Welcome to the weekly sermon from Bible Baptist Church in Lafayette, Oregon, featuring preaching from the Word of God by Pastor Sean Magoo. We invite you to join us for the next 45 minutes or so as we search the scriptures to learn how we can glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Now, with today's message, here's Pastor Sean. All right, Jonah 3, the great awakening in the 1700s in America permanently changed our country for the better. And if you're not aware of it, I encourage you to read about it. And it led a renewed effort to evangelize the Native Americans, the Indians. It also transformed African-American attitudes toward Christianity. And one of the things that changed in America was that many congregations accepted their first black members into their churches. But as to be expected, some slave owners were upset about that. And the Weekly History magazine contained an account of a Boston slave owner who walked in on his slave who was preaching to himself and he was imitating George Whitfield's dramatic style. And George Whitfield was quite the guy, you know. A preacher, I could tell you, he could say Mesopotamia in such a way that he would either bring you to tears or cause you to just burst out laughing. And the greatest actor in London said he would give his right hand, his right arm, for George Whitefield's ability to preach. In other words, his ability to speak. And so this slave was imitating George Whitefield when his slave owner walked in on him. And the owner, no fan of revival, was so amused that he called together his friends, his other plantation owners, for some after-dinner entertainment the next day. And this is what the article said. Supplying his friends with pipes and glasses all around, you know, pipe and beer or wine or whiskey, whatever they were drinking. Supplying his friends with pipes and glasses all around, he instructed his slave to mount a stool in the center of the room and preach as he had the day before. And as the slave began, the company of men burst out laughing. But when the slave warned against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and then proclaim the necessity of the new birth. The slave spoke with such authority that struck the gentleman to heart. Now listen to this. To the host's dismay, the men began to listen intently and many as a result of that day's entertainment became godly sober men. God got a sense of humor or what? That is the power of God's what? Word, amen. You say, that's a funny way to introduce the sermon. It reminds me, though, that slave owner reminds me of Jonah. In what way? Well, Jonah didn't mind God's word being preached so long as the Ninevites didn't believe and repent. And that's why he ran from God. And he ended up in the belly of a fish. Someone said he had to have a prayer retreat in a fish. But God didn't have a plan B for Jonah, did he? God said, I know, I'm through with you. Some of us do that with people. I'm done with you. God didn't have a plan B for Jonah. Let me ask you, does God have a plan B for you? No. Question, did God have a plan B for Nineveh? No. There are people out there that have yet to hear the gospel through our lips and seen in our lives that God wants to save. The truth of the text is that God never gives up. What's the big idea of today's sermon? That God does his work through his word, through his people. Okay? God does his work, his saving work, through his word, through his people. So we are to take God's word to the lost. Why? In fact, we have to take God's word to everybody. Amen? But whereas, particularly in this text, it's saying take God's word to the lost, the Ninevites. the lost people around us. Why? Because God does his saving work by means of his word through his people. Let me ask you this. Here's a practical question as we begin today's sermon. Does evangelism ever seem like a burden to you? Does evangelism ever seem like a challenge? Or are you like Lucy? You are eager to evangelize. You can't wait. Lucy's the only one, I tell you that's ever mentioned this to me. I've heard it though. When you mail in your bills, you know, some of you still do your mail in your bills. Yeah. Put a track in with it. Amen. You know, people get saved by doing that. We got tracks right out here. Just grab one. If you do your bills online, like me, you can't do that. Does evangelism ever seem like a burden, or a bummer, or a challenge to you? It did to Jonah, but why? Not because Jonah despaired of ever seeing anyone saved. Sometimes we don't share with anybody, because we've shared so many times, and we're tired of planting seeds, like Keith Green said. We don't think anyone's ever going to... People don't want to hear this, so I'm not going to tell them. Well, whether they want to hear it or not, what? Tell them, amen? Jesus said what? Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Why did he say creature? Because some of them are more creature-like than others, amen? Come on, you know what you were like before you were saved, Christian. Tell the truth. Amen. OK, well, listen. Not because Jonah despaired of seeing anyone say, but because Jonah despised the Ninevites. This is this story would be almost humorous if it wasn't so sad, I say to myself. Jonah not only despised the Ninevites, Jonah knew that God would be merciful to him. We'll see in chapter four, verse two. What's that? I mean, this guy's this guy's a crank. Amen. I'm telling you that his glass is not half full, it is bone dry. The text is telling us, Christian, listen, the Ninevites weren't the only ones who needed a change of heart. Amen. Listen, this story is more for believers than non-believers. Did you know that? It's true. Well, let's see how. Three things today and we're done. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. The word of the Lord changed the Ninevites powerfully, profoundly. And the word of God carries out his purpose, still does. OK. All right. So firstly, then the word of the Lord, God's word came to Jonah the second time. Matt read the text, did a great job. All right. Notice what it says. Then. When is then? After the fish spat him up, you know? He didn't like his doctrine that salvation belongs to the Lord, so he spat him up. That's what Spurgeon said. He said the fish must have been an Arminian. I don't know, but... I don't know that that's true, but Spurgeon had a wit, didn't he? All right. So then when the Lord commanded the fish to spit him up, he vomited him up. And so the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying this is really almost parallel with chapter one. Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city. But he doesn't say call out against it. But this time he adds the message that I tell you. So Jonah, to be very clear, he only says what God wants him to say. That's clear. It's very, very important because if we go beyond the gospel, Right. If anyone preaches another gospel, Paul tells the Galatians, let him be what? Cursed. That's a profound thing, right? We've got to stick to God's word. And then notice what he says, he went, he arose and he went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. It's like we said, it was 60 miles in circumference, three days it would have been to walk across it. Well, he only went a day's journey, I guess, after he went the day's journey and he spoke what he needed to said, his accomplished mission was accomplished. And he called out, look at his message, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And where is the mercy in that message? You ever ask yourself? A whole sermon could be preached on that. And we'll talk about it a little bit this morning. And the people of Nineveh believed God. Well, I guess they did. Called for a fast and etc. All right. When God forgives us, he doesn't put us on a shelf. Amen. He doesn't make us second class citizens in his kingdom. You say, well, I know that when I first got saved, God told me he was going to use me greatly and do so. No, after you sinned, after you're saved, Jonah's already saved. Amen. And God forgives you. He doesn't hold it against you. He doesn't use your past against you. It's like it's not like the guy who was talking with his buddies and he said, I hate it whenever my wife and I argue. And his buddy said, what do you mean? He goes, she always gets historical. But he said, don't you mean hysterical? He goes, no, she's dredging everything up from the past. God's not like that. Amen. God's not going to do that to you, Christian. If he did, there'd be no hope for any of us. God isn't like some politicians who make their career by digging up the rotten corpses of their opponents past. God's different. And the only way he we know he's different is the gospel, because as we sing it, nothing but the blood of Jesus can remove the condemning memory of my past. I love this story. A man's name was inadvertently printed in the obituary column of his local newspaper. And it may have been the result, you know, of a prank or just an accident, but one day this guy wakes up and he reads his own name in the obituary paper. You can imagine how they ruin your day. He's not amused and he gets in his car, he drives down to the newspaper office and he demands to see the editor. He says, you know, he says, I got to see the editor. The editor comes out and he goes, how can I help you, sir? He goes, I'm outraged. He said, you printed my name in an obituary column. As you can see, I'm alive and well. He said, this is going to cause great embarrassment for me and I'll probably even lose some of my business. The editor said, sorry, sir. He said it was an error, but there's nothing I can do. Naturally, the explanation didn't appease the man, and he continued to rant and rave, even threatened to sue the newspaper. Finally, the editor said, cheer up, buddy. Tomorrow, I'll put your name in the birth column and give you a fresh start. Wouldn't it be great if it was that easy? Who of us hasn't wanted a fresh start, amen? That's what Christianity is. See, that's the good news is that God specializes in giving second chances, not the phony kind like that newspaper editor offered, but a real second chance, a genuine fresh start. Listen, if you're a Christian here today and you are honest, you would admit that the Christian life is a series of new beginnings. Question, which of us as Christian hasn't pulled a Jonah at one time or another? All of us. Let me ask you, this is do we take the gospel of God's grace for granted? What do you mean? I have two subs under this first point. The first point, a sub point would be that God does not hold grudges like we do. And the second point is that God won't budge on his commands like we'd like him to. Okay, so let's just explore that a little bit. God doesn't hold grudges like me. My natural tendency, and yours is too if you're honest, is to think, you owe me, you let me down, you hurt me, so I'm done with you. I mean, Paul says, listen to this, in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, now watch this, not counting their trespasses against them. And the good news then is that in Christ, God doesn't hold my sins against me. So the question is, who does God count my sins against? God has to deal with sin. Amen? See, either you're going to pay for it or someone else is going to pay for it. Amen? Who does God hold our sins against as Christians? Who? Jesus. Exactly. Paul goes on to say, listen to this, for our sake, he, God, made him, Christ, to be sin who knew no sin. And why? So that in him, in Christ, we as believers might become the righteousness of God. See, it's been called the great exchanges. In God's magnificent mercy, God exchanged my corruption and sin for Christ's righteousness and perfection. But here's the question. If you've been dealt with by grace, then you should be gracious, amen? But the world doesn't know anything about what? Grace. You say, sure, it does. Common grace. The world can be nice and kind, but the world really sees what saving grace is like from who? Tell me. From us guys and gals. Amen. You're the only Bible someone's going to read. You know, there's five gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and you. And most people aren't going to read the first four, amen. But boy, they're going to be looking at you tomorrow morning at work. Amen. OK. World doesn't operate on grace in the world. You only get what you deserve. So anything you say or do not can be used against you. What it will be. Amen. But God offers us acceptance, listen to this, not based on what we do or don't do, but on what Christ has already done on the cross. Listen, it's an acceptance that we neither can be gained by our achievements nor forfeited by our failures. And nothing, Christian, nothing in this world can promise you such total acceptance in favor. Nothing. And that's why we sing amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved the good self-esteem person like me. That saved a wretch like me. But in the world, you only get what you deserve. Let's think about this. Aren't we all like Jonah? You say this person said the best of men are men at best. I remember where we were, you know, at home and Ian came to me and he said, dad, he said, Noah got drunk. I said, yeah, I know. So he said, but dad, he must have been five or six. No, no, I got drunk. Dad said it twice. I said, yes, he did. I'm like, where's he getting at? Right. But I didn't ask. And third time he said, dad, Noah got drunk. You see, it's this idea. Ian was saying, Noah's my hero. God used him to save the whole world, you know, right? In the ark. He's saying, but he got drunk. In other words, Noah wrecked my image of what a hero's like. Question, did Noah need a savior? Yes, he did, of course. Noah got drunk. So he had to have devotions on Genesis 9 that night. Interesting that the same chapter that he got drunk, also the rainbow came out. God's promise never to flood the earth again, profound. Moses, did Abraham lie? Sarah's my, not once, but what? Question, did Moses murder the Egyptian and bury him in the sand? How about this? Was David an adulterer? Solomon, how many wives did he have? And I don't know that that was bad enough, but then he what? He worshiped their idols. Jesus ever denied, Peter ever denied Jesus? Not once, not twice, but how about this? Paul, before he was saved, what was he doing? He was killing Christians, persecutor. John Mark, he went home abandoning Paul on the missionary journey. And the Apostle John, we say he was a nice guy, but his only claim to fame was that Jesus loved him. Interesting. God's word comes to us a second and a third and a gazillion time so that God doesn't simply love us in spite of our obedience. He loves us out of our disobedience and into obedience. Listen, if you don't get anything else in this sermon, I hope you get this. There was no way God would let Jonah win the argument about whether or not he's going to go to Nineveh. You say, what do you mean? Listen, listen, God loves you too much to be defeated, Christian. You say, what do you mean? We must go to the lost with his word. Why? Because his greatest glory is his love for evil people, starting with us, that God loves us into obedience. It's profound when I think of it. You say, well, I think God's just putting up with me. God's just frustrated with me. God's just, he's just disappointed with me all the time. And I don't even really want to pray or read the word because, you know, God's just up there going, when's John Magoon going to get it together? Is that how you think about God? It's not how he sees you in Jesus. Grace will change everything the way you view God, amen? It'll make you want to draw near. So God doesn't hold grudges like we do. I spend my time thinking about, do I forgive those in my past? Do I realize I've been just as knucklehead as them just in other areas? Really? Think about it. God doesn't hold grudges. He called Jonah a second time. But this, God doesn't budge. He didn't negotiate with Jonah. He said, hey Jonah, I'll let you off the hook. You don't like those Ninevites? I'll send someone else. No, didn't do that. God won't bend to make our lives temporarily better when there's larger long-term issues at stake. You say, what issues? The eternal destiny of the Ninevites, amen? There's people out there that don't know God. They don't know him through Jesus Christ, the only way to know him. and He wants to use you to reach them. You say, no, He'll use someone else if He doesn't use me. Don't be thinking like that. God wants to use you to reach them. God's grace isn't seen in lessening His demands toward us. No, no, no. He always has and always will demand perfect obedience. You read it. I mean, sometimes people say to me, you're a pastor, you can't talk like that. People will say this. I remember one lady, I said to her, we're gonna have to go to the hospital. She goes, why? I said, to get my foot out of his rear end. She said to me, you're a pastor, you can't talk like that. And I thought to myself, really? Yeah, you see, pastors got a different set of rules up here. All these Christians down here, they got the sub the sub Christian life. I'm like, time out, man. Have you read Matthew 548? Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Oh, I know that's just for pastors. No, that's for who? Tell me. Everybody. And so you say, what do you mean? God's grace is experienced when we realize that his perfect demands for us have already been met by Jesus. Jesus lived the life that I cannot live. I couldn't have lived it. Jesus died the death that I should have died. Listen, here's the point. We all need God to rescue us. I need God to rescue me. He's rescued me from his wrath. You see, you're a Christian. What do you need God to rescue you from? The world and the flesh and the? Devil, I need God to rescue me from Sean Magoon. The old Sean Magoon that's still down in there. Some of these guys, McCarthy, these guys, well, Christian doesn't have a sinful nature anymore. Well, he's got something bothering him or her. Amen? The flesh warring against the what? Spirit. I need God to rescue me. But here's the key. Listen, the rescue doesn't come apart from God's law, but rather it comes in perfect fulfillment of the law through the person of Jesus who perfectly kept the law on behalf of sinners like you and me. Listen, Christianity is the only faith where God both makes the demands and meets the demands. This is profound. Every other faith system, people are trying to pursue God through what they're doing or not doing. But Christianity, God reaches down and sends his son. And Jesus perfectly keeps the law because I can't. Jesus dies to death because I deserve to die it, right? So that what God demands, God gives by way of his spirit, by way of his son in the new covenant. It's amazing when I think about it. Listen, that's why God pursued Jonah. Listen. Again, maybe you can just scrap the rest of this sermon. Maybe this is all you need to get, okay, this morning. If accomplishing Project Nineveh, quote-unquote, was all God cared about, He could have discarded Jonah and found a more reliable prophet. Let me ask you this. Why did God call Jonah, knowing that Jonah would run? Does God know everything? The answer is? Okay, He knows Jonah's gonna run. Let me ask you. You're looking for someone to paint your house, and you know the guy's not reliable. Would you hire him? Hello now, see how God's not like us. If all you cared about was your house, you wouldn't hire that painter. Amen. Same thing with plumbing, electrician Greg will tell you if the guys can't can't do any electrical work, he's not going to hire him. Well, he's going to do it himself, save some money. But the point being is that God could have called someone else if all he cared about was Nineveh. No, here's the point. Jonah himself was God's project. And if you say to me today, I don't like being God's project, what are you talking about? Would you rather him just leave you to yourself? Would you rather he left you alone? No, don't pass me by. We sing it sometimes in the hymn. I think that's the point. If accomplishing Project Nineveh was all God cared about, he could have gone to another prophet. It was because Jonah was God's project. God comes after Jonah, not because God needs Jonah, but because Jonah needs God. See, the same is true of us. God doesn't need you, Christian, but he does love you. That's amazing when I think about it. As one pastor put it, he said, I love it. He said, cheer up. You're a lot worse off than you think you are. But he said, but in Jesus, you're far more loved than you ever could have imagined. Grace that is greater than all my what? Do you believe that? That's good news. Do you take it for granted? Someone said, well, are you saying that our obedience doesn't matter? No, no, no, man. Listen, obedience matters to God, which is one of the reasons why he disciplines us. And if you're a child of God, how many people does God discipline? Every son whom he receives, Hebrews 12. Wait till we get to that chapter. So he wouldn't let go of Jonah. Ask yourself, is God's discipline making me obedient to him? Am I becoming more sensitive to hear God's voice and obey him? Or am I, now watch this, Hebrews 12 gives us two wrong responses to his discipline. Begin to despise his discipline. Oh Lord, I don't think you're treating me right. I don't like what you're doing to me. Or you begin to despair under it. I'm getting tired of this trial. I'm getting tired of this discipline. I'm getting tired. Lord, I don't want to live at the woodshed. Well, then get with the program. Amen. Come on now. Spurgeon said it. God's discipline will only last as long as your disobedience. Amen. Well. So God's word came to Jonah the second time. But look, secondly, watch what happens. God's word changed the Ninevites. Look at this. Chapter three and verse five. Look it. And the people of Nineveh believe God. They called for fast. Interesting. And put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. From the king to the kids. Amen. The word reached the king of Nineveh. Now, verse 5 is telling us the end result of it, and then verses 6 through 9 is unpacking the process of what happened. Okay, it's going back. Why? Because the word reached the king, and the king, he rises from his throne, moves his robe, covers himself with sackcloth, and he sat on ashes, and then he issues this proclamation, this edict, this decree, and he published it about Nineveh. And what's everybody going to do? Man nor beast, neither herd nor flock, taste anything, even the animals are to fast and have sackcloth put on them. I mean, that's a profound thing when you think of it. Let him not feed or drink water. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. And let them call out mightily to God. It's a prayer, you see. Let everyone turn from his evil way. What's that? Repentance, you see. And from the violence of his hands. So these people were violent. I could tell you about the violence of Nineveh. It's just wickedness. And then he shoots up this prayer. Who knows? God may turn and relent. We don't know, but maybe he will. and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. So Jonah, he goes to Nineveh, which was risky. If God didn't change their hearts, it'd be like us going to ISIS and trying to preach the gospel to them, right? And like Americans, Nineveh had a steady diet of feeding on violence, unfortunately. This was like going to the lion's den. Now, our tendency is to criticize Jonah or laugh at his disobedience in the first part of it. But you have to admit, and even we laugh at his attitude in the last part of the book. But did he go to Nineveh? Are we going to the lost? It's a really great question, isn't it? And Jonah heralded God's word. And what were the results? First, the Ninevites believed God, right? And then they repented. Here's the question I have. People assume that faith is something that lost people can conjure up anytime they like. But faith is a gift that only comes from who? God. It's not a human achievement. Read Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Now, listen, it was not the force of argument presented by Jonah that moved the people. It was the power of God's truth that pierced to the heart. Here's the application. Never rely on your own persuasive powers as the way to save sinners. Why? Because it is God and His truth that people must believe. You and I, Christian, are only the instruments that God uses. When people come to my house, I said it last week in Milwaukee, people come to my house and they eat at my house and they go, oh, those plates are beautiful. People never say that. They praise the cook, amen? In our house, we even call it, instead of lasagna, we call it schanzania. We had a meal one time and it was an appreciation meal. We need to do that here, by the way. And we are appreciating the saints for the service throughout the years at Christ Community Church. And Charlie Sumi came up to me. We had three different people make lasagna. He goes, which one's yours? I don't want to waste, you know, calories on the other stuff. I almost didn't want to tell him, you know, just try each of them. Amen. Here's the point, only God's spirit empowering his word can give spiritual life to people. And here's what's amazing, God had prepared the hearts of the Ninevites before Jonah arrived. History says they experienced plagues and pestilence. They experienced two famines and a full solar eclipse. They even have the years on them, okay? And the same is true of us with those whom God leads us to to share the gospel. God goes before us and providentially makes way for his word in the hearts of people that we're to reach. Now, listen, during the days of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, they asked him, they said, can you explain the amazing success of this message of justification by faith alone? And they wondered how one man, one man could have changed the course of history. And Luther replied, listen to this. While I slept or drank beer in Wittenberg with my friends, the word did the work. And then he said this, then he added, I did nothing. The word did it all. I like that. Someone told me last week, this young buck, he goes, man, I really liked your sermon. He said, especially the part about drinking beer with Luther. I'm like, time out, man. Don't like that too much. Amen. But the point being, the spirit of God empowered the word of God. You say to me today, you say, Sean, I witness, but I don't see anybody coming to the Lord. I don't see multitudes converted. I can relate. I can relate to that, but maybe we need to wait a little longer, amen? Okay? What do I mean? A Wycliffe missionary in Zimbabwe, he worked on translating the New Testament. And each day he had to go from his apartment to his office and he passed the same street vendor whose name was Gamberabi. And they got to know each other, and so this, you know, when his translation of the New Testament was finished, the translator wanted to make sure that the street vendor got a copy of it. There was only one problem. The street vendor's trade was selling cigarettes. So he knew that Gamberabi would use the Bible for what? For paper to roll the cigarettes. And the missionary knew how the New Testament would be used. So he wanted the street vendor to have the New Testament. He struck a deal with him. He said, look, Gamberabi, I'll give you this New Testament on one condition. You promise me that before you smoke each page, you'll read it. Gambarabi agreed and because the translation project was finished, the missionary went on to another country and another project. But years later, listen, years later, that's why we got to wait. Be patient. Years later, this missionary is invited back to Zimbabwe and he's honored with other missionaries and translators who brought the gospel of that nation. And one of the speakers at the banquet that night was who? Guess what? Gambarabi. And he got up and he said, he told how he got saved. He said, I smoked through Matthew. He said, I smoked through Mark. I smoked through Luke and I smoked through John until I got to John 3 16. He said, and then I sent my heart to heaven instead of the smoke. That's a funny story. It's the power of God's word. Amen. Do you believe it? Are you impatient? Are you like me where you want to give up because you lose heart? You know what I mean? Come on. I am preaching to somebody because I'm preaching to myself. And then this text is profound to me. A whole sermon could be done on this. God even uses a ruler to require repentance. What? Proverbs 21.1. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Listen, the highest authority in Nineveh acknowledges an authority higher than himself. Oh, how we need that in America today. Amen. Can you imagine President Obama issuing a decree like this for everyone to repent? Can you imagine that? You say, I can't even fathom it. If he did, would you obey it? Interesting. But even if he did, I mean, would you obey it? Would I obey it? Would Americans obey it? Listen, by humbling himself before God, the king of Nineveh offered the best possible service for the well-being of his people. Listen, would you pray that God in his mercy would give us leaders like that? Leaders like that who acknowledge God's word, the warning of God's word and humble themselves and pray and call on people to what? Pray. Are the greatest blessing a nation can have. Other than those preaching the gospel in it. Amen. What does the Bible say? Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach or shame to any people. And so the king was actually decreeing what God now commands all people everywhere to do. What's that? To repent. And why? Acts 17. Listen to what Paul says. God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. Who is that? And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead, Jesus. And so the Ninevites actually turned from their evil ways and the violence that was in their hands. And they took God's warning seriously. And why? It was the work of God's spirit in their hearts. How do we know? Because not just faith is a gift from God, but repentance is granted only by God. You can read it. Second Timothy 2.25. There's other places. Acts, what is it, 11? I think it's verse, yeah, 18. It's granted by God. But what is repentance? J.I. Packer said this, repentance is a change of mind that issuing or resulting in a change of life. A group of children, they were asked, you know, I love children, they were asked about repentance and one said that repentance was being sorry for your sins, but a little girl nailed it. She said, it's being sorry enough to quit. your sins. I like that. So Nineveh's repentance was grounded in their faith in God which came to them through his word and ultimately by his grace. So faith and repentance are like two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other. And this way Richard Phillips put it, he said, repentance like salvation is by grace through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to God's word. And that's what God desires from us as Christians. Martin Luther said this in the first of his 95 thesis. This is what he wrote. When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said, repent, he called us to a life of repentance. You know how you get something and it's got a shelf date on it. You know, used by so and so. You know, I mean, you guys, we always look at the dates when we buy stuff, right? You say, I don't do that. OK, fine. But before you drink it, hopefully or eat it, you look at the date. Amen. Expire expires by repentance doesn't have the expiration date. Amen. Question, how long will you be sinning until you go to glory? So how long do you need to be repenting? Question, is this heaven yet? Not last time I checked. So repentance never out of date. Amen. And then the king says, who knows? This is amazing to me. Who knows? I mean, it's almost like, is this a flip or tails? Tails, God will forgive us. Heads, he won't. Is that it? No. Who knows? Today we have more certainty. If you believe, right? If you confess that Jesus is Lord with your mouth and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be what? Tell me. Jesus said, him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast OK, look, we have more certainty today. And because of that, we have more accountability. OK, I could tell somebody with certainty, look, if you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus, you shall be saved. I can tell them that it's not a who knows, like the king said. But there's more accountability since Jesus has come. He said that the people of Nino would rise up and condemn those Pharisees, those religious leaders, scribes who rejected Jesus because a greater than Jonah was here. Who's that? Jesus. But what looks like the king's uncertainty is actually his humility. And why? Because God doesn't owe anyone mercy. If he did, it wouldn't be mercy. Their only hope is God's mercy in Christ. Same is true of us. You say, what do you mean? God is free to show compassion and God is free to judge. Read Romans 9. He's not doing anybody wrong when he throws him in hell. Did you know that? He's just, he's holy. No, God has to save everybody or he's not just. That's not what the Bible says, amen? God is holy. You say, well, is God capricious? Is God whimsical? Is he willy-nilly? Answer is, no, never. God always has a good reason for what he does, amen? Even if he didn't tell you and I. Read a book of Job. Listen, if God only acted according to absolute justice, then who would be saved? No one. And that's what Jonah wanted for Nineveh. Fry him, Lord. Don't free him. Blast them! Don't bless them! What do you want? What do you want for your enemies, Christian? That's a good question, I think. And then I asked this question, but where did the Ninevites get the idea of God's mercy? Well, from God, through Jonah's message. I mean, just ask yourself, why else give them 40 days before they're overthrown, amen? And through Jonah himself who was assigned to them, Jesus said, like Jonah taking the word to the Gentiles after Jesus rose from the dead, the gospel goes out to who? Gentiles, us. But let me ask this. Let's get applicable. Application. Do we believe God's word? Bible says all scripture is God-breathed. It's God's voice that speaks it. That makes the Bible different from any other book. If I write a book, I don't know if I ever will, maybe I will, but you sit down and read my book and you disagree with it, guess what? You disagree with me, no big deal. If you disagree with the Bible, who do you disagree with? You see the difference? Let me get more specific. There are those who say it would be arrogant for anyone, Christians or otherwise, to claim that their religious writings are better than the thoughts or insights of others. Religion, they claim, is a private matter and each of us must find our his or her own way. Have you heard this? There are many ways to God. Jesus isn't the only way, they say. I mean, you've heard this, right? Well, let's use an analogy. Let's just have a little fun for a minute, okay? An analogy for this view is that we're all like ants on the back of an elephant, and each of the ants has a perception of the elephant, but at the end of the day, the elephant's simply too large for any of the little ants to know. And the point of the analogy is that, like the ants, we're all scratching around with our tiny insights into God, who is ultimately unknowable. Okay? But what if the elephant could speak in a language that the little anties could understand? Amen? What if the elephant said, let me tell you about my trunk and my tusks that you've never seen? And what if the elephant were to say, let me tell you where I'm going and what I will do? In that case, then, the words of the elephant would be in a different category altogether from all the insights, speculations, and experiences of the ants. Listen, that is exactly what Scripture claims for itself, that God himself has spoken. And so the words of Scripture are not, they're not our words about God. They're God's words to us in which he makes himself known to us. The words of Scripture are therefore different from any other words, any other book. The Bible is different from any other book. It's God's revelation to us. It's different from all human thoughts about Him. Peter says this, listen, 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21, that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. And watch this, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Now, that word for carried along is interesting. It's the same word that is used by Paul, by Luke, to describe the wind that carried Paul's ship in the storm. Acts 27, 15. So what is it saying? The words of the prophets were controlled by God's Spirit. Let's put it real simply, that the prophets didn't control the message, the message controlled them. Christian, listen, when you read scripture, you're reading the word of? When you hear the Bible read, I wonder, you say, Matt, I heard Matt's voice. No, I wasn't hearing Matt's voice today. You say, no, Matt was reading scripture. I heard the voice of who, tell me? God speaking to me through the text. That's why the Ninevites believed and fasted and prayed and repented and put their hope in God. And God rewrote their future with a chapter of grace. A hundred years later, Nahum says they were judged. Every generation needs the gospel. Amen. This is the way Sally Lloyd-Jones put it. She said many years later, God was going to send another messenger. With the same wonderful message, like Jonah, he would spend three days in utter darkness. But this messenger would be God's own son. He would be called the word because he himself would be God's message. God's message translated into our own language. Everything God wanted to say to the whole world in a person. In who? Jesus. In the beginning was the The word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So Jonah goes to Nineveh. The problem is he goes in body at least. Yes, his voice preached, but his heart wasn't in it. In other words, his heart still stunk like the inside of that fish. Amen. Question, are you, am I obeying God from the heart or are we just going through the motions? I'm preparing my sermon last week. And week four, I guess, and Ian comes in the house instead of going through the motions, he's singing that song of one guy singing my sermon here, you know. So God's word came to Jonah. God's word changed the Nevites. And third and lastly, God's word carries out his purpose. Look at verse 10 and we're done when God saw what they did. So God took notice of it, what they do, how they turn from their evil way. God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it. So God relented of the judgment he had threatened. Are God's threats empty? And the answer is no. This is expressing God's attitudes and actions in human terms. OK, when we repent, your text may say repent or relent. When we do that, we've changed our mind or our attitude or actions because something was wrong with us. God cannot do anything wrong, so it's expressing what He does in human terms so we can understand it. And so under God's sovereign will, His threats of judgment are always conditional. Why? When people repent and believe, that repentance and that faith always meets with God's grace and mercy. And why? This is key. Listen, Christian. In answering prayers of confession from broken people like the Ninevites, God is achieving His own plans and purposes. It was His Word that brought that about. It was Him who sent His Word to the Ninevites through Jonah. It was His grace through His Word. It was the Spirit of God working through the Word of God through the man of God. It's just so simple to me when I see this. That God is never caught off guard as if He doesn't know the future. He told Jeremiah, listen to this, if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, if that nation turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do it. So where did all this start? It didn't start in Jonah's heart, that's for sure. It started in whose heart? Tell me. God's heart. And why? The word relent is interesting. It denotes an inward suffering. It could be translated that God was moved to pity. In other words, for the Ninevites. You ever done this where you hear about somebody that's like killing people and chopping them up and eating their body and putting the parts in the freezer? You know what I'm talking about? You say, that's gross. That's what stuff the Ninevites did though. Worse than that. Puts people's skin on furniture. They stretch it over their furniture. You say, that's gross. And then we say sometimes, God can forgive people, but you're not going to forgive that person. Really? That's what we say, don't we? If somebody has the audacity to say mercy is available even for them in Jesus Christ, then we tend to say, how can that be? And the answer is, tell me. It's the cross, Christian. It's the cross. that God takes upon himself in his son, the evil. That's the wages for man's sin. God suffers the punishment, which in his justice, he should have laid on man. He causes that judgment to fall on his son. That's the meaning of his relenting. I got to tell you, just listening to these verses, if you listen to Isaiah, just listen to this. Seek the Lord while he may be found. You mean there's a time when he can't? Yep. Call upon him while he's near. You mean there's a time when he's far away? Yep. Yep. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. Why? That he might find compassion. He might have compassion on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And then we usually quote this verse way out of context. We say, you know, God's thoughts aren't your thoughts. God's ways aren't your ways. But we never talk about the context of it being abundantly pardoning. See? Because when we think, well, I've sinned too much, I messed up too much, God can't forgive me, we're not thinking like who? God. Or when we say, oh, that person's done just wicked things, terrible things, Ted Bundy, you know, or Osama bin Laden, or, you know, Saddam Hussein, whatever, you know, the king or whoever of Iran now, or even our president, you may say, man, all this wickedness, and the Supreme Court, what they're doing, they can never be forgiven. That's what we say. Or we think that if we don't say it. But God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as high, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. Now watch this, and this is the key. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout. What do you mean? Nineveh believed, didn't they? Nineveh repented, didn't they? giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth, God says. It shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. That to me is profound. It's just profound that when God judges people, he is slow to judge. And why? The Bible says he's slow to anger. Right? But when God blesses, when God saves people, he's quick. Why? He delights in mercy. Listen, some of you are struggling and you're thinking, I've been witnessing a so-and-so and his family member and it's taken so long and they're never going to get saved. No, when God saves him, he's going to be what? Quick to do it. Do we think like that? We don't think like that about God's word. That he's slow to judge. He's quick to bless. Jonah didn't like that. Let me wrap it up. Let me ask you a few questions. Are you rebellious? So was Jonah. He ran from God. Are you reluctant to obey God? So was Jonah. Is your attitude rotten today? So was Jonah's. And yet God still used and reached Nineveh. What's the point of the text? That God uses flawed messengers who have received his grace. He's the ultimate recycler, amen? You say, I don't know. My failures disqualify me. You got a compost pile at home? Pretty good fertilizer in that thing, huh? That's what God wants to do with your failures. He's going to what? He's going to recycle them. He's not going to waste anything. Listen, don't wait until you get it together to obey God. Go to the Ninevites in your life today. And even Nineveh speaks to us. How so? Do you believe in God? Nineveh did. Have you turned from your evil way? Nineveh did. Do you know God's saving mercy? Nineveh did. And you can, too, by turning away from your sin and trusting in Jesus Christ, even where you sit, even right now. Lastly, what caused Jonah finally to go to Nineveh? The Word of God. What caused the minds, the hearts, the lives of Ninevites to change? The Word of God. What caused God to relent, turn from his judgment? His own work in the Ninevites' life by his word, empowered by his spirit through his prophet. Are we bringing the Word of God to people? Listen, get the Bible in people's hands, but don't stop there. Ask them, hey, can you read it with me? Would you like to read the Bible together? So that it gets into their head. And all the while, pray, Christian, that the Spirit works in their heart. And why? Because once God has their heart, he'll also have their what? Tell me. Their hands. It's gotta go to our head, gotta go to our heart, and it'll get to our what? Hands. Listen, if God doesn't have your hands, then he doesn't have your what? Your heart. OK, a dying woman testified that she was saved by reading a piece of paper, wrapping paper in a package from Australia. The crumpled pages contained a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. This is profound. The sermon first preached in England was printed in America, shipped to Australia and then sent back to England as wrapping paper. And it was the means of converting this precious soul in London where the sermon was first preached. That is the power of God's word. So not only are preaching or witnessing, but everything we do must be grounded in scripture, which is going to be focused on Christ and have the glory of God as its goal. Listen, what's the greatest need of our world today? It's a legion of Jonas fresh with an awareness of God's grace in our own lives who call out to a world with the same message of grace. God will and he must judge the wickedness of the world, and yet he sent his son to bear the sins of those who believe we must take the gospel to people with our lips and our lives. Are you bringing Jesus to people? You say, what do you mean? Bible's all about him. Old Testament is predicted, the gospels he's revealed and acts he's preached and the epistles he's explained and in revelation he's expected. Are you expecting Jesus? You say, to return? Of course I am. No, listen, are you expecting Jesus to regenerate people when you take his word to them? I'm convicted. You say, what do you mean? I'm brought up short. Why? By this story. A pastor came to Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was seeing people saved every Sunday, OK? And the pastor came to Spurgeon and he lamented that he wasn't seeing hardly any people saved. So Spurgeon asked him, well, he said, do you expect to see someone saved every time you preach? The pastor answered, well, no. Spurgeon said, why not? When you witness, do you expect to see people saved? Isn't that the power of God's word? Isn't that what it was designed for? Are we expecting too little from God? Listen to William Carey, how he challenged his fellow Baptists. He said, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. And the result was the first missionary society organized by evangelical Christians with the aim of carrying the gospel to all parts of the world. Let me ask you this morning, you believe the Bible is God's word? And the answer is, you believe it's the word. It's God's word. But are you convinced today that the Bible does the work of God? Listen, a Muslim man, who was a doctor, I think it was an abortion doctor. He walked into Pastor John MacArthur's office and he was convicted of his crimes and said, what should I do? You know what MacArthur did to this Muslim doctor? He handed him the Bible and said, read the gospel of John. And when he told his staff what he did, they said, you didn't give him anything else? You didn't give him a book on apologetics? He just gave him what? The Bible. Does that sound too simplistic to you? If it does, you need to ask yourself why. Do you trust God's word? Listen, God desires to make each one of us fruitful and faithful followers of Jesus. Then by faith we can expect rich harvest fields. Why? Because the gospel is specifically designed to bear fruit. It's the power of God unto... Salvation. Some people plant for days. They plant flowers. Other people plant for years. They plant trees. But Christian, listen, you and I are to plant for eternity. How? We're to plant the seed of God's Word in people's lives and water with our prayers. I say do it. I dare you. We could see hundreds, if not thousands of people saved. Do you believe that? No, God doesn't do that anymore. That was just during the times of Pentecost and Reformation. And oh, yeah, 1700, George Whitefield. That was back then. Don't ever happen today. Lord, I believe, kill my unbelief. Amen. And pray for laborers to be sent in the harvest. Jesus said the fields are white for harvest. The harvest is plentiful, he said, the laborers are few. Isaiah said, here I am, send me. Listen, if God reached the Ninevites through a reluctant prophet who didn't pray, just imagine what he can do through you when you do pray, when your heart is in it. Amen. Maybe you think it's an impossible dream reaching the masses of Americans with the gospel. When asked if he thought it would be possible for men to fly in the air like birds, one 19th century man responded skeptically. Flight is strictly reserved for the angels. And I beg you not to repeat your suggestions unless you'd be guilty of blasphemy. Ironically, the man was Milton Wright, the father of Orville and Wilbur, the two men who dreamed big dreams. And only 30 years later, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they made the first flight in a heavier-than-air machine, the prototype for the modern American. Listen, they proved that impossible dreams can and do come true. Here's a question. Will you, will I believe that all things are possible with God? If so, then we'll pray with the hope that God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. Listen, do not be afraid to dream big, Christian, and to pray what many people would consider impossible prayers. And God, by his grace through the gospel, can give them wings and make them soar. And close with this thought. G. Campbell Morgan said, a sailor has no impact on the wind, but a good sailor knows the wind and he knows how best to set the sails when the winds blow. Let's study God's word. Amen. Let's listen to his voice in the gospel and then live it out, give it to others and pray that his spirit moves afresh. And then we'll be ready when the wind begins to blow. Father, we pray, help us to live this. Help us to believe it, but help us to live it, to live the gospel. And we thank you for Jonah. We just look at him and we think he's crazy. But you used him and this book is meant to change us, just like you changed him. We pray. Don't let us waste our lives on trivial stuff, Lord. That won't matter in a hundred years from now. Pray, may we spend to be spent for the gospel, for your glory, that people would be reached, the power of your word by your grace. Thank you for listening to this week's message from Bible Baptist Church in Lafayette, Oregon. You can reach Pastor Sean at SeanMagoon and the number 1 at yahoo.com. That's Sean Magoon, the number 1 at yahoo.com. Or check out our Facebook page, Bible Baptist Church-Lafayette. Until next time, we bid that God may bless your week. you