WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.759 So, please turn to Jonah chapter 3 if you have a Bible with you. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:14.720 I'm going to spend a bit of time in this passage tonight. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:20.760 Heading for the sermon is the will, the way, and the word. 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:26.359 And what I'd say about this chapter and tying it into the book just by way of introduction 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:33.039 is in some ways Jonah is a bit of a microcosm of what keeps, keeps, keeps coming through 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.359 the pages of the Bible. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:40.200 That is the message of repentance and grace from a holy God to a sinful people. 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:45.280 This is a biblical theme that comes up time and time and time and time and time again. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.679 The message of repentance and grace from a holy God to a sinful people. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:56.240 And in some ways what we get here is, like I say, a microcosm of not just the message 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.119 but the way in which God communicates to people down through the ages as he speaks again and 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:07.159 again and again, bringing his theme to sinful people. 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:09.599 I was thinking about advertising when I was preparing this. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:16.319 So all kinds of companies have all kinds of different messages that they want you to hear. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:23.199 They want you to be persuaded of the value, the wonder of their product so that you will 00:01:23.199 --> 00:01:24.719 buy them. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:30.000 And I was thinking about a slogan because the thing about products is that they can change 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.799 and the slogans that advertise the products can change. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.719 As we change as a society, everything's shifting and changing, isn't it? 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.439 And so the way that things have to be kind of put out there is desirable constantly has 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:43.839 to change at one level. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:48.240 So Mars bars, talk about Mars bars just to start off. 00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:56.520 Mars bars used to, I mean, to me they still do signify, a Mars a day helps you work, rest 00:01:56.520 --> 00:01:57.520 and play. 00:01:57.520 --> 00:01:59.400 So Mars bars are very helpful. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.960 They help us do what we have to do in life. 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:04.600 But that's not the slogan anymore. 00:02:04.600 --> 00:02:06.159 I was dismayed to find out. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:14.000 The slogan nowadays is this, put some play in your day. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.879 So they changed it. 00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:22.240 They kept the whole play theme, but work and rest kind of got put to the side there somewhat. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.359 And I read a little bit about the reasoning for that. 00:02:24.359 --> 00:02:25.359 Why did they change it? 00:02:25.359 --> 00:02:29.240 It's working pretty well for me. 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:38.120 So apparently, according to the ad guys, the new positioning is about a mental uplift. 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.200 They've thought long and hard about this. 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:43.960 Short-lived moments that are more fun. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:48.520 The campaign we are rolling out shows that we're not taking life too seriously. 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:52.120 So a Mars a day helps you work, rest and play. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:55.000 It's obviously far too diligent. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.200 But add a bit of play into your day. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:02.399 In some ways, it's obviously more in tune with the modern psyche, apparently. 00:03:02.399 --> 00:03:04.280 So here's the thing. 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:05.280 Products change a bit. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:06.599 Mars bars got smaller, surely. 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.959 I think everybody knows that. 00:03:08.959 --> 00:03:14.000 The way they're advertised changes, because people apparently change. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.000 You have changed, and therefore Mars think they need to change the way they promote their 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.159 brand so that you will still be enticed to buy it. 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:24.319 So messages change. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:34.120 Everything, companies shift and change to keep up with the way that people think nowadays. 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:40.239 God is the same, and he says the same things to people who may change. 00:03:40.239 --> 00:03:46.799 Obviously, he speaks into different contexts and cultures, at sometimes, often using different 00:03:46.799 --> 00:03:49.359 people, sometimes using slightly different methods. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:57.280 But like I said, in this chapter, we get, as it were, a prototype of the unchanging, 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.520 compelling way that God communicates to people all the way down through the ages. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.840 So I'm going to pick that out of this chapter. 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:05.840 I'll be looking at three words. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.080 I'm going to put the three words up on the screen, and you can see the way that they 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.200 come out really clearly in this chapter. 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:14.840 And I'm going to link that in to another part of scripture, which again shows us the way 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:21.360 that God consistently and compellingly communicates to people down through the ages. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.639 So we're going to start with the first word. 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.680 We put it up on the screen, and that is the word, word. 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:27.680 All right? 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:31.240 It occurs in this chapter three times. 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:32.240 Here we go. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:38.360 I'm going to find it in verse one, and in verse three, and in verse six. 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.480 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:47.319 Now, I said already, you'll see if you look to chapter one, God's already said this in 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:48.319 chapter one. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:50.520 Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. 00:04:50.520 --> 00:04:51.879 First time around, he ignores it. 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:53.160 Well, he doesn't ignore it. 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:57.480 He takes great objection to it, and so he runs away. 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.280 But here we are again in chapter three. 00:04:59.280 --> 00:05:02.439 The word comes to Jonah. 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:08.480 Verse three, So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.600 It was that which motivated him. 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:12.439 The word is a catalyst. 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:14.360 It produces movement in his life. 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.640 We'll come back to that theme. 00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:23.760 And then again in verse six, the word has an impact on the people who hear it. 00:05:23.760 --> 00:05:25.439 No less on the king himself. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.480 He gets to hear about what's going on in the city. 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:31.480 People start to respond to what Jonah's saying, and the king gets to hear about this. 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:32.480 So here we go. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.800 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:42.680 covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:46.920 So the word keeps cropping up all the way through. 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:49.639 It's a prophetic staple, if you like. 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:50.639 Jonah's a prophet. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:51.920 We mentioned that already. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:55.000 If you look throughout the Bible and you read about different prophets, often you'll get 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:01.240 the kind of stock phrase, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah or Jeremiah. 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:02.240 Go tell. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:03.240 Go speak. 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.680 Go tell an unrepentant people. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.879 Go tell my dear people who I love. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.560 The word of the Lord came from God too. 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:15.319 So he goes through people like Jonah all the time. 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.840 So that makes it, we've looked at this in Escalia. 00:06:18.840 --> 00:06:22.759 Isn't it amazing then the way that Jonah responds, if you know anything of the story, when he 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.120 does a runner in chapter one. 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.720 Who would do that? 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:34.680 Being a prophet of the Lord, commissioned by the Lord to go and bring his word to people. 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:39.560 Who do you listen to in your life? 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:41.439 We listen to different people at different levels. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:43.959 So I don't know, think about your office. 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.120 Let's say there are five people in your office. 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:50.439 Maybe three of them speak complete nonsense most of the time and two of them you really 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:51.439 listen to. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:52.439 Why is that? 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.759 That's because they're really good at what they do or they give you good counsel or because 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.120 you like them or because they tell you what you want to hear. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.399 We listen to different people for different reasons, don't we, sometimes? 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:10.759 It's really easy to listen to people because they make us feel good. 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:18.839 The word as it comes to us from the Lord came to these people and it comes all the way down 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:24.199 through the ages to all people who will hear it and to me and you. 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:30.039 And the simple question with this first word is what value do you place when you hear the 00:07:30.039 --> 00:07:31.739 word of the Lord? 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:38.680 So that looks like the time you maybe carve out of your day to open it. 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:43.160 To recall it, you know, to let your mind dwell on it for 10 minutes, longer if you have 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:45.439 it. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:51.400 The way in which it actually changes who you are and what you do, we're going to see how 00:07:51.400 --> 00:07:53.000 important the word is as a catalyst. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.800 It should always produce change in us. 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.199 Now, second slide, please. 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:04.479 If you go to John chapter one, very different culture, very different time, pivotal time 00:08:04.479 --> 00:08:10.039 in terms of God's plan of salvation and the way in which he moves into the desperate mess 00:08:10.039 --> 00:08:16.360 of humanity to bring himself to the fore and to bring salvation. 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:19.800 John chapter one in the beginning was the word. 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:21.439 Now here the word is a person. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:22.919 So you know this. 00:08:22.919 --> 00:08:27.680 If you've been coming to church a lot, if you're a Christian, this is Jesus. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.639 And the word was with God and the word was God. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:36.960 And then we read on in verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:39.080 seen his glory. 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:43.560 So the question is then, do you treasure the word to you and do you treasure the word incarnate, 00:08:43.560 --> 00:08:46.240 which is Jesus Christ himself? 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:53.120 God speaks to people all down through the ages, and that is exemplified ultimately in Jesus. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.840 So this is the first word. 00:08:54.840 --> 00:09:01.560 And the second one, we'll put up just now, is called. 00:09:01.560 --> 00:09:05.560 The word called occurs in Jonah chapter three, four times. 00:09:05.560 --> 00:09:12.240 So let's see where this comes out, verse two, and four, and five, and eight. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.840 Chapter three, verse two, the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:21.440 arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:22.440 you. 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:26.800 The third comes to Jonah, and Jonah is to go and speak his own words, calling out to the 00:09:26.800 --> 00:09:29.240 people of the city. 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:34.480 Verse four, Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out, 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:39.760 so he basically did exactly what he was told to, this time, this time. 00:09:39.760 --> 00:09:45.000 Yet, forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:54.080 Verse five, and the people of Nineveh believed God, they called for a fast, and put on sack 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.320 cloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:57.720 What would that have looked like? 00:09:57.720 --> 00:09:59.480 Can you picture the scene? 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:03.679 Ancient city, big city, by their standards. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:09.759 Very proud, very powerful, very wicked city. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:14.960 Hearing this itinerant preacher, who they've never seen before, come and walk in through 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:21.320 their city, shouting out to them words from a God who is not their God. 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:26.480 And it has such an impact on them that they begin to call out amongst themselves, cut 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:33.040 to the bone at the state of their own hearts, and what they must do. 00:10:33.040 --> 00:10:39.680 Quite a scene, quite a dramatic scene, so much so that it reaches the ears of the king. 00:10:39.680 --> 00:10:44.920 So the king, from verse seven, issued a proclamation published through Nineveh, by the decree of 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:50.159 the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, let 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.879 them not feed or drink water. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:57.879 So an intro verse eight, but let man and beast be covered with sack cloth, let them call 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:00.919 out mightily to God, there's that word again. 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:02.399 Let them call out to God. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:07.079 They didn't do that before, that wasn't a part of their day, it wasn't a priority of 00:11:07.079 --> 00:11:08.079 them. 00:11:08.079 --> 00:11:13.199 Another God, a pagan God, this or that one, but not this God, not Yahweh. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:18.879 Now the king is saying, let them call out to him, not just kind of doff their caps, acknowledge 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:25.200 him in passing, call out to him, shout out his name, call out that he will acknowledge 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.040 them. 00:11:28.040 --> 00:11:32.000 So there's the second word, and again, can we go to the fourth slide, which brings us 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.680 back to John's Gospel? 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:39.720 Because what we read here is of the one who was sent to anticipate the imminent coming 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:44.000 into the world of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.440 If you like the last of the old school, the Old Testament prophets, whose job it was to 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:56.360 go and call out to people, here again is the word from God coming to you, the people hadn't 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:59.080 heard from God for a few hundred years. 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:00.440 Where is the word of God to us? 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:01.440 What's he doing? 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:03.680 Has he forgotten us? 00:12:03.680 --> 00:12:07.639 There was a man sent from God whose name was John, came as a witness, the bare witness 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:11.679 about the light that all might believe through him. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:16.439 So we read John bore witness about him and cried out. 00:12:16.439 --> 00:12:18.319 See what his job was? 00:12:18.319 --> 00:12:24.639 To do exactly the same thing, to go amongst people and to call out the message, hear the 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.519 word of the Lord turn from your sin, be ready for the one who is coming. 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.639 And he goes on to speak about Jesus. 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:35.919 So you see that the pattern that emerges there. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:40.919 John has got this task to do in line with the job of the prophets echoed by John the 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:41.919 Baptist himself. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:47.759 Now, of course as well, and I just want to touch on this briefly in many ways in keeping 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.759 with Jesus' own ministry. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.399 So let me read one verse from Mark's Gospel. 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:58.039 Mark chapter one verse 14, we read these words. 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:08.279 After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God. 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:10.399 Jesus is doing exactly the same thing. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:16.959 Jesus himself, the Word incarnate, comes into the cities and towns full of sinners and wayward 00:13:16.959 --> 00:13:25.599 people and begins to call out, hear the word of the Lord, get ready, be changed, be changed 00:13:25.599 --> 00:13:27.319 in who you are. 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:33.760 So word and called out. 00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:39.960 Before we move on to the third word, think for a minute about what God is doing here. 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:43.480 We saw this morning in Eskireli, why would God have to do this? 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:45.879 He didn't need the people. 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.320 He doesn't need the people. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.760 He's the Creator. 00:13:50.760 --> 00:13:54.160 He made all things, He made all people, but He doesn't need them to be fulfilled in and 00:13:54.160 --> 00:13:55.800 of Himself. 00:13:55.799 --> 00:14:06.559 And yet He moves all through history to where humans are in their rebellion, their selfishness, 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:13.359 their desperate wickedness, and He calls out to them, turn from your ways, I would have 00:14:13.359 --> 00:14:15.719 mercy on you. 00:14:15.719 --> 00:14:18.599 Amazing the way that God acts. 00:14:18.599 --> 00:14:25.279 God is the agent moving into humanity all through its history to bring redemption. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:28.159 Word word, and that is the word arise. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.079 Okay, arise. 00:14:30.079 --> 00:14:33.399 This occurs three times in the passage. 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:43.559 In verse 2, God says to Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city. 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:47.480 So He wants Jonah to do what he's been telling him to do. 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.720 Second one, in verse 3, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:52.720 Lord. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.800 And again, Jonah's just, he's acting according to what God says for him to do. 00:14:57.800 --> 00:15:04.480 And then, really interestingly in verse 6, here's something of the way the king is impacted. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:09.160 Now I've already kind of touched on this, but look at the dynamic change that happens 00:15:09.160 --> 00:15:10.800 to the king here in verse 6. 00:15:10.800 --> 00:15:16.200 The word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:20.720 himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:22.320 So the message had such an effect. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:27.080 The message of repentance had such an effect that the king didn't have to do anything. 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:35.360 He was the boss, he himself stood up and he stood up in order to get rid of the symbol 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:41.560 of his kingship and his power and his authority and him being the boss, took it off, threw 00:15:41.560 --> 00:15:44.160 it on the ground and he repented. 00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:46.480 He covered himself in sackcloth and ashes. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:48.720 He feared the word of the Lord. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:57.040 He realized that without his turning, he faced ruin and his people did too because God, as 00:15:57.040 --> 00:16:02.639 he was convicted, was mighty and powerful to do what he said he was going to do. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:07.200 So the king himself arose and stood up. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:10.160 So I want you to see what happens here in this passage. 00:16:10.160 --> 00:16:13.399 As we go through and we see the progress of what Jonah's called to do and all that happens 00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:22.039 as a result of that, all that happens, evil and wickedness is put in its place. 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.559 Now that's no small thing, is it really to say? 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:26.559 That's no small thing. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.919 Look at what he says, in his decree, let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, let 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:33.919 them call out mightily to God, okay, we've seen that. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:41.919 Then he says, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:48.039 That's a really big deal because these were amongst the nasty people in that known time 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:49.199 and culture. 00:16:49.199 --> 00:16:51.439 These are the people he didn't want to get in their way. 00:16:51.439 --> 00:16:52.679 They did great violence. 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:56.000 They did great destruction. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:01.159 Huge wickedness was found amongst them and yet the word of the Lord moves them to the 00:17:01.159 --> 00:17:05.920 point where they fear him, to the point where they say, the king says, put off your wickedness, 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.879 turn from the way that you're behaving and do this no more. 00:17:08.879 --> 00:17:10.960 Now that's a good thing. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:16.160 God has the power to intervene in culture to halt evil. 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:24.000 Now I wonder if you believe that tonight because we look around the world and it's very troubled. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:29.960 We see places where there is great wickedness seemingly kind of running right and sometimes 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:34.519 you even think that in your own life sometimes you think, this is desperate. 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:39.319 Things are really desperate at the moment in the way that my life is going or the way 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:43.200 people impact on me. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:48.519 And of course sometimes the predominant way in which people think of God is so twisted 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:54.200 nowadays that they actually think of God as being the terrible one. 00:17:54.200 --> 00:18:03.039 So a couple of high brow kind of famous opinions on God nowadays. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:08.720 Stephen Fry had a famous interview a couple of years ago where he called God monstrous 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:13.839 which is desperately sad, desperately sad. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:20.759 And Richard Dawkins calls God arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction. 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:23.279 What that shows is that they don't know God. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.279 They don't know him. 00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:26.799 They don't know what he's like and what he does. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:35.160 They haven't seen this, the work of God coming to an evil, evil culture intervening and calling 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:40.800 to account sinful human beings and saying, stop this or you face my judgment with the 00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:46.680 result that the wicked deeds that people did, the man's inhumanity towards man is ceased 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.840 at this point in time, at this moment in time in culture. 00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:51.720 God is able to do this and to break it. 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:55.440 Now of course there are times in which he does this in different ways in history and 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:59.720 there are times in his own providence in which he withholds his hand. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:06.880 But we'll come back to this, he will deal with all of the evil that has ever been perpetrated. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.400 But we'll come back to that. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:16.000 See thinking out and bringing out these three words kind of reveals to us that God's Word 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:23.000 as it's repeatedly proclaimed consistently and compellingly down through the ages always 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.039 calls for a response. 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.039 It doesn't just go out into the ether. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:34.559 You don't hear it tonight and just kind of shrug it off or please don't because the Word 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.000 of the Lord is the most significant communication you will ever hear. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:44.079 It calls you to account. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:49.960 It opens up the reality of your heart and your own sinfulness and it calls you to change 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:51.639 and to turn. 00:19:51.639 --> 00:19:57.000 We think about sometimes when somebody gives a command and it's not heeded and we think 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:01.079 that's really inappropriate, I speak to my five-year-old daughter and I say do this or 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:05.440 don't do that and she does the exact opposite of what I want her to do and I say how dare 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:06.440 you? 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:11.640 That's completely inappropriate that you completely ignored my command to you. 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:12.640 It wasn't right. 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:14.200 There was a disconnect there. 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.440 I know she's in danger because she's going to do something daft and I say don't do that 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:18.440 and she does it. 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:21.559 That just doesn't make any sense. 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:26.200 There are times in which for us to hear and not respond doesn't make any sense. 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:29.559 And so when we hear the Word of the Lord. 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:35.039 So I want to ask you tonight whether or not you're open or closed to hearing the Word 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:36.039 of the Lord. 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:42.720 It's a very, very simple question but it's very, very significant. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.519 We go back just by way of tying these things up a little bit. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:50.080 We were thinking at the start about advertising and the way in which messages are given out 00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:54.039 by different companies changing all the time, trying to move you to do this or that. 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:58.399 Let me tie together what would God have you hear tonight? 00:20:58.399 --> 00:20:59.559 What would he say to you? 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:05.879 What is he saying now so relevantly into our culture which thinks maybe that he's very 00:21:05.879 --> 00:21:06.879 irrelevant? 00:21:06.879 --> 00:21:18.440 Well, the first thing to say is that he absolutely does and will deal with evil. 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:22.799 So there will be a day when he will call every single human heart to account for the way 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.799 in which that person has lived their life. 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:30.440 Okay, that's just a fact that it's asserted all the way through the Bible. 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:35.919 The second thing I want to say is he will judge those who have done evil and who have 00:21:35.919 --> 00:21:37.759 never repented of that. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:46.119 But he will also bring in a day of unparalleled blessing and peace and wonder. 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:51.039 And that is because on the day when he deals with evil and judges wickedness, he will also 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:58.639 bring his people who have clung to him and trusted in him into his heavenly kingdom. 00:21:58.639 --> 00:22:07.119 And so sometimes, you know, when life really, really is unbearable and you really do feel 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:11.279 oppressed, then you need to know that. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:15.440 That God is with you now, but that he will one day, he will one day bring you into a 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:25.240 place of unparalleled peace where everything is righteous and good and you know no fear, 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:28.680 you know no fear anymore. 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:35.279 He will do that because of what Jesus has accomplished. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:38.960 That's then, what about now? 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:43.559 Well we should also hear from the Lord in the here and now amongst all of the muck of 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:49.319 life still, our own sinfulness and when we feel surrounded by a culture that dishonours 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:54.639 rather than honours God, the role of the church, who are we to be? 00:22:54.639 --> 00:22:56.919 Who are you to be? 00:22:56.919 --> 00:23:00.599 Who does God call out to you to be? 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:08.919 A community of light, of peace, of grace, of people who have heard the word of the Lord. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:14.039 So if you have heard the word of the Lord and responded and turned, if you know of the 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:20.440 salvation that has been accomplished by Jesus, then that is an absolute game changer as a 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:21.440 society. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:25.320 There's nothing more radical than a community of people who've been brought back into fellowship 00:23:25.320 --> 00:23:30.160 with God and who live according to the light of his counsel. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:35.800 That means that amongst you, there should be a wonderful fellowship and blessing in 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:40.159 him, in Jesus, as you keep in step with the Spirit. 00:23:40.159 --> 00:23:42.559 And the world should see something of that. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:48.519 Now they may hate it, but they may turn as they see evidence of the gospel at work in 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:50.879 his people. 00:23:50.879 --> 00:23:55.639 So I think God is calling us to see again his power. 00:23:55.639 --> 00:23:57.519 He has dominion over the nations. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:00.000 He will call all people to account. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:05.440 He will one day create a society of perfect peace. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:10.720 And now he's calling the church to live up to the calling of being the church, living 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.240 in light of the fact that Jesus is Lord. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:21.000 Again, that word arise that we've been looking at, sometimes we lie down and we feel so overcome 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:22.000 by fear as a church. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.480 And we think we're oppressed on every side and we think we have no voice and we think 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:26.920 we're going to be overcome. 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:33.440 He would say to you, rise, stand in the knowledge of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and hold fast 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.840 to his teaching and live out the gospel amongst yourselves. 00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:39.559 Arise. 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:45.640 And what that boils down to an individual level is this, just a couple more things. 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:52.759 Jonah was tasked with going to this awful, sinful people who he despised and hated. 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:57.320 And he was called with, he was tasked with calling out to them with the gospel, essentially 00:24:57.320 --> 00:24:58.400 the gospel message. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:03.880 The message of repent and turn and receive mercy. 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.720 Sometimes the church can behave like Jonah did. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.080 I don't want to go to those people. 00:25:09.080 --> 00:25:13.840 They're not the kind of people that I think should inherit or be blessed by the mercy 00:25:13.840 --> 00:25:15.320 and the grace of God. 00:25:15.320 --> 00:25:16.759 That must never be the case. 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:19.240 We do not have the right to behave like that. 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:25.400 So we're called to take very seriously the call to make disciples and to pray for and 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:33.000 to long for the transformation of people who need to know the mercy of God. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:37.040 So do you pray for that and long for that? 00:25:37.040 --> 00:25:38.720 And are you willing to be a part of that? 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:44.560 And the second thing is, are you contributing to the life of the church, the way that the 00:25:44.560 --> 00:25:49.000 church should be now a place of peace and forgiveness, a place of mercy? 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.720 How can we be a community of people who are better towards one another, who are going 00:25:53.720 --> 00:26:00.319 behind one another's backs, or who are totally disinterested in one another if the Lord of 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:07.039 the universe was interested enough to show compassion and to put in place a plan of salvation 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:12.240 that would result in your being changed from desperate sinner to family member. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.480 How can we be disinterested in one another? 00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:20.680 So we're called to recognize that again and to live out what it looks like to be a part 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:25.200 of God's church. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:32.960 So this is, just to finish, I think I've said that before, this is personal and compelling. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:38.160 I think it's sometimes easy to say, Jonah, he preached in Nineveh and Ninevates were 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.240 these kind of people and they were bad, extra bad. 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:45.080 They're like these kind of people nowadays who are extra bad, the kind of people that 00:26:45.080 --> 00:26:47.880 we want to keep our children away from, we don't want to associate with. 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:54.720 Now that's right, there are some desperately wicked people in our society today. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:56.200 And yet God calls all to account. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:06.720 And so God calls murderers and tyrants, kings of tyrannical nations to account, and he has 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.880 the power to change them in an instant. 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:14.400 Never stop believing that God can change people that you don't think he can change now. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:17.720 Pray for people that you don't think he can change. 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:21.799 God has the power to call murderers and tyrants to account. 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:33.240 God also calls gossips and people who hate and liars and people who are disinterested 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:34.839 in him to account. 00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:38.360 So that's people like us, isn't it? 00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:43.920 All kinds of people, the sins that we don't think are so big a deal. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:48.120 So it's personal and compelling, hear the word of the Lord, turn, repent. 00:27:48.120 --> 00:27:51.840 But it's also good, and that's what I want to finish with. 00:27:51.840 --> 00:27:53.039 Remember the Psalm we read from? 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:59.240 Remember the Psalm that spoke about the blessing, the relief, the joy of being honest before 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:08.960 God and turning from our stubborn, selfish hearts to open ourselves before the Holy 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.440 God and follow his way. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.640 Remember the joy that was in that Psalm? 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.039 Maybe that seems very far away for you just now. 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:23.920 But consider this, what happens when you repent, you turn from self and you turn to the Lord, 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:28.039 is you put yourself in the path of Jesus Christ. 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:35.120 So Jesus, the eternal Son who was forever in fellowship with the Father and the Spirit 00:28:35.120 --> 00:28:39.960 before he came into the world, in perfect, wonderful fellowship. 00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:45.840 As he came into the world, not one second of his earthly life did he walk outside of 00:28:45.840 --> 00:28:53.200 the will of God, perfectly in step with the will of God at all times, perfectly blessed. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:57.000 You know, he was a man of sorrows, but he was perfectly blessed in the sense that he knew 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.000 he was doing the will of God. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:04.039 And of course, he knew the joy of resurrection and ascension and of seeing his church being 00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:07.640 able to be brought in because of what he had accomplished. 00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:13.560 To turn from self and to turn to God and to follow his way puts us in step. 00:29:13.560 --> 00:29:17.759 You know, the Bible speaks about keeping in step with the Spirit, walking with him. 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:19.440 Follow the way of Jesus. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:25.400 Know his fellowship, know his face, see him for who he is, and walk in that way. 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:35.200 It's so much better than holding on to sin, letting it corrupt the way we live and think, 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:40.880 the way we impact other people, the way we let ourselves down, which essentially ends 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:45.600 up with us living in the mud. 00:29:45.600 --> 00:29:47.400 It's good news for us. 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:58.279 And so, let's, as this city so improbably was humbled and called to account, let's deal 00:29:58.279 --> 00:29:59.840 with our own hearts again. 00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:01.400 The repentance is an ongoing thing. 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:02.400 It's a daily thing. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:04.519 It's a blessing. 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:10.119 And it's also something that we should, in great humility and love and compassion, pray 00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:17.400 for and seek after for all the people that surround you in the life that you live. 00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:19.879 I'm going to leave it there. 00:30:19.879 --> 00:30:23.759 I'm going to pray and ask that the Lord would help us to do this. 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:25.200 And then we're going to sing. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.200 So let's pray. 00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:38.240 Lord, we thank you that you're the God of mercy. 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:42.600 You're the holy God, but you're also the God of mercy. 00:30:42.600 --> 00:30:47.440 We thank you for the ways in which we see evidence of your well at work, changing people 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.799 and bringing them from darkness to light. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:55.400 We pray that tonight, if that's our life, if we're Christians, that we wouldn't be 00:30:55.400 --> 00:30:57.080 dull to that. 00:30:57.079 --> 00:31:03.199 It's so terrible when we can become complacent as to how you've worked in our lives. 00:31:03.199 --> 00:31:11.759 And we also pray that you would help us to see your power and your might and your holiness. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:19.199 And we pray that you would work here in Edinburgh to bring people to see your holiness and to 00:31:19.199 --> 00:31:23.319 see your loveliness and your mercy. 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:25.319 In Jesus Christ, we pray. 00:31:25.319 --> 00:31:26.319 Amen. 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:27.319 Amen.