. Are you saying we need a Savior, that we're just like those dirty Gentiles, that we need a Savior, that our righteousness is not good enough? No, Jesus came to save us from our sin It's pointedly said, not from other people's sins. They wanted a Savior that could save them from the consequences of all those other people and their sin against the people of Israel, of course. But Jesus came to save us from our sin. Think of it. Our sins He died for at Calvary. We think, or many people are tempted to think, that Jesus really loves decent people, and surely He delights to save them, but not miserable sinners. No, no, no, those are the people that Jesus wouldn't associate, would they? What? He excoriates the Pharisees and He eats with publicans and sinners. What a disappointment. What an outrage. This proves He's not God's Messiah. God's Messiah wouldn't put up with that kind of nonsense. He would enforce the law and judge, wouldn't he? Those people. And embrace all of us good people, all of us decent people. You see, Jonah's spirit was alive and well in the Pharisees, in the scribes, in the Sadducees probably, and in many of the hearts of the people in the land of Israel in Jesus' day. And it's still alive today, I submit to you. Jonah's spirit. God is with us versus all of those wicked people out there that ought to be judged. But Jesus came to save even Gentiles. What an outrage! You remember Simeon's promise. He had beheld the Lord Jesus as a babe. God's salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike. unto the Gentiles the glory of thy people Israel." To Nicodemus, he said, God loved the world that He sent His Son, that whoever believes would not perish. And all this conflict between Messiah being for the good people of Israel and against all the rest, the Jonah view of the salvation of the Lord versus the view that the Lord Jesus propounded, and preached the gospel of salvation to everyone that trusts in Him, not in themselves, not in their own works. It all came to a head when the Gentiles began to inquire of the Savior. You remember, the Apostle John records this incident. It happens the day or the day after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And you remember it starts off with this acerbic, dark comment by the Lord's critics. John 12 at verse 19, The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing. Behold, the world is gone after him. That's one of those places in the Scriptures where the world doesn't mean the whole world. They meant by that that all of our nation is going after Him. And really all of the nation wouldn't. A big enough chunk to worry them, that's what that meant. Too many of the people are following after Jesus and calling Him the Messiah. The whole world's going after Him, and as if to mock They're concerned. Next thing you know, some Gentiles show up, inquire to see Jesus. You remember how that goes. There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came, therefore, to Philip, who was of Bethsaida, of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew. And again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. So here is an example, a prescient foretaste of the literal fulfillment of this fear that the Pharisees articulate. Behold, the whole world comes after him. Now, sure enough, some Gentiles show up. That wasn't that they had in mind. That was even worse than they had thought. Not just their own people, now the Gentiles are getting in on the act. They want to know about the Lord Jesus. They want to see the Lord Jesus. Presumably this word see doesn't mean just lay eyes on Him. They would like to meet Him and commune with Him and hear Him, what He has to say. How does Jesus react to that? It's very curious really. And Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The Gentiles desiring to come to Christ provokes in the Lord Jesus this musing or this statement that now the hours come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And then He says, what is this glorification? It is the death. It is my death. to bring life to as many as trusted Me." And we've preached about this story of the corn of seed. He was the only seed that had life. All the other seed was sterile and dead. If it was going to be life, it was going to have to be because He laid down His life, was buried in the ground like a seed that had life in it, from which springs forth an abundance of life. That's the metaphor that He's trying to bring to mind here. And all of this talk about His death being His glory and about now being the time, you see, is prompted by the approach of the Gentiles to the Lord Jesus. It is the saving of Gentiles that brings to the forefront the need for the sacrifice that can save. For otherwise, what did Jesus have to offer poor Gentiles? You see, the Jews thought Jesus had to offer a glorious kingdom and deliverance. They thought He had to offer political salvation. And so they followed Him. Only a handful understood He was really the Messiah. And even they objected to His dying for the sin of His people, didn't they? But really, what could Gentiles hope for? None of those promises seemed to apply to them, did they? Why, the only thing that Jesus had to offer to the Gentiles, it would seem, was His glorious death, that He might deliver them as well as Jews who should trust in Him. Perhaps they were impressed by the crowd's response, but Jesus' thoughts turned to something far more glorious, the death that he would die to save them all. I thought what the commentators, Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown, had to say about this text was interesting. Jesus answered them, the hour has come. The Son of Man should be glorified. That is, they would see Jesus, would they? yet a little moment, and they shall see Him so as now they dream not of. The middle wall or partition that keeps them out from the commonwealth of Israel is on the eve of breaking down. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men to me. I see them flying as a cloud. and as doves to their coats, citing Isaiah 60 about the flooding of the Gentiles unto the Lord. A glorious event that will be for the Son of Man by which this is to be brought about. That is, that a glorious event, His dying will be by which it will be brought about that the Gentiles will flee to Christ. It is his death, he thus sublimely and delicately alluded to, lost in the scenes of triumph which this desire of the Greeks to see him called up before his view. He gives no direct answer to their petition, but sees the cross, which was to bring them gilded with glory. So the coming of the Gentiles brings into sharp focus the need, the urgent need, the immediate need that Christ should be glorified on the cross, that He might have with all to offer, even to poor Gentiles. It would be the death of Jesus for sinners that would bring Gentiles in mass unto Christ. And there, starting to take an interest in Him, spurs Jesus on to the urgency of the glory of His cross. Who then shall be the one to preach the gospel first to the Gentiles? Well, we know the answer. Why, it was Simon Peter, wasn't it? Simon Peter, even though Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, it was Peter who would be the first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And we know the story very well, just like we know the story of Jonah preaching to Nineveh, how the Lord sent an angel to the Gentile Cornelius and told him to go fetch Peter and bring him so that he could tell him the words of the gospel. And how the Lord at the same time prepared Peter's heart by showing him the vision of the sheep full of unclean animals. let down from the sky, and the Lord's command to kill and eat. And Peter says, Not so, Lord. I've never eaten anything that's unclean. The rejoinder being what I have called clean, thou shalt not call unclean. And Peter puts two and two together when the people from Cornelius come knocking at the door. The Lord says, Go with them. And he figures out, doesn't he? Oh, that's what that meant. That meant that I'm not to be loath to go and be with and preach and talk to and commune with Gentiles, even though formally we all were taught that they were unclean. That's what that meant. So he goes willingly with them. Do you remember Acts 10.19, while Peter thought on the vision, The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have set them." So the Lord commands Peter to go with these people that the Lord set, but they're Gentiles. Well, never mind. What I have said is clean. Thou shalt not call unclean. So Peter goes with them to see Cornelius. He immediately obeyed. At verse 21, then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom you seek. What is the cause? Wherefore, here come. Then they said, Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee unto his house, and to hear words of thee. And so Peter, in obedience, He immediately obeys. What does it say at verse 23? Then called he them in and lodged them, and on the morrow Peter went away with them, along with certain brethren who accompanied him. And they went for Peter to preach the gospel to Cornelius. So you see, Peter in a very interesting way is the Jonah of the New Testament. He's sent to preach the gospel or to preach a warning or to preach the Lord's Word to Gentiles. But unlike Jonah, Peter obeys the Lord's command to preach. to the Gentiles. And in Acts chapter 10, he says to Cornelius at verse 28, he said to them, you know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come into one of another nation. But God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying. Soon as I was sent for, I asked therefore for what intent ye have sent for me. So he asked them, well, what do you want to know? What do you want to hear? I bet he knew already. Just wanted to hear it from their mouth. Cornelius says that he was told to send for him by an angel and that he would speak unto you words. And later on in the next chapter, in Acts 11, adds a little additional information. He said, Cornelius showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said to him, send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and thy house shall be saved. Cornelius's desire was that Peter should tell him words whereby he and his house should be saved. He wanted to hear the gospel preached. He wanted to hear what it was that God commanded so that a poor man like him might be saved. And so what did he preach? We're pretty familiar with the sermon that's found in Acts 10 at verse 36. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, His Lord of all. So he's going to preach the same word that was sent to the Jewish people. That's the only word he has to preach, isn't it? Whether it applies to the Gentiles, he's not sure, but that's the words of salvation. So he's going to repeat it. He doesn't have a special message for the Gentiles, does he? He's got the same message that he has for his own people. That word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judea, began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. In other words, it was public knowledge. all over the land, wasn't it? How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. For God was with him, and we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. But him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us. who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead." That means the ones who are alive and the ones who are dead. You see, at this point, Peter is tracking a little bit. You see, there's a hit of the track of the Sermon of Jonah, isn't it? Now he's telling them who God has ordained specifically to be the judge, to carry out judgment and justice. It is the Lord Jesus of Nazareth who was slain and rose again from the dead. And this same Jesus has told us to preach that God has appointed Him. God has appointed Him. It was ordained of God that the Lord Jesus is the judge of the quick and the dead. And Peter says this, "...to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." We talked about that little sermon last Sunday, didn't we? Peter is preaching that those who trust in the Lord Jesus, whom God has appointed to be the judge, that everyone who trusts in Him would have their sins forgiven. They would be justified. They would be perfect before the righteous judge. They'd be rescued from wrath, wouldn't they? See, here's a big difference, isn't it, between the sermon Jonah preached to the Gentiles and the sermon Peter preached to the first Gentiles. Jonah's sermon didn't have any salvation in it. Peter's sermon preached the sureness of judgment by the judge already appointed, but also the sureness of forgiveness of sins and salvation to everyone who put their trust in the Lord Jesus. And what was the result of the preaching of this sermon? While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished. As many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as us? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." Isn't it interesting that the falling of the Holy Ghost as a miraculous sign is used in this context, not as a sign for Cornelius that he's been saved, but rather as a sign to the Lord's Apostle that Gentiles can be saved. That's the sign that the filling of the Holy Ghost and the speaking with tongues in this case, they did speak with tongues. This was a sign not to them so much as it was to the preacher. that the Lord's gospel could save Gentiles. They could believe. And God would receive them and put His stamp of approval and acceptance upon them so that it might be demonstrated to the people that needed it to be demonstrated to, and that is the apostles of the Lord Jesus and His disciples, who didn't think that the gospel would apply to the poor, lost Gentiles. What was the response to the salvation that the Lord revealed through the preaching of Peter to the Gentiles? Why, in Acts 11, Peter rehearsed all this to the rest of the apostles in Jerusalem. And he said at verse 17 of Acts 11, For as much as God gave them the light gift as He did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." I want you to notice two things that Peter did not withstand God like Jonah did. He didn't pout about it. He didn't go out and watch for the judgment to fall. He wasn't angry that salvation had come to the Gentiles. No, he rejoiced in it because he knew it was the Lord's doing. Therefore, it was marvelous in our eyes. And that's the response all the rest of the apostles gave. They glorified God. There is salvation to the Gentiles as well. Praise God. So there was great rejoicing and there was happiness. amongst the Lord's people at the salvation of the Gentiles." What a striking difference there is between the preaching of the Lord's Word to the Ninevites by Jonah and Peter's preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles first to Cornelius. You remember, Jonah rebelled against the commandment to preach, and Peter obeyed, didn't he? A marked difference there. The second difference you note is that Jonah preached the law and the wrath to the Gentiles, while Peter preached salvation through grace by the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles. And the third difference is that even though all Jonah preached was law and wrath and judgment, yet still, Nineveh repented for a while, didn't it? and the Lord in His mercy spared them from the judgment. And then they soon turned away again, and ultimately they were destroyed. But the Gentiles believed the gospel that Peter preached to them. What? For a moment? For a while? Was it temporary? No, unto everlasting life. Unto everlasting life. You see, you can... You can reform for a while under the preaching of the law, but you can only be saved for all eternity under the preaching of the gospel of grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. And then fourthly, Jonah was angry at God's mercy while Peter and the disciples of Christ were glad and rejoiced at the mercy and the salvation of God. So Peter is like the counterpart to Jonah. The counterpart to Jonah in the preaching of God's Word to the Gentiles. And here's the strange thing about that. Two strange points. Have you ever noticed that both Jonah and Peter, when they were commanded by God to preach to the Gentiles, both men departed out of Joppa? You remember Jonah went to Joppa to catch a boat to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. But Peter left Joppa in the company of the Gentiles' messengers to go preach, to obey God, and to go preach to the Gentiles. Both men left Joppa, but with very different hearts and with very different consequences. And the second thing that's interesting about Peter being the New Testament counterpart to Jonah is Peter's family name. You remember what his full name was. It was Simon, son of Jonah. Simon, son of Jonah. Now, it wasn't the same Jonah, of course. I'm sure Jonah was a relatively common name. And yet it portends that Simon will be in a like position as Jonah was. He will, as it were, inherit the mantle of the prophet Jonah. He will follow after the ways of Jonah. The Lord will use him like He used Jonah to preach to the Gentiles. And yet there are these profound differences. Three times the Lord Jesus underlines Simon Peter's family name, if you will, in the Gospels. Three times. He refers to Peter as the son of Jonah. The first time is when Peter is called to follow Christ. The second time is when Peter announces the confession of Jesus as the Messiah, as the son of David, as the promised Savior. And the third time is when the Lord Jesus commands Peter to be faithful in being a shepherd to the flock of God. in John 1 at verse 42. And he brought him to Jesus. That is, someone brought Peter to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. And then in Matthew 16 at verse 15, Jesus questions his apostles. He saith to them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Notice that this declaration of Peter was central in his sermon to the Gentiles, that Jesus was the one ordained by God to be the judge and savior. It wasn't something he had taken on himself. It was at the command of God. And then thirdly, in John 21, so when they had died, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord. Thou knowest that I love thee, he saith unto him, feed my lambs. But you know, there is in this comparison between Jonah and Peter as the Old Testament and New Testament preachers to the Gentiles, a great difference underlined, and that is the difference between preaching the law and judgment and preaching grace unto salvation. In John 1 at verse 15, we read those glorious texts. John, bear witness of him crying, This was he of whom I spoke, he that cometh after me is preferred before me. For he was before me, and of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I submit that we couldn't be too hard on Jonah. He really didn't have much to preach to the Gentiles except the law and the judgment. But praise God, Peter had a better covenant, better promises to preach to poor Gentiles. Grace and truth had come by Jesus Christ. not just to the Jews, but to all the world. As I was thinking about these matters, I thought, who are examples of Jonah preachers in these days? The most extreme example, of course, would be the folks from the Westboro Baptist Church. You know, they go to protest all these evil things, but what do their signs say? They don't say anything about salvation. All they talk about is how God hates this sin or that sin. How people are going to burn in hell. They're preaching the Jonah sermon. Even though grace and truth have come by Jesus Christ, they still have that pernicious, judgmental, angry spirit of Jonah. as if they wish the Lord would hurry up and destroy all these poor people, and they don't show any sympathy for them, any compassion like the Lord Jesus did. They don't preach any gospel to them, any salvation. All they preach is condemnation and judgment and woe. And I thought to compare, there is a minister in Wisconsin named Ralph Ovendall, who has a lot of Jonah in him. He preaches very hard sermons. He uses old-fashioned language to denounce sin. He takes it all very seriously, but when he and his church members go to hold outdoor gospel ministries, they hold up signs. What do their signs say? Their signs say things like, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." They preach a gospel like Peter preached to Cornelius, rather than a promise of judgment and wrath, only without salvation like other people do. There are pervasive toxic effects that linger on in the best of us from our days for salvation of legalism and of righteousness by law-keeping. And it infects some of our Orthodox churches. And no doubt it is a tendency that must be resisted continually, which Paul preached against in Galatians, didn't he? And that is to compare oneself to those sinners over there. and to suggest to oneself that, you know, it was a whole lot easier for Jesus to save me than those people. It would be almost impossible for Him to save them. Their sin is too great. And this is the way that The Jews of Old Testament time came to think that they were righteous because they kept the law. They were just people. And if they broke the law, it was just little accidents, you know, little mistakes like the Pentecostal that said she had reached sinless perfection. And somebody said, oh, what about that time a couple of days ago I saw you screaming at someone who cut you off in traffic? She said, oh, that's just a mistake. It's just a mistake. It's not a sin. It's a mistake. And that's the way we oftentimes are tempted to behave, to minimize our disobedience and to magnify the disobedience of other people and to think they could never be saved and to really just desire their judgment and destruction rather than to go to them and preach the gospel of salvation by trusting in the Lord Jesus. Paul's whole argument was against this whole legalist viewpoint in Romans 2 and 3, which is that if you think you're going to be justified by the law, you're wrong, you're going to be condemned by it. And if you think you can condemn other people for breaking the law, you've implicitly condemned yourself because you've broken the law too in some way or another. That there is no group of people justified by law-keeping. who have any position wherewith they can condemn the other people for law-breaking. But what does he say? The whole world stands condemned and guilty before God, for all have sinned, come short of the glory of God. So let us be careful not to embrace the Jonah attitude towards the extremely wicked people of our time. that nobody needs to preach them grace because we're still holding out, that God will destroy them utterly in His wrath, and then we will be happy. No, the proper attitude is what Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, hath given us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us who do no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." And as we come now to the Lord's table and we view these elements that depict the body of Christ torn for us at Calvary and the blood of the Lord Jesus shed to make atonement for us, remember what brought to mind to Christ the glory of His death and the urgent necessity that should be accomplished was The saving of the Gentiles. Now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this hour was I born. Lord, glorify Thy name, He said. And you see that around this table we glorify the crucifixion of Christ. We glorify the love that He displayed when He went to Calvary. and laid down His life for us and we glorify the Father who delivered Him up for us all that we might be saved. I'd like to ask my Father if He'd give thanks for the bread that pictures the body of Christ broken for us. The Scriptures tell us that on the night our Lord was betrayed, He took the bread and He blessed it and He broke it and He said, take and eat. This is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. Let's give thanks for the cup that pictures the blood of the Lord Jesus shed to make atonement for our sin. Oh God, our Father, we rejoice that in the finished work of Christ, Your people, have a better sermon to preach than poor Jonah ever did. That we can preach not judgment and wrath, but salvation from judgment and wrath through the death of your dear son. Lord, we thank you that He poured out His soul unto death and He shed His precious blood to make an atonement for our sin. He said He shed His blood for the remission of sin. That He might execute that promise you made in the New Covenant that you would not remember against us our sins anymore. Praise God. They were taken away at Calvary and our blessed Lord Jesus poured out this blood that they might be expunged and that you might be just and the justifier of those who trusted Jesus that His blood was designated by you as the propitiation for our sin and that our sins might be forgiven through Jesus Christ. And Lord, we thank You for that time when Peter was faithful, didn't behave like Jonah, but went to preach the gospel to Cornelius and from him to all the rest of the world of salvation through trusting in Your Son. Lord, we thank You that You have proven that You will save poor Gentiles by the Holy Ghost and the signs given. It was enough even to convince hard-headed, possibly angry Jews that, yes, sure enough, the Gentiles also should receive the gospel and would be saved. And we thank You that You have saved us and for this cup that Your Son left us to celebrate. and the glory of His death and the glory of His blood shed for His people. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And the Scriptures tell us that after they had supped, He took the cup and He blessed it. And He said, drink ye all of it. This cup is the new covenant in My blood for the remission of sin. Do it as often as ye do it in remembrance of Me. And the Scriptures tell us that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do preach the Lord's death till He comes. Let's stand and sing number 38. Number 38 in the Black Book. Behold the glories of the Lamb. Amidst the Father's throne, prepare new honors for His name and songs before unknown. Number 38.