Second chances are part of the Bible's narrative. They're the story of sovereign mercy. And ultimately, they're made known in Jesus Christ, who is the second chance, as it were, for the world. He is the second Adam. He is a second representative to stand in the place of his people, to bring them back to God from the dark paths of sin. Jesus Christ came into this world to do what Adam failed to do, and to live for the glory of God, obedient to his will in every way, and to do so not just for himself, but for all his people to stand in their place, to live their lives for them as it were, to gain for them a reward in the presence of God and in his eternal kingdom. The greatest of second chances is found in Jesus Christ. And the second chances that we see in the stories that are scattered through the scriptures, all in one way or another, point to him. And we see this in the story of Jonah. For Jonah himself is presented to us in the New Testament as a sign He was a sign of resurrection from the dead. He was a sign of new life. And that is what Jesus procured for his people by his own death. And in his own resurrection, he gives life to those who trust in him, life from the dead, perfection in the place of sin. No condemnation now for those who are in him. In the book of Jonah, there was a second chance of service for Jonah. Vomited up upon the dry land, he was commissioned or recommissioned to go to Nineveh and to proclaim its destruction. He hardly deserved a second chance. He could have been sidelined. Another prophet could have been raised up in his place to take God's message to that people. But God gave him a second chance. And of course, there was a second chance for Nineveh, for life, for that city and its inhabitants. But even though the word of God came to Nineveh proclaiming its imminent destruction because of its sin, The people responded by humbling themselves, rejecting their sins, crying out to God for mercy, and God showed mercy. He relented from the disaster that he had said would come upon that city because of its sins. What happiness and joy and celebration the city's inhabitants must have had. as they dusted off the ashes, replaced the sackcloth with pestle garments and gathered together to celebrate the mercy of God, no doubt with sacrifices and with feasting after their fasting. But not everyone was happy. Jonah trudged out of the city dejectedly. He went up the hill that overlooked the city, and he cried out bitterly to God, demanding that his life be cut short, for he thought it was better to die than to live. I want you to observe Jonah's petulant anger. You know, the book of Jonah is really something of a comedy, isn't it? At least it would be if it were not touching on such serious themes. But here in the fourth chapter, Jonah is behaving like a little child. It is so unreasonable. And his cries to God, well, we can hardly believe that a prophet of God would speak to God in this way and answer his questions in this tone. And yet he does. We cannot escape the conclusion that Jonah hated Nineveh. He hated the people of Nineveh. He hated all that they stood for. They were Assyrians, they were the enemies of Israel and Judah, and he hated them. He couldn't abide the thought that God might be merciful to that city. And he knew the character of God. He knew the nature of God. He knew the kind of God that he served. He knew that he was a merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. And when he was commissioned to go to Nineveh to preach judgment upon that city, he knew the kind of God he was serving. And he didn't want God to show them mercy. And he had refused then to go. He fled in the opposite direction. He got on a ship that would take him to Tarshish. He wanted nothing to do with Nineveh, and nothing to do with his commission, nothing to do with the message of judgment that he was to proclaim, because he knew, he knew that God would show mercy. and he couldn't abide the thought that God would show mercy to his enemy. And perhaps, perhaps what makes him even more angry is that God has used him, Jonah, as the instrument to bring blessing to Nineveh. Another prophet speaking in defense of his prophecy to a foreign king who had asked him to curse the people of Israel, said, I can only speak what God gives me to speak. And so it was for Jonah. He could only speak what God gave him to speak. And the summary of his message, that it would be but 40 days and Nineveh should be overthrown, must be understood as just that. a summary of his message. We know that his own being swallowed by a great fish in the Mediterranean Sea and carried there in its stomach for three days and three nights and then vomited up on the shore was a sign for the Ninevites. He must have told them of his experiences and he must have known that even as God commanded him to tell them of his experiences, that he was giving them hope. It was a message. It was an invitation from God to them. See what I did to Jonah, my wayward servant. Maybe I'll do that for you. And this is how the people of Nineveh responded. God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. Jonah is angry that he is the one who has given, of all the people in the world, the Assyrians hope, the Ninevites hope, his enemies hope of God's relenting from disaster and judgment and destruction. This isn't the way Jonah wants the story to turn out. He wants God's fire and brimstone to come upon Nineveh like it had come on Sodom and Gomorrah. But he knew his God. He knew the mercy of God to those who would respond to a message of hope, crying out to God for mercy. And so Jonah, dejected, climbs the hill outside the city makes himself a rudimentary shelter, and he sits there, waiting to see. Obviously, God has, through Jonah, pronounced his message of peace. When God saw that what they did in repentance, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. And no doubt Jonah had to give this message to the people. God is responding to your repentance and he will not bring this disaster. And Jonah went then. And he went and he looked and he watched and he waited. Is it true? Is it really true? He knew in his heart it was true. But there was hope still. He waited. He's in no hurry to go home. This great city that it took three days journey to get from one side to the other, you know where he went? He went to the far side from the direction of his home. He went to the eastern side of the city and waited there. So reluctant is he to go home. He can imagine his family and his friends asking him, well, where did God send you? Oh, Nineveh. Nineveh, eh, Jonah? And what was the message for Nineveh? Destruction? Oh, not destruction. You mean he's saved them? He's blessed them? And you, you went, and you were the means of their blessing. Couldn't you preach a different message, Jonah? And all the questions, and all the hate. Could he face it? Could he go home and explain to them what God had done when he is himself so displeased with what God has done? When he is so himself exceedingly angry in his heart. How can he face his family, his neighbors, his friends? He's so angry he'd rather die. than behold the Assyrians' spared death. And God's question hangs in the air as Jonah trudges up that hill. Do you do well to be angry? Is this right, Jonah? Is this attitude of your heart, is it right? Is it reasonable, Jonah? The call of God on him was to love his enemies, those whom he hated, to turn in his own heart to accept them and to welcome them into the mercy of God. How hard it was for him and how hard it is for us to love our enemies. To love those who ill-treat us. To love those who scorn and ridicule us. To love those who make our lives difficult in the workplace, or in our place of study, or even in our neighbourhood, because we worship God. How hard it is for us to pray for them, that God would show them mercy. And yet this is the command of Christ, and this is the call of our Father in heaven, that we are to love our enemy. And you know, loving our enemy isn't simply not doing them harm, and not retaliating, being peaceful. Love is active. Love works. Love speaks, love does. And if we are to love our enemies, we're to love them with the love of God. The love of God who sent his son into this world to save his enemies. The love of the son who was willing to humble himself and become a man. in order to save his enemies. The love of the God who was willing to take upon himself all the responsibility of bearing the sins of his enemies so that they may be saved from judgment and have the condemnation removed from them. This is the love of God that we are to emulate in our love towards our enemies. How hard it is. We perhaps look down on Jonah for his attitude and his behavior. And yet I wonder how often it is actually reflected in our own hearts and our own lives. But God was patient. And we see the patient answer of God in this, all wrapped up actually in a question. Do you do well to be angry? As Jonah waits, as he watches to see if God really would be merciful to the enemies of Israel and Judah. As he sits there upon the hill, overlooking the city in his rudimentary rickety shelter. God sees him as he sees all things. God knows his discomfort as he sits there hour after hour. And he causes a plant to grow up. It was a fast growing plant. grew up overnight enough to cover the shelter and to cover Jonah and to shelter him from the heat of the sun during the day. And how happy Jonah was with that plant that had suddenly grown up over him. He must have known the source. He must have known the agency behind that plant. He must have known that this was no ordinary plant. growing up on that hillside in Nineveh. And he's happy that God is showing him this kindness and giving him this shelter, so much better than what his own hands had built. And Jonah continues to sit there then in this shelter, enjoying the shade and waiting to see what will happen to Nineveh. And God sent a worm, and the worm destroyed the plant. And in addition to the scorching sun, he sent a wind. And both of these then caused Jonah so much more discomfort. And he is deeply unhappy. And again, he cries out to God, he wishes that he would die rather than endure this. It's humiliating for him to see the Ninevites being shown such mercy and he himself suffering so greatly. And God repeats his question. As Jonah is there, sweating, Uncomfortable on the hill in his rickety shelter, God asked the question again. Do you do well to be angry? Jonah was angry at the loss of the plant now. But he had done nothing. He hadn't planted it. He hadn't caused it to grow. It wasn't through his efforts that it had provided him shade. It had sprung up and it had died. Jonah was angry, nevertheless, at the loss of this plant. Angry at God for his ways. God is a God of mercy. But where's the mercy for Jonah now? But hasn't Jonah seen so much mercy from God? Mercy in the storm, mercy in the fish, mercy in Nineveh. And even now, God is showing Jonah mercy. He's teaching him a lesson. And through him, he's teaching generations to come a lesson about God's ways and about God's love, which is to be imitated in the lives of God's people. God showed mercy to Jonah just as he showed mercy to Nineveh. Here was a great city, 120,000 persons, each one a living soul destined for eternal destruction. and that eternal destruction was not at a distance away, it was coming imminently until Jonah preached his message, until Jonah pronounced that judgment, until Jonah told his story and gave them hope, until they cried out to God for mercy. Judgment was all that they could hope for, all that they could expect. until God said, peace, peace to Nineveh. God showed mercy to Nineveh in the darkness of their ignorance as they faced death. God revealed himself and his holiness in the life of Jonah. And they responded with faith, believing God's word and turning from their sins. Why shouldn't God do for repentant Nineveh what he did for stubborn Jonah and show them mercy? Why shouldn't this God of mercy show mercy even to Jonah's enemies? That if they turn from their sins and turn to Jonah's God, are they no longer enemies? Aren't they worshipping the same God? And doesn't that in effect bring them into the same nation, the nation that worships God, the nation of people from every tribe and tongue and language all around the globe? And this isn't something new in the Old Testament, though there are only hints of it admittedly. It is a fact of God's mercy that it is extended to all people who will cry out to him. And so we have our Rahabs, and we have our Ruths in the Bible, and we have our Ninevites too, who cry out to God for mercy when his word comes to them, bringing light, and with the light, life. And God is teaching Jonah that every soul is valuable, Here in Nineveh are defaced divine image bearers, just like those in Israel and in Judah. And they need the mercy of God just as much as the Israelites and the Judeans need the mercy of God. Who deserves mercy? No one deserves mercy. Jonah doesn't deserve mercy. The Ninevites don't deserve mercy, but God is a God of mercy. Jonah knows that. And you, that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Such is the mercy of God, that he came in the person of Jesus. to save sinners and show mercy. Who deserves Jesus? Does anyone in this whole world deserve Jesus? Do you deserve Jesus? Does your enemy not deserve him any more than you don't deserve him? And so here is the challenge, isn't it, for us, to see our enemies as those who, undeserving of mercy, may yet receive mercy from God. And it is to the glory of God that we pray that he should show mercy even to our enemies. What a trophy of grace was Saul of Tarsus, who had been a persecutor of the church, and by the mercy of God became a promoter of Jesus Christ and lived his life and died in the service of Jesus Christ. This should be our prayer for our enemies, that they may become those who proclaim Jesus rather than ridicule those who follow Jesus. In this fourth chapter we have the explanation for Jonah's foolish flight to Tarshish. Fed by hatred. And here we have the explanation for the world's continued existence. The mercy of God. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. And how will they, in this dark, benighted world, how will they reach repentance if they're not told of the judgment, and if they're not pointed to the Saviour? And it is the responsibility of the Church to proclaim this message, and to proclaim it in love, but without anger. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would help us by your Spirit to change our minds and hearts with regard to those who ill use us and mistreat us and ridicule us for our faith in Christ. Help us to have pity upon them, even as Jesus had pity upon those who walked in darkness Help us to have pity upon them who are ignorant and, as it were, do not know their right hand from their left. So blinded are they by the lies of Satan that they do not understand their condition or their destiny. Help us to love them with the gospel, to proclaim it to them. as we have opportunity, that they too, like the Ninevites, might believe the Word of God, and hate their sin, and cry out for mercy. We ask that you would bless, in Jesus' name. Amen.