Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Welcome here again to our morning service at Calvary Baptist Church of Trihearne. And also, once again, welcome to those who have joined us via internet all over the world. For now, it's about 109, right? 101. 101 countries. Countries all over the world. And Lord, thanks for that. Please open a hymnal to number 314. 3-1-4. I am thine, O Lord. Number 314. I am blind, O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and it told thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith, and be closer unto thee. Draw me nearer, Nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou wast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To Thy precious bleeding side. Concentrate me now to thy service, Lord, by thy power of grace divine. Let my soul to come with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in Thine. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, through Thy gracious leading sign, O the pure delights of a single heart that before Thy throne I spent. When I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God, I'll commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross that I once died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious bleeding side. There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the arrow's sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I reach Can we start by praying for her? Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the privilege that we have of being drawn closer to Thee once we are saved, that we can grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can have Thy peace in our hearts, and we can know Thy blessing in our lives, and we can be a help to others. We pray for each one that's listening today that knows the heart of each one. We pray for those that are not saved, that they would see the importance of turning to Thee in repentance and trusting in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, alone for their salvation, to know Thy peace and truth, and have Thy blessing in their lives. We're thankful that we can gather together here, that Thou has provided us a place to meet, And we pray that we could be a help to this community and to this country as well as across the world. We do pray for those that join us from countries like China and Venezuela where they cannot meet openly. We thank Thee for them and just pray that they would know Thy peace and blessing as well and be able to see others come to know Thee as their God and Savior in those countries too. We're thankful that Thy word cannot be stopped. And we're thankful that we can have a small part in making Thy name known across the world. May Thy will be accomplished here, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And over to 489. 489 Glory to His Name. Number 489. ["Glory to His Name"] Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for sin, sin from sin I cried, There to my heart was a blood applied. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was a plan applied, Glory to His name. I am so wondrous to save from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, There but a cross where He took me in, Glory to His name. to his name, glory to his name. Virtue, my heart, was a blood applied, glory to his name. O precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. there jesus saves me and keeps me clean glory to his name glory to his name glory There to my heart was a blood applied, Glory to His name! Come to this fountain so rich and sweet, Cast thy poor soul at our Saviour's feet, Plant it today and be made complete, Glory to His name! ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ Glory to His name ♪ ♪ There to my heart was a blood applied ♪ ♪ Glory to His name ♪ And over to 511. 511, face to face. Number 511. Face to face with Christ my Savior Face to face, what will it be? When, with rapture, I behold Him Jesus Christ, who died for me Face to face, I shall behold and the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory, I shall see him by and by. Only faintly now I see him with the darkened veil But the blessed is coming, when his glory shall be seen. Face to face I shall behold him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. What rejoicing in His presence, When our bodies quiver in pain, When our crooked veins are strained, Face to face I shall behold Him Far beyond the starry skies Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by Face to face of this foreseeable moment Face to face to see and know Face to face with my Redeemer Jesus Christ who loves me too Face to face I shall behold Take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Going to read there verses 29 to 32. We'll stand, please, for the reading of God's word. Luke chapter 11, beginning there at verse 29. Says Aaron, when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. They seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonas And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful this morning again that we have Thy Word. Thankful again for the power of Thy Word, the truthfulness of Thy Word. We're thankful that we can be reminded of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. He is the only Savior. We need to know him as our own Savior and Lord. Thankful that he was willing to shed his blood on the cross of Calvary and die there to make it possible for us to be forgiven and saved. Thankful that he didn't stay on a cross. He didn't stay in a tomb. Thankful that he's seated on thy right hand in glory today and that we can come to thee this morning in the name of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for each one that's listening today. Thou knowest the heart of each one. And we pray that each one would have an ear to hear what the Spirit would say unto them this morning. May thy will be accomplished here, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message this morning is The Importance of Jesus' Resurrection. Those who seek after signs, and there are many today, there are people on the internet that talk about signs that they believe are evidence that Jesus Christ is coming soon. I saw one saying that on July 30th something important is going to happen. Another one saying on October 1st something important is going to happen. Some of you may remember, I think it was in 1988, when there was a booklet that was published and sent out saying that in October, I believe it was, of 1988, the Lord Jesus Christ was coming back. Well, obviously he didn't come back, and he is coming back, but we don't know the day, we don't know the hour, and we're not supposed to be looking for that. But there are many people today who are sign seekers, even if they're not putting a date on the Lord's return. But one of the things that I believe has many professing Christians deceived is that matter of numbers. If there's a big group, it must be of God. If there's a small group, well, we're not really sure whether God is blessing that work or not. And that's a very common trend amongst people. It's a philosophy that was greatly enhanced by a man named Jack Hiles, who is now dead, a man who was a false teacher. And he was into the numbers game. Sword of the Lord used to also be. I don't know about them anymore. I don't follow them. They were also big into the numbers game. A pastor gave me that magazine to read, and I had it coming to my house for a while. But one of the things that turned me off to it is that they always talked about the number of people that were attending a certain church and another church. They were always competing one with another. And it's not about numbers. It's about truth. And God doesn't tell us anywhere in his word. In fact, he does tell us in his word that if you're going to preach the truth, you're not going to be popular. And so we have kind of flipped that on its head and suggest that if you're going to be preaching the truth, you're going to be popular and many people are going to flock to you. Now, we know that when Jesus was on the earth, that he drew large crowds. But we also know that the majority of the people that came to him didn't come to hear the truth. And as Jesus pointed out here, they came to see signs. And so the first point that we have is sign seekers. So it tells us in verse 29, it says, and when the people were gathered thick together, interesting description given there of this crowd of people gathered thick together. suggests to me that they were elbow to elbow and shoulder to shoulder. There wasn't a lot of wiggle room. Now, if you paid attention to the news, you know that in the United States, in Michigan, somebody entered a Walmart and stabbed, I believe, it was 11 people yesterday. Nobody died that we know of, but 11 people got stabbed. You wouldn't want that kind of a person in this crowd. He could do a lot of damage. But the people of that time, they were not of that mindset. Today, we have a lot of that kind of stuff going on. Of course, with the drug use, people are not in their right minds. And then we have people that just go out to try to cause insecurity, and that's why they do these types of things to make everybody on edge if you get into a crowd. But these people were gathered together, there were lots of them here, it says, and Jesus always used his time on this earth to make himself known and the importance of people trusting in him. And so with this crowd here, it says, he began to say, this is an evil generation. Now, generally when we get together and when people have an evangelistic meeting or something, a lot of times the preacher will get into the pulpit and he'll start with a joke. He uses that as an icebreaker. He tries to get the people to relax, tries to get the people to see him in a good light. But here Jesus didn't do that and he never did that. He wasn't concerned about whether people would be impressed with him. He was concerned that people would know the truth. And so here he addresses the people for who they really are. This is an evil generation. Well, what made them evil? Well, they were evil because they were lost sinners, but Jesus points out a specific problem that was common amongst the Jews then, and as we have noted already, it's still also very common today, not just amongst Jews, but also Gentiles. And that problem that Jesus addresses here is they seek a sign. That was the problem. Jesus had done so many miracles by this time. He had cast out devils. He had healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, and fed the 5,000. There are many things that Jesus had already done by this point in his ministry, and yet these people were still coming together looking for a sign. And that is similar to the nature of agnostics in our world today. Years ago, I was reaching out to a principal in the school, and he was claimed to be a Baptist background, but he didn't believe in anything. And yet he allowed me to talk to him, and I would visit with him from time to time. And everything that I would show him from the Bible, he would always say, well, I don't know. Show me something else. And it didn't matter what I would show him from the Bible. He never came to the place of turning to the Lord and getting saved, not while I was there. He may have later on, I don't know. But that's the problem with sign seekers. What is the sign that you're looking for? What is going to convince you of the truth? And many times sign seekers They don't have a definitive sign that they are looking for. It's always something, it's just a little bit different than what they see happening. The Bible tells us the heavens declare the glory of God. So anytime that a person looks up into the sky, you can look up into today, you see the clouds and the rain comes down in those clouds, and yet another time you see similar clouds and there's no rain. You look up in the sky when it's a clear day, and in the evening you see the stars up there, the constellations, you see the sun and the moon, and many things, and yet people doubt that there's a God. The majority of society believes in evolution. And as I've mentioned before, part of the problem facing people like myself with my health issues is that most doctors are trained in evolution. So therefore, they don't really know how to address the human body. They cannot figure out the things that are going on and all they can do is throw pills at it. So when this pill doesn't work, then they throw another one at it. And then they have to give you a different pill to cover the side effects of the last pill. And that's not a good way to deal with things, but in our fallen world, that's what we have. So with the internet now, we can do research ourselves, and we can figure some things out. But the fact is that our bodies are fragile. and we are all going to die one day, so there's a limit to what we can do. But an evil generation is always looking for a sign. Prove it. So Jesus went on, the second point we have is the sign of Jonah. So Jesus told them, there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. Now Jonas there is spelled with an S on the end in the Old Testament. It's spelled with an H on the end. Just a different way of spelling the word. Some people suggest that parts of the New Testament come from the Septuagint, which is not true. The Septuagint is a corrupt Greek translation of the Old Testament. That's not why it's spelled with an S here. But some people believe that, which is not true. But the sign of Jonah, so it says in verse 30, for as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Now, what do we know about Jonah? Well, Jonah, small book in the Old Testament, four chapters. Jonah was a very reluctant prophet. He was a prophet. He was a believer in God. But he did not want to go and preach the message of repentance to the Ninevites. Now, the people of Nineveh, they were a wicked people. They were not Jews. So Jonah was sent to be a prophet to the Gentile people. And the Ninevites were a very violent people. And so Jonah did not see them as being worthy of the message of repentance. But God called him and told him to go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance. 40 days and God was going to destroy Nineveh. And so Jonah had the privilege of going there and warning them of this judgment that was coming. Jonah decided he wasn't going to go there. He found a ship that was going in a different direction, paid the fare to get on that ship, and thought he was safe. The problem was that just as Moses was called to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt, Jonah was called to go to Nineveh. And God didn't give him the option of no. So when Jonah said, I'm not going, he got on that ship. God allowed him to get on that ship. But it cost that owner of that ship, and it cost the crew all of what was on that ship. And they learned a lesson. They learned something about the true God. Jonah was thrown overboard. And the Bible says God prepared a great fish, a whale, to swallow Jonah. And he spent three days and three nights in the belly of that fish. He lived in there. And people say that can't happen. They say that the book of Jonah is mythology. Well, no, it's not. Jesus referred back to Jonah here in this passage. Three days and three nights he spent in the belly of that fish. And then the Bible says that that fish was directed by God to vomit Jonah back up on dry ground. So where is Jonah now? Well, he took a ship to get away from Nineveh, but the ship, the fish, brought him to Nineveh. That fish knew exactly where it was supposed to go because God is in charge of all things. And so he directed that fish to bring Jonah to the outskirts of Nineveh. Now, we don't know whether Jonah took a bath in the water before he got out, says that he was vomited up on dry ground. And we don't know what he looked like when he got out of that fish. But we know that it tells us in this passage here, it says, for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites. So there was something about Jonah when he was preaching that message of repentance and judgment in Nineveh that the people saw him as a sign. We know from that account in the book of Jonah that the people responded favorably to this message that Jonah was given to preach, not because Jonah's heart was right, because we know from that book that Jonah, even though he went and preached, he didn't want to see those people repent. So if it would have been up to Jonah, He would have wasted his breath, gone home, no results. But God is merciful. And God wanted the people of Nineveh to hear the gospel and to be given the opportunity to repent and to know his forgiveness and blessing. So Jonah reluctantly preached the message, but the people responded favorably to the message. And so it says there again in verse 30, for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. So Jonah, unlike the Lord Jesus Christ, Jonah preached a message, but it was with reluctance. Jesus Christ willingly came to this earth. willingly preached the gospel, willingly did the miracles, willingly allowed himself to be tempted by the Pharisees, and willingly went to the cross. He was willing to lay down his life for the sheep. But we know also that from the account of Jonah, that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of that fish. And we know as well that Jesus Christ spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So that was part of the picture that Jonah gave in the Old Testament, which he probably wasn't even aware of. His disobedience, his rebellion against the truth was used in the New Testament to remind the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah preached a message and the message was of such power because it was the word of God that the people turned to God in repentance. They listened and they came to fear God. That's an important place for every individual to come to. There's a lot of people that have heard the Word of God. A lot of people that have read parts of the Bible. But there's a lot of people that scoff at the Word of God as well. They don't take it seriously. They think it's just some man's writings. I've heard that too many times. Well, the Bible's just a book written by man. Well, the Bible tells us that it's a book written by holy men that were chosen by God and they were moved by the Holy Ghost to write the things that they did. So the Bible is not just a book written by men. The Bible has one author and that author is God. That's why the Bible makes sense from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation 22-21. It fits together. There are no contradictions in the Bible because it's the word of God. So God chose 40 different men over a period of about 1600 years to give us the word of God. But he had it all written down in heaven already before he gave it to us as people on earth. It was all there. The Bible says forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. It's all there. He didn't have to change anything as things happened on this earth. You know, I better adjust this. I had this plan, but now I gotta change it to this. He knew all about it. That's one thing about the greatness of God. He knows everything about you and I, and he knows everything that's going on in the world right now. And everything is happening according to his plan. As we look at our world, and we look at the things that man is capable of doing, we shouldn't be here. We have the capacity to build a bomb that can destroy the Earth. And we have demonstrated that in the Second World War. And we demonstrated that in Chernobyl, not with a bomb, but with the nuclear reactor that malfunctioned. that we have the capacity as people to destroy ourselves. But we're here. And not only are we here, but we can still breathe the air, we can still drink the water, we can still grow crops. There's many things that we can still do today in spite of the fact that we have the capacity to destroy ourselves. So why haven't we done that? We haven't done that because God hasn't allowed us to. That's why. That's the only reason why. God wants people to be saved. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So that's why today we are still able to meet here. And that's why today people can still hear the gospel. That's why we have the privilege of broadcasting on the Internet, because God wants people to be saved. He wants people to know the truth. And so it's important for us to be as Jonah in the sense of preaching the truth, not reluctantly as Jonah did, but we need to get out there and tell people the gospel message. People need to hear the truth, not because they want to. The people of Nineveh, they were not looking for the truth, but Jonah was told to go there. And Jonah went there, preached the message, and the people responded. And so the third thing that we see is the importance of truth. In verse 31, Jesus used two illustrations here. In verse 31, he talks of the queen of the south, and we know that queen to be the queen of Sheba. says the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. The Queen of Sheba was willing to leave her homeland. She had heard things. They didn't have the internet in her day. They didn't have radios. But she had heard things that were going on in Israel. Jerusalem, God had made Jerusalem the hub of trade in that part of the world. So a lot of people were traveling through Jerusalem to get back to their homeland. And they were trading in Jerusalem. Gold, silver, apes, and other things, ivory, they were trading things. And so news was coming across the Middle East as to the atmosphere, the way things were going on in Israel and particularly in Jerusalem. There was order in the land and there was commerce going on, a lot of commerce going on. And Solomon's wisdom was well known. He was able to manage the nation of Israel in a way that was unique amongst nations and unique amongst kings. And the reason was that God gave Solomon great wisdom. And the Queen of Sheba, she heard about what was going on in Israel. And it tells us here that this queen even though she came from a pagan nation, but she saw what was going on in Jerusalem. She saw what was happening and she believed it. And it says here that the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. She saw the wisdom of Solomon. She appreciated that. But Jesus says a greater than Solomon is here. And he's speaking of himself. So the Queen of Sheba, she didn't come to Solomon and try to trip him up. She had a lot of questions for him, we're told. She wanted to know about how he was governing. Where did his wisdom come from? How did he come up with the decisions that he made? and so on, and she earned, or she gained respect for him because of what he told her and what she saw. But here, Jesus was here, and we have noted in the past, if you just go back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, And in Matthew chapter seven, we read there in the last two verses, it says, and it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine. So he was quite impressive in the way that he spoke. And then it says in verse 29, the reason for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. So the people could tell There's something different about Jesus. And yet, even though they could tell there was something different, they were not getting the right message from what Jesus was telling them. They were impressed with his words. They were impressed with his authority, but they were not convicted in their hearts to repent and trust in him. They were stubbornly rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. In verse 32, it says, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And we know that to be true. The entire nation, from the king on down, they repented. That's very unusual. for the king of a foreign nation to repent, to trust in the true God. Looking at the book of Exodus in our devotionals, Pharaoh fought against everything that God sent Moses to show him. He rejected everything that God did. As his nation was being destroyed before his face, he continually rejected the hand of God at work. ended up drowning in the Red Sea because he refused to accept the truth. But here in Nineveh, from the king on down, they all repented. They trusted in the God that Jonah was preaching about, and they repented. Now we know that later on, after that, the people of Nineveh, they turned back to their old ways and the country, the city was destroyed. But in the days of Jonah, they listened to the message. They heard the preaching of Jonas and they repented. And again, Jesus says, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. So the people of Jesus' day, they had an opportunity given to them that they were not ready to receive, even though all the preparation had been made for them to receive Jesus Christ. John the Baptist had been a faithful preacher. John the Baptist had pointed to the Old Testament. and showed how that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Jesus Christ, his own father, proclaimed him to be his son and told the people to listen to him. Jesus did many miracles, miracles that were clearly unusual, things that the Pharisees, the scribes could not do. The doctors could not heal the people that Jesus could heal. And yet the people continually rejected him as the Messiah. And so Jesus is giving us a warning here and giving that generation that was there on the earth at that time. But again, today, we have this passage here for us. We have the word of God. And we can read the word of God. There are still some good churches across the world today, a few in Canada. Few in the United States. There are a lot of churches, but most of them are not teaching the truth. But there still are true churches. And a person can still know the truth today. The Holy Spirit is still working today to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So God is still doing his work to help people to know the truth. But the problem is that most people are ignoring what God says. This church has been here now, I think we've been here six years or seven years, something like that. And we have a sign outside. We have a screen in our window. There are verses that scroll across there. We put an article in the paper every week or just about every week. And yet people, they walk by, they drive by, and they don't bother to come in. We give out literature, but people just ignore the opportunity to hear the truth. But judgment day is coming. And just because people shrug their shoulders and say, well, I don't care. It's not important. I got too many other things to do. Just because people take that attitude doesn't mean that they're going to be excused. because God gives every individual a conscience. And in that conscience, everybody knows the basic difference between right and wrong. And even though there are a multitude of false teachers out there today, you can find them on the internet, you can spend a lot of time, waste a lot of time, I should say, following false teachers, but people still know in their heart, they know what's right and what's wrong. There are people today that are quite gullible and they will go, for instance, in the secular world, they'll go to a dealership to buy a vehicle and the salesman is usually a smooth talker and he can sell them a piece of junk and they drive it home. And they think they really got something, even though they have to drive it back the next day or two and get things fixed on it already. And the dealership smiles at them and says, oh, well, yeah, we'll fix that for you. We'll give you a discount because you just bought it here. The dealership makes sure that they're not going to lose money, but you're going to pay out a pocket for that lemon that you bought. That's in the secular world. In the spiritual realm, there are thousands of false teachers who will tell you what you want to hear. And whatever it is your flavor is, there's someone out there. Why? Because the Bible tells us that the serpent was more subtle than any other beast, and the serpent was a type of the devil. And he knows how to trick people that are not willing to listen to God. But as the devil is seeking to trick people into believing a lie, the Holy Spirit is also there convincing the lost of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So you can know when you're being lied to and when you're not. Now, you may not know exactly what the lie is, but you can know there's something wrong with that. And the good news is that God will also draw you to the truth if you're willing to listen to him. He will draw you to a place where you can actually hear the truth. Now, it's important for those of us that are saved to be out there meeting with people, seeking to help them to know where the truth is found. But if you're lost and listening to me today, the Lord is good. He wants you to know the truth. And so you're gonna have that opportunity to discern whether you're being lied to or not. And it's up to you as an individual to pay attention to what God is doing in your heart and be willing to receive the truth. Now, the good thing too in Canada, you can still pick up a King James Bible for a reasonable price. They're not expensive. And most people in Canada can read English. Now other countries, there's also Bibles in many translations or many languages. And so there's opportunity to read the Bible. So you can look at it for yourself and you can see what the Bible actually says. And so when someone starts to talk to you about the word of God, you can examine whether what they're saying to you is actually true or not. We've looked at briefly today the account of Jonah. You can go back in the Old Testament, you can read those four chapters. They're not that long. And you can read the account of Jonah. And what did he do? And what did God do with him? You can read that. And we look at the New Testament here in this passage we're looking at today, and God refers back to that. And the importance of that man. Not because of Jonah, but because of the message that he was given. And that's the important thing for us today as well. It's not the messenger that's important, it's the message that's important. And so it's important today to make sure that you are listening to the word of God, because you will be answerable. Tells us here in this passage, that there is a judgment coming, and everyone will be judged based on what they have done with the truth. Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, the Bible says they have a home in heaven. Those who reject the message of God's salvation, they have a place in the lake of fire. The Bible says they go to hell, And then on the resurrection day, at the end of the world, they will be raised up and they will stand the great white throne judgment and be judged there and cast into the lake of fire. The Bible tells us that. It's clear. It's not mythology. It's real. So people ask the question, well, has anybody ever come back? Well, the fact is Jesus Christ left heaven's glory. He came to this earth and he talked about heaven and he talked about hell. So yes, we have a message directly from the one who came from heaven and he is the judge. And so the Bible is true and it is important to believe it. There's enough evidence in our world today to help us to see that the Bible is true. And the wise person stops to consider what the Bible says and responds to what the Bible says in humility and in truth. And those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, they will testify to the blessing that there is in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. I would never go back to what I was before I was 20 years old. Physically speaking, I can't, but spiritually speaking, I wouldn't want to be back there. I'm thankful that God was patient with me and showed me over and over again the importance of knowing him and that I finally listened. God has been very good to me over the past 53 years. And I'm thankful for that. And God is good to everyone that is saved. He's good to all people, but he's particularly good to those who are saved. And every Christian will have a testimony of the goodness of God. And so if you're listening to me today and you're not saved, it's important for you to stop and consider what God is telling you And there are Christians that you can talk to that can help you to see the blessing that you could have in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is your savior. There's no greater blessing on this earth than to know God's forgiveness and to have his peace in your heart. But it's a choice that you need to make. Nobody's going to force you. You have to choose to know the Lord and to follow him. And if you will do that, if you will choose to know him, turn to him in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, you will never be sorry because you will receive such a great blessing in knowing God's forgiveness and peace in your heart that you'll wonder why you waited so long. So just a short account we have here today. but a very important message of listening to what the Word of God says and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Know His peace, know His forgiveness, and begin to walk with Him and then help others to know Him as well. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful this morning that we have Thy Word. We're thankful for the account of Jonah, a man who was not very obedient in the Old Testament, but a man who was still used of thee, and a man who had a great impact through his message upon a wicked nation. And we're thankful that we have a merciful and long-suffering God today who still wants people to be forgiven and saved, and that thy word is still going forth today. And we're thankful that we have the privilege of proclaiming that word here. And we pray for each one that's listening this morning, whether here in this building or across the internet, across other lands. We pray for each one that each one would know thy peace and blessing in their heart, would want to know thy forgiveness, would want to glorify thee in what they say and do. Be careful to make wise choices. And we're thankful that we have that opportunity of helping others to consider the truth. May thy will be accomplished in each person's life. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.