WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.639 Father, we've confessed our sin, we've heard your word, we've confessed the faith, 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:08.720 we've given of offerings, we've sung your praises. 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:13.540 Now we come to not just have heard your word, but to think upon your word. 00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:19.460 And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would fall with fresh but deep power upon us at this time. 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:27.100 Father, may your Holy Spirit, may the Holy Spirit help our minds to think humbly and hungrily and well. 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:35.640 And at the same time, Father, help us to know that we are dependent upon you to make yourself known to us. 00:00:35.740 --> 00:00:43.219 And so, Father, we ask this, that you would make the gospel real to us and bring your word home deep in our heart, 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.620 that it might change how we live, all for your glory. 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.320 And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:51.040 Please be seated. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:01:00.979 So a couple of weekends ago, our church, Church of the Messiah, we sponsored something that came up from below, so to speak. 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:08.560 Jonathan Kamiri had this great and wonderful idea about having a conference for those involved in the arts, 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.439 those who love the arts or just interested in the arts to try to think Christianly about the arts, 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:15.039 especially around the area of music. 00:01:15.579 --> 00:01:16.640 It was a good success. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.719 And about a month or five weeks or so before the conference was to happen, 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:24.159 it turned out that one of the main speakers at the conference, 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:28.980 she was maybe not going to be able to attend because of a severe back issue. 00:01:29.219 --> 00:01:32.439 So Jonathan and I were talking about this, and I said to him, 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:35.519 well, listen, I've actually given some thought to these topics. 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:42.340 I'll start to prepare some talks, and if necessary, I can step in. 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:45.140 And it ended up that she did have to cancel. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.560 I was thinking about these things. 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.180 It turned out that they ended up changing my talk, which was fine. 00:01:50.520 --> 00:01:56.760 But as part of my preparation, I thought, I know a really, really great young guy 00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:01.120 who works at a coffee shop that I go all the time, and we've had a few talks. 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:04.980 And I know he was really, really, really thoughtful about music. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:06.659 And he's a complete non-Christian. 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:10.240 So I thought, oh, I'll see if he'd talk to me. 00:02:11.099 --> 00:02:14.639 Like, rather than just sort of talking about what non-Christians say about music, 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:18.240 like, I'll listen to a non-Christian about music. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:22.300 Like, that's a bit of a, like, that should just be an automatic thing that we would do, right? 00:02:22.359 --> 00:02:25.240 So I asked him, and he was a bit hesitant. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.699 I keep forgetting, you know, in my mind, I'm 24. 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:33.919 Like, I'm the same age as that young guy. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.519 And then occasionally I look in the mirror and I think, 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.000 how'd this old face turn up with this young guy? 00:02:40.119 --> 00:02:44.639 Anyway, so I sometimes forget that I might be very intimidating to talk to a young guy. 00:02:44.819 --> 00:02:46.119 But he said, sure. 00:02:46.519 --> 00:02:49.359 So we eventually did talk. 00:02:49.579 --> 00:02:52.000 Had a wonderful 70, 75-minute talk. 00:02:52.060 --> 00:02:57.839 I was just asking about what music meant and how he saw it in life and a whole range of questions. 00:02:57.959 --> 00:03:02.759 And as I anticipated, I thought he was, in fact, quite articulate about these issues. 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:05.759 And by the way, I wasn't talking to him. 00:03:06.079 --> 00:03:11.199 I didn't go in to talk to him thinking, I'm going to see how wrong he is so I can go, 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:14.799 aha, got you, and then try to, no, not at all. 00:03:14.799 --> 00:03:15.459 I was just curious. 00:03:15.579 --> 00:03:21.039 In fact, I suspected that what he would say, that most of what he would say that I would agree with. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:29.599 But for much of non-Christian thought in the West, good Christian thought, I mean, much of secular thought in the West, when it's good, 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:31.719 it's Christian without realizing it's Christian. 00:03:32.519 --> 00:03:37.459 And where it stands in middle air, not supported by anything. 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:40.759 And in fact, the matter is that just about everything he said I agreed with. 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:49.139 And after we'd been talking for about 70 or 75 minutes, as we were getting ready to go, he asked me what I thought. 00:03:50.459 --> 00:03:54.340 And so I had learned a few things from Jonathan. 00:03:54.679 --> 00:03:59.000 And one of the things I'd learned from Jonathan is that music is hardwired into human beings. 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:01.819 Like it's hardwired into us. 00:04:01.819 --> 00:04:08.159 And Jonathan shared with me some scholars who've done some experiments and stuff like that. 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:14.579 If you take a simple tune and you play it on the piano, one that we've never maybe even heard before, 00:04:14.579 --> 00:04:19.079 but if you do a wrong note, people will all say, oh, that was good except there's a note wrong. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:25.480 And how is it that that would happen, that human beings can just tell that there's a note wrong? 00:04:27.060 --> 00:04:29.420 I mean, that's like, and I shared that with him, you know. 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:33.120 I said, it's really fascinating that he said, that really is fascinating. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:33.720 That's true. 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.420 And I said, and so here's the fascinating thing that I wonder about. 00:04:37.980 --> 00:04:39.300 I think it's a good thing to think about. 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:43.939 I said, you know, if you think about it, if you go to high school and university and you go to elementary school, 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:54.020 the way they tell you the world came to be is just a result of, you know, just like blind scientific laws and chance and the survival of the fittest. 00:04:54.019 --> 00:05:00.620 But if the world came to be purely by chance, how is it that music would be hardwired into us? 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:05.719 And he said to me, I've never thought about that. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.500 That's a really, I don't know. 00:05:10.539 --> 00:05:11.879 I'm going to think about that. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.939 You've given me something to think about for the rest of the week, he said to me. 00:05:16.659 --> 00:05:17.859 And then we went on. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:25.620 And I share all of that because the story in Jonah, believe it or not, actually has a lot to say with this analogy about music 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:29.439 or other things like music being hardwired into us as human beings. 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:33.620 It actually has some very, very interesting things to say about that and about other matters, 00:05:33.620 --> 00:05:36.720 about how we relate to non-Christians and how we relate to the city. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.240 So it would be a great help for me if you would open your Bibles, turn to Jonah 3. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:45.639 It's a hard book to find because it's a wee tiny book and it's close to the end. 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:50.319 It's sort of if you open up your Bibles, it's almost exactly in the middle, just a little bit to the right of the middle. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:52.579 And it's Jonah chapter 3. 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:59.419 And just as we get into it, just to sort of help to place where Jonah is, the way to think of the book of Jonah, 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:03.120 and most people, by the way, when they think of Jonah, they think of Jonah being swallowed by the whale 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:04.719 and they don't really think of very much else. 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:10.539 But the way to think about it is imagine that you're watching a BBC or Netflix series. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.839 And in a BBC or Netflix series, there's a certain number of episodes. 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.439 And usually every episode is its own story. 00:06:18.139 --> 00:06:23.219 But if you watch all, whatever, four, six, eight episodes, it makes one big story. 00:06:24.099 --> 00:06:28.199 Very, very, if it's well done, very interesting the way the story interplays, 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:30.759 the big story interplays with the individual episodes. 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:33.500 So the way to think about the book of Jonah is like that. 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:38.379 Episode 1, God shows up, tells Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:41.179 and proclaim a message that I'm going to give you. 00:06:41.180 --> 00:06:46.100 Jonah's response to God showing up is to try to get as far away from God as he can. 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:51.819 And he tries to go a one-year journey away the opposite direction from Nineveh. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:55.720 A year's journey away from Jerusalem and the opposite direction from Nineveh. 00:06:56.259 --> 00:07:00.500 And that, of course, as we know, ends up with a storm and Jonah being thrown overboard. 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:02.639 And Episode 1 ends with a cliffhanger. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:04.240 Jonah going overboard. 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:05.620 What's going to happen? 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:06.300 Cliffhanger. 00:07:06.460 --> 00:07:08.680 Great episode in Netflix. 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:13.620 Episode 2, you discover that there's a big fish there at the exact right time. 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:17.879 In fact, the language in the text isn't fish, but aquatic beast. 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:20.120 A water-dwelling beast. 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:24.100 A water-dwelling beast is there at the exact right time by God's command. 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:25.540 Opens its mouth. 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:26.660 Swallows. 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:29.540 The mouth isn't open, but it's a great image by Amy. 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:32.740 Swallows Jonah just before he dies. 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:35.540 And if you read Jonah 2, we talked about this last week. 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:48.080 Jonah finds himself in the intestines, the entrails of an aquatic, of a water, a deep water beast. 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:54.320 And he's going to be there for at least 26 hours, maybe a little bit longer because there's an idiom there. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:03.240 And what we see for the rest of Chapter 2 is Jonah, obviously, who has survived it, and how he thinks through his experience in the form of a prayer. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:04.899 And we looked at that last week. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:12.120 And Episode 2 ends with Jonah acknowledging that the Lord's compassion and being grateful for it. 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:15.719 And the fish vomits Jonah on the shore. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:16.699 End of Chapter 2. 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:17.439 What's going to happen next? 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:20.459 Well, this is Episode 3, which we'll look at now, and here's how it goes. 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:25.160 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:32.220 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:39.399 Just as an aside, some of you know the Arise dance troupe that we've had here at different times. 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:46.179 Yesterday at the wedding that I did, the Gilman wedding, I officiated with a small, it was a very small wedding. 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:49.919 Only 700 people or so showed up for Daniel Gilman's wedding. 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:55.120 But somebody afterwards, they were really happy to see me, and they kept telling me that I was, 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:57.399 they were introducing me to their circle of friends. 00:08:57.539 --> 00:08:58.319 This is George. 00:08:59.439 --> 00:09:02.279 He's one of the people on stage with Arise. 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:09.379 And what he meant to say was, dig and delve and renew. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.480 But he said, arise the ballet company. 00:09:11.579 --> 00:09:15.339 And I said to him, friend, I'll take it as a compliment. 00:09:15.459 --> 00:09:17.079 You think I could be a ballet dancer. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:19.419 But I can assure you I'm not. 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:23.819 Anyway, the text here says, so God shows up. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:28.519 It skips all the part about how Jonah gets from wherever he gets vomited on the shore. 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:30.000 But he makes his way to Nineveh. 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:38.500 And notice here again in verse 2, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. 00:09:38.579 --> 00:09:42.720 So it doesn't tell you right then what the message is, but Jonah knows he's to go to Nineveh. 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:47.579 And whatever the message is that the Lord gives him, that's the message he's to proclaim. 00:09:47.740 --> 00:09:53.019 Verse 3, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 00:09:53.019 --> 00:09:58.939 Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:03.299 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out. 00:10:03.939 --> 00:10:07.079 And this is obviously, he said more than this, but this is the summary. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.480 Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.159 Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:14.980 And just pause. 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:20.159 That word overthrown is used just a few times in the original language. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:21.799 That word is just used a few times. 00:10:22.459 --> 00:10:26.600 The great famous time that this word is used is for Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:31.699 So this is profound judgment. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:39.639 And Jonah, that's the message that Jonah has been told, to go to this pagan city. 00:10:39.740 --> 00:10:43.939 It's the greatest city in the ancient Near East of a great empire. 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:52.140 And in fact, Israel, which is where Jonah is from, is a vassal state under the controlling power of Nineveh. 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:54.880 And he is to go and to give this summary message. 00:10:55.160 --> 00:11:00.420 Just as an aside, anything the Lord asks you to do is not going to be as hard as this. 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.780 Sometimes the Lord asks you to do hard things. 00:11:04.400 --> 00:11:06.520 That's just what it means to be a Christian. 00:11:06.680 --> 00:11:08.560 Sometimes he asks you to do a hard thing. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.099 This is a huge, big ask of God. 00:11:11.359 --> 00:11:12.139 And Jonah does it. 00:11:12.579 --> 00:11:14.079 He preaches this message. 00:11:14.819 --> 00:11:20.699 The summary of which is, as I said, in 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:11:20.839 --> 00:11:22.599 And it seems as if there's no hope. 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:28.279 It's just a message that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, that's what's going to happen to Nineveh in 40 days. 00:11:28.359 --> 00:11:29.699 But how do the people respond? 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:32.099 They respond as if there's still a chance. 00:11:32.199 --> 00:11:33.119 Look at verse 5. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.500 And the people of Nineveh believed God. 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:41.039 They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:50.539 And to sort of pause there, the title of this sermon is Gobsmacked, which is an Irish and English word, 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.240 of being completely and utterly just stunned. 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:56.480 It's a deer in a headlight look. 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:58.120 It's your jaw drops. 00:11:58.340 --> 00:11:59.460 It's your speechless. 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:09.379 And probably the last thing in the world that Jonah expected was that the people would actually respond in this way. 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:10.040 But they do. 00:12:10.920 --> 00:12:11.600 They do. 00:12:12.900 --> 00:12:14.460 It's a... 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:19.460 They respond by sackcloth and ashes, which was the ancient... 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:26.180 One of the things the Jewish people and the other people of the pagan nations of that whole large region, 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:33.959 it was a culturally similar thing, a form of seeking God's favor, of his mercy, of repentance, 00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:36.199 of calling out to God would be to put on... 00:12:36.199 --> 00:12:40.120 put ashes on your body and to put on sackcloth. 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:41.500 And that's how they respond. 00:12:42.099 --> 00:12:45.039 And then in verse 6, we see that it even goes to the king himself. 00:12:45.199 --> 00:12:46.500 Look what it says in verse 6. 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:53.620 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe. 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:56.700 Just to pause here for a second. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.240 This isn't just the fact that he's wearing a robe. 00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:05.340 It would be as if you go into the general, you go into wherever the Pentagon, 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:09.299 and there's the four-star general who's in charge of all of the armed forces, 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:12.279 and he's there in his dressed uniform, and you speak to him. 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:16.939 And as a result of speaking to the guy in the Pentagon, four-star general, 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.879 which is the highest rank you can have. 00:13:18.959 --> 00:13:21.679 Occasionally, they have five-star generals, but the four-star general, 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:25.579 and he responds by taking his uniform off. 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:29.839 The symbol of his power and authority. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.720 And that's what the king does. 00:13:31.819 --> 00:13:32.959 Look at it again, verse 6. 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:36.679 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:40.000 which is symbolic of control of the entire empire, 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:47.200 removed his robe, symbolic of the fact that he is the king and the sovereign over the empire, 00:13:47.740 --> 00:13:51.379 covered himself with sackcloth instead, and sat in ashes. 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:56.700 He went from the throne to ashes, from the robe to sackcloth. 00:13:57.340 --> 00:14:01.200 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh. 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:02.840 Here's what he published. 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.220 By the decree of the king and his nobles, 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:09.580 Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:12.259 Let them not feed or drink water, 00:14:12.379 --> 00:14:14.920 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.660 and let them call out mightily to God. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.019 Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:22.180 Who knows? 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:26.180 God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, 00:14:26.540 --> 00:14:28.100 so that we may not perish. 00:14:28.100 --> 00:14:32.560 Just as a bit of an aside before we see the response, 00:14:34.540 --> 00:14:40.740 Jonah here is capturing something which is found in other documents about Assyria at that time, 00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:44.240 is that in times of, unlike the Jewish people, 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:49.740 in times of profound mourning or profound calling out to God for favor, 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.420 they actually included the animals in the sackcloth and ashes, 00:14:53.540 --> 00:14:55.160 and they included the animals in the fasting. 00:14:55.159 --> 00:15:03.179 He's actually capturing here something that archaeologists know that was typical of the empire at this particular time. 00:15:05.459 --> 00:15:09.779 And so the king takes this absolute statement by God, 00:15:10.079 --> 00:15:12.719 and he acts as if there's some type of hope. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.299 And here, what happens? 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:15.399 Look at verse 10. 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.899 What happens is that when God saw what they did, 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:21.519 how they turned from their evil way, 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.960 God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:27.199 and he did not do it. 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:28.259 Look again at that. 00:15:28.319 --> 00:15:29.779 When God saw what they did, 00:15:30.439 --> 00:15:31.939 how they turned from their evil way, 00:15:32.059 --> 00:15:35.279 God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:36.740 and he did not do it. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.319 Just before we get into some of the other implications of the text 00:15:41.319 --> 00:15:42.460 and what it means for us, 00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:50.019 sometimes when I talk to skeptics in coffee shops, 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:53.720 one of the things they do is they'll bring to perform me 00:15:53.720 --> 00:15:56.180 a lot of the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:03.080 And sometimes when people bring the bloodthirsty language of the Old Testament before me, 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:04.200 it's because they actually, 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:05.560 you know, 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:10.340 occasionally they were raised in a Baptist or a Pentecostal or a Brethren church, 00:16:10.340 --> 00:16:11.580 and they actually know the Bible, 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:12.940 but a lot of the times they don't. 00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:17.300 What they've just said is they've read a couple of things by Dawkins or Hitchens, 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.100 and they think they know what the Bible says, 00:16:19.180 --> 00:16:23.019 but I know that they actually don't have the vaguest idea about what the Bible says. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.139 But the point here is this. 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:28.120 Ian Proven, 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:31.740 if you go on the Dig and Delve website and see one of the talks that he gave, 00:16:31.800 --> 00:16:32.519 he had a very, 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.340 very good talk on the fact that you, 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:36.300 to understand what words mean, 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:37.920 you actually often in the Old Testament, 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.339 you have to see what it says in the rest of the story. 00:16:41.459 --> 00:16:44.240 And that often we get very upset with words, 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:47.319 not realizing that if you look at all of the words in the story, 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.539 the words don't mean what we think they mean. 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:51.079 And he used an example, 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:52.299 it would be a very good language. 00:16:52.459 --> 00:16:55.620 If I say to you on Tuesday morning, 00:16:56.179 --> 00:17:00.399 for all of those basketball fans who wake up bleary-eyed, 00:17:00.819 --> 00:17:01.439 by the way, 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:06.240 I will make a promise that Vestry ends tomorrow night early enough 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.340 that you can watch the basketball game. 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:09.200 Okay? 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:10.400 If not, 00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:11.940 at a certain time, 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:14.080 I just suggest one of you get up and say, 00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:16.039 I move a motion of adjournment. 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:17.779 And everybody else, 00:17:17.860 --> 00:17:18.860 other than the speaker, 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:20.920 will want to second the motion, 00:17:21.340 --> 00:17:22.680 and then we can all go home. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:23.019 But anyway, 00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:24.320 so let's say on Tuesday morning, 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:25.960 I get to say to people, 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:31.779 the Raptors slaughtered Golden State last night. 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:34.179 Now, 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:37.759 if there's an interview of Steph Curry on Tuesday morning, 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:39.439 you know I don't mean literally 00:17:39.439 --> 00:17:41.299 that they pulled out machetes 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:43.480 and killed the Golden State Warriors. 00:17:43.619 --> 00:17:46.059 It just means they beat them badly in a game. 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:48.119 And a lot of the times, 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.339 in the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament, 00:17:50.460 --> 00:17:51.700 it'll say that God says, 00:17:51.939 --> 00:17:53.200 slaughter all the Jebusites. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.480 And then a chapter later, 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:56.319 there's still Jebusites. 00:17:58.039 --> 00:17:58.519 So, 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.400 it doesn't mean that the Bible contradicts itself. 00:18:02.019 --> 00:18:05.200 It just means that's how they're using the word slaughtered, 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:06.240 in a way, 00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:07.799 in terms of a bad victory, 00:18:07.860 --> 00:18:09.440 like a great victory or something. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.880 It's just how the language is used. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:13.380 But there's something else going on here in the text, 00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:15.240 which is very important in the Old Testament. 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.019 And it's important spiritually for us. 00:18:19.360 --> 00:18:21.460 Sometimes when the Bible speaks, 00:18:21.460 --> 00:18:24.640 it gives a conditional statement of judgment. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:25.240 It'll say, 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:26.259 if you don't do this, 00:18:26.299 --> 00:18:27.019 you will be judged. 00:18:27.100 --> 00:18:29.019 That's a very common thing in the Old Testament, 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:30.640 especially. 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:32.380 But other times, 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:33.860 there seems to be a statement like this 00:18:33.860 --> 00:18:35.120 that seems to be no condition. 00:18:35.600 --> 00:18:36.680 In 40 days, 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:39.240 Nineveh is going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:40.519 But in fact, 00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:41.299 behind it, 00:18:41.360 --> 00:18:43.100 there is in fact a conditional statement, 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:45.400 and people are welcome to repent. 00:18:45.620 --> 00:18:47.079 And that's what happens in this story. 00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:47.759 They repent. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.619 And as a result of their repentance, 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:54.859 God says that he will not do to them 00:18:54.859 --> 00:18:57.819 as he had done earlier to Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:00.039 Now, 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:03.319 here's the issue in terms of us getting serious 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.099 about this particular text. 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:10.519 The big shocking thing about this story 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:13.680 is that Nineveh doesn't convert. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.859 Nineveh doesn't become Jewish. 00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:22.720 Think about it. 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.339 I've heard a lot of Christian speakers 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:26.299 who talk about it as if it's a conversion. 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:27.779 It's not a conversion. 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:29.559 They don't become Jewish. 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:32.200 They don't give themselves to the Lord. 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:32.680 In fact, 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:34.079 if you look at the text, 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:34.559 it's very, 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:35.400 very interesting. 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:36.920 One of the things, 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:37.779 just a bit of a clue 00:19:37.779 --> 00:19:39.700 about how to read the Bible well, 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:41.660 is that often in the Old Testament, 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:42.940 if you see the word Lord, 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:45.440 it's referring to Yahweh. 00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:47.279 It's referring to the covenant name, 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:49.160 the personal name 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:51.860 that the Jewish people had for God, 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:52.880 the God of the covenant, 00:19:53.019 --> 00:19:54.259 the God who delivered them 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:55.819 from slavery in Egypt, 00:19:56.299 --> 00:19:57.400 the God of the covenant, 00:19:57.600 --> 00:19:59.100 the God who is now their God, 00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:00.019 their protector, 00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:02.080 their provider, 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:03.460 that they were to serve, 00:20:03.600 --> 00:20:04.519 that they were to know, 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:05.880 that only they knew 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:07.180 and they were to have the job 00:20:07.180 --> 00:20:08.920 of making him known 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:09.860 and his praises known 00:20:09.860 --> 00:20:10.720 to the ends of the earth, 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:12.660 which they often didn't do very well. 00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:14.500 But you see the Lord, 00:20:14.580 --> 00:20:16.160 there were lots of other names for God. 00:20:16.360 --> 00:20:17.259 And in this text, 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:18.840 you'll see that the Lord 00:20:18.840 --> 00:20:20.900 tells Jonah to go do this, 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.279 but the people don't call out to the Lord, 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:24.700 they call out to God. 00:20:25.360 --> 00:20:27.360 They call out to the generic name 00:20:27.360 --> 00:20:28.320 for the high God, 00:20:28.420 --> 00:20:30.240 the abstract word for God. 00:20:30.860 --> 00:20:32.920 In all of the pagan mythologies, 00:20:33.060 --> 00:20:35.560 there'd always be at least one high God, 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:37.839 the abstract, most distant God. 00:20:37.899 --> 00:20:39.299 And that's the word that they use. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.740 They don't respond to the message 00:20:40.740 --> 00:20:42.079 by calling out to Yahweh. 00:20:42.740 --> 00:20:44.319 They respond to the message 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.539 by calling to Elohim, 00:20:46.159 --> 00:20:48.940 that abstract, generic name for God. 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:51.000 So there's no conversion that happens here. 00:20:53.019 --> 00:20:54.179 There's no conversion. 00:20:55.899 --> 00:20:58.679 So if you could put up the first point, 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:00.559 we're just going to rest here a little bit. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:05.440 If the Lord cares for all of his creation 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:06.359 with compassion, 00:21:07.159 --> 00:21:08.159 then so will I. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:12.000 If the Lord cares for all of his creation 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:12.919 with compassion, 00:21:13.659 --> 00:21:14.859 then so will I. 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:17.059 You see, 00:21:17.879 --> 00:21:21.279 that's what's going on here in the text. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:23.759 Quite a few years ago, 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:27.299 there was a guy, 00:21:27.579 --> 00:21:29.279 it was a classic example 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:30.579 of a terrible salesman. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.019 Maybe he's not a terrible salesman. 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:33.519 Some of you folks who are good in sales, 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:34.259 you can tell me 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:36.059 whether or not he was a bad salesman. 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:38.440 But he was very interested in us, 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:38.879 you know, 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:39.640 our family, 00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:40.480 our needs, 00:21:40.619 --> 00:21:40.960 and you know, 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:41.200 yeah, 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.019 and you know, 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:43.359 talking to us. 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:44.119 But all the while, 00:21:44.180 --> 00:21:45.279 I think he was trying to sell us. 00:21:45.299 --> 00:21:46.019 I can't remember exactly. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:47.700 I think it was some type of vacuum system. 00:21:48.180 --> 00:21:48.740 And very, 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:49.420 very friendly, 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:50.059 and blah, 00:21:50.059 --> 00:21:50.220 blah, 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:50.440 blah, 00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:50.660 blah, 00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:50.940 blah. 00:21:50.940 --> 00:21:53.100 But when it became obvious to him 00:21:53.100 --> 00:21:55.539 that there was no way on God's earth 00:21:55.539 --> 00:21:57.980 that Louise would ever buy that vacuum cleaner, 00:21:59.019 --> 00:22:00.740 he went from being friendly 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:02.640 to droppiness. 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:04.320 Just, 00:22:04.580 --> 00:22:05.340 it was so, 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:05.640 like, 00:22:05.740 --> 00:22:07.220 I wish there was a video 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:09.320 because it was like a switch went on with him. 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:11.160 When I wouldn't give him what he wanted, 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:13.400 packed up his stuff, 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:14.380 was rude, 00:22:14.840 --> 00:22:15.740 didn't say goodbye, 00:22:16.100 --> 00:22:16.559 didn't say anything, 00:22:16.580 --> 00:22:17.700 just packed up his stuff, 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:19.340 turned his back on us, 00:22:19.360 --> 00:22:19.900 and left. 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:21.100 And, 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:24.340 one of the things which we Christians 00:22:24.340 --> 00:22:26.240 have to come to terms with 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:27.840 is the fact that, 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:28.380 of course, 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:29.040 ultimately, 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:30.540 the Lord wants us, 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:32.880 he wants all people to come 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:34.940 to a saving relationship with Jesus. 00:22:36.320 --> 00:22:38.680 But if we share the gospel with people 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:40.680 and they don't have any interest in it, 00:22:40.700 --> 00:22:41.720 how should we respond? 00:22:42.840 --> 00:22:44.540 Not like the vacuum cleaner, 00:22:45.080 --> 00:22:45.740 salesman. 00:22:46.380 --> 00:22:48.820 But it's a persistent problem for Christians. 00:22:48.819 --> 00:22:50.179 It's as if, 00:22:50.899 --> 00:22:53.319 if you don't want to go all the way with me, 00:22:53.980 --> 00:22:55.240 the heck with you. 00:22:56.639 --> 00:22:57.839 The heck with you. 00:22:58.599 --> 00:22:59.939 I'm not going to waste my time with you. 00:22:59.939 --> 00:23:00.980 I don't really care about you. 00:23:01.379 --> 00:23:01.799 You know what? 00:23:01.819 --> 00:23:03.319 If your life gets all messed up, 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:04.579 it just serves you right. 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:06.059 We might not come out and say that, 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:06.679 but inwardly, 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:07.339 we think it. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:09.119 But that's not a Christian. 00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:10.859 That's not what goes on here in the story. 00:23:10.859 --> 00:23:16.639 The response to this message of judgment 00:23:16.639 --> 00:23:19.799 isn't the best response, 00:23:20.579 --> 00:23:22.139 but it's a good response. 00:23:23.019 --> 00:23:24.439 And that good response, 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:25.240 God honors. 00:23:25.899 --> 00:23:28.399 Because he cares for people. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.720 It's not as if, 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:31.759 with God, 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.759 that there's either God has compassion for you 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.780 until you give your life to Jesus, 00:23:38.080 --> 00:23:39.360 and if you don't, 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:41.240 he stops having any compassion for you, 00:23:41.320 --> 00:23:42.660 and you just know 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:45.380 he always has compassion on his creation. 00:23:45.820 --> 00:23:47.000 He always has compassion 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:50.880 on his creatures in his created order, 00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:52.480 which includes us and animals. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:53.880 The animals is going to be mentioned 00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:55.080 in Jonah chapter 4. 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:58.139 And this is actually brought home 00:23:58.139 --> 00:23:59.220 even more powerfully 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:00.579 by a part of the text 00:24:00.579 --> 00:24:02.179 which is not obvious in English. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.919 All the way through the book of Jonah, 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:06.619 but especially here in chapter 1 00:24:06.619 --> 00:24:08.059 and chapter 3 and chapter 4, 00:24:08.139 --> 00:24:09.720 there's a word play that goes on 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:10.919 in the original language. 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:13.159 You see, in the original language, 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:14.460 the word for evil, 00:24:15.379 --> 00:24:16.639 the word for evil means 00:24:16.639 --> 00:24:17.879 just what we would think is evil, 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:19.519 of doing things which are wrong, 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.019 of doing things which are bad. 00:24:21.379 --> 00:24:23.980 But it also has another meaning to it. 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:27.500 It has the meaning of disaster or calamity. 00:24:28.900 --> 00:24:30.480 And so, in fact, actually in this story, 00:24:30.700 --> 00:24:32.039 you go back and forward, 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:33.500 you'll see that on one hand, 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:35.400 God sees the evil that they do, 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:36.319 the evil that he does, 00:24:36.380 --> 00:24:38.120 but he's not going to do evil to them. 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:40.440 What will happen as a result of the evil 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:42.099 is the disaster from God 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:43.019 will come upon them. 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:44.700 It's in fact the same word 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:45.640 in the original language, 00:24:45.779 --> 00:24:47.539 but the double meaning is played upon. 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:50.019 But the double meaning is very significant 00:24:50.019 --> 00:24:51.420 when we view them together, 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:52.800 and it goes back to my story 00:24:52.800 --> 00:24:54.960 with my friend Bob 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:56.779 and why is it that music 00:24:56.779 --> 00:24:58.580 is hardwired into us. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:01.920 One of the problems 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.580 that we have in our culture 00:25:04.580 --> 00:25:07.220 is we can't get a pipeline built. 00:25:07.840 --> 00:25:09.860 Now, I know I just made a political comment, 00:25:10.060 --> 00:25:11.560 and those of you who are very green 00:25:11.560 --> 00:25:12.060 will say, 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:13.820 I am praying that there's never 00:25:13.820 --> 00:25:15.039 a pipeline built. 00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:17.240 But just hear me out a little bit 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:18.720 on this particular thing. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.819 One of the things which is a bit 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:21.620 of a mystery to me 00:25:21.620 --> 00:25:23.259 is why so many people in our culture 00:25:23.259 --> 00:25:25.000 have been turning to Buddhism 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:26.079 and Hinduism. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:27.960 Yet the fact of the matter is 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.920 is that Buddhist and Hindu cultures, 00:25:30.259 --> 00:25:32.660 they trash the environment. 00:25:34.860 --> 00:25:35.880 Let me tell you, 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:37.319 you'd rather drink, 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:38.400 you'd rather go, 00:25:38.779 --> 00:25:39.640 I don't know if you could go 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:40.960 on any river in India 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:41.960 and drink the water 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:43.380 that you were canoeing on, 00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:45.460 but you can do that in Canada 00:25:45.460 --> 00:25:46.700 in many places. 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:48.860 You wouldn't want to go 00:25:48.860 --> 00:25:50.200 canoeing in China 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:52.600 and drink the water 00:25:52.600 --> 00:25:54.140 in any river, 00:25:54.600 --> 00:25:55.640 but you can do that 00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:57.759 in many rivers in Canada. 00:25:58.660 --> 00:25:59.819 The fact of the matter is 00:25:59.819 --> 00:26:01.680 is that if you understand, 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:03.120 if your basic worldview 00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:05.319 is that at the end of the day 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:06.860 we all came from one 00:26:06.860 --> 00:26:09.120 and we will return to one, 00:26:09.420 --> 00:26:10.539 and the idea of there being 00:26:10.539 --> 00:26:12.080 a difference between you and I 00:26:12.080 --> 00:26:13.440 is ultimately an illusion, 00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:15.240 then there's no incentive 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:16.600 to care for the creation. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:18.960 At the same time, 00:26:20.140 --> 00:26:21.940 if you go the route 00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:23.420 of more native spirituality, 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.740 it's very, very complicated. 00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:27.960 That's just beyond the problems 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:29.019 on native reserves. 00:26:29.740 --> 00:26:30.480 But in fact, 00:26:30.580 --> 00:26:32.480 if nature itself is divinized, 00:26:32.620 --> 00:26:34.480 if a river is divinized, 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:35.160 if a tree, 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:36.660 if a mountain is divinized, 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:37.700 you have not only 00:26:37.700 --> 00:26:38.860 the science not work, 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:39.720 but you have a hard time 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:40.759 actually doing anything. 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:41.799 There'd never be any type 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:42.440 of development 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:43.840 or progress at all 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:45.019 if you understand 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:46.199 the world is filled 00:26:46.199 --> 00:26:47.000 with spirits 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:48.939 resident with particular rivers 00:26:48.939 --> 00:26:49.959 and trees and brooks 00:26:49.959 --> 00:26:50.559 and channels. 00:26:51.299 --> 00:26:52.339 And our culture 00:26:52.339 --> 00:26:53.699 is profoundly confused 00:26:53.699 --> 00:26:54.299 by that. 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:56.299 And at the same time, 00:26:56.439 --> 00:26:56.899 ultimately, 00:26:57.159 --> 00:26:58.500 if you really think 00:26:58.500 --> 00:26:59.899 that everything 00:26:59.899 --> 00:27:01.359 is just a result of chance, 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:02.139 it's just a result 00:27:02.139 --> 00:27:02.740 of evolution, 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:03.779 there's really no basis 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:05.399 to care for the creation. 00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:06.460 In fact, 00:27:06.620 --> 00:27:07.780 if we understand 00:27:07.780 --> 00:27:08.680 that everything 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:09.800 that comes to exist 00:27:09.800 --> 00:27:11.060 is because the strong 00:27:11.060 --> 00:27:13.160 survives and the weak dies, 00:27:13.580 --> 00:27:15.000 and that's what brings us 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:15.800 to be human beings, 00:27:15.900 --> 00:27:17.700 then why is there any outcry 00:27:17.700 --> 00:27:18.640 at all over any 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:19.680 endangered species? 00:27:21.540 --> 00:27:22.759 It's just evolution. 00:27:24.540 --> 00:27:25.800 And why shouldn't we 00:27:25.800 --> 00:27:27.820 just take raw matter 00:27:27.820 --> 00:27:28.720 and use it to whatever 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:29.280 we want? 00:27:29.360 --> 00:27:30.620 There's really no ultimate 00:27:30.620 --> 00:27:31.820 reason for that. 00:27:32.800 --> 00:27:33.540 But you see, 00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:35.680 in the Christian understanding 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:36.220 of the world, 00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:37.799 it's a very, very different thing. 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.119 In the Christian understanding 00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:40.759 of the world, 00:27:41.799 --> 00:27:42.859 there is a God 00:27:42.859 --> 00:27:44.599 who's created all things. 00:27:44.700 --> 00:27:44.899 Actually, 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:45.379 if you could put up 00:27:45.379 --> 00:27:46.019 the second point, 00:27:46.099 --> 00:27:47.559 that would be very helpful. 00:27:48.159 --> 00:27:49.059 I should have told you 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:49.680 to do that before. 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:50.420 Doing something 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:51.500 that is wrong 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:52.779 is not just wrong, 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:54.960 it is also a calamity 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:56.240 slash catastrophe. 00:27:56.460 --> 00:27:57.059 Doing something 00:27:57.059 --> 00:27:57.960 that is wrong 00:27:57.960 --> 00:27:59.920 is not just wrong, 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:02.500 it is also a calamity 00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:04.519 slash catastrophe. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:05.559 You see, 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:07.500 what we understand 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:09.259 is that the personal God 00:28:09.259 --> 00:28:10.420 who from all creation, 00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:11.740 the Father loved the Son 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:12.880 and the Son loved the Father 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:13.720 and the Holy Spirit 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:14.420 loved the Father 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:14.960 and the Son 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:16.299 and vice versa. 00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:17.200 From all, 00:28:17.539 --> 00:28:17.980 at the beginning, 00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:18.720 before there was 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:19.819 any created order, 00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:20.720 there was the Father, 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:21.119 the Son, 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:21.839 and the Holy Spirit. 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:22.799 They were good, 00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:24.480 they loved each other, 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:25.980 and it was out of that love 00:28:25.980 --> 00:28:26.900 and out of that, 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:27.519 in a sense, 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:28.140 community 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:29.680 that was that one person 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:30.180 of God, 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:31.620 all things were created 00:28:31.620 --> 00:28:32.980 and God who creates 00:28:32.980 --> 00:28:34.100 all things, 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:37.120 a mark of his nature 00:28:37.120 --> 00:28:38.740 is in all things. 00:28:39.340 --> 00:28:40.620 A mark of his nature 00:28:40.620 --> 00:28:41.980 is in all things. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:45.600 And that's actually 00:28:45.600 --> 00:28:46.299 what I would say 00:28:46.299 --> 00:28:47.360 to my friend Bob 00:28:47.360 --> 00:28:49.060 if I'd gotten the chance 00:28:49.060 --> 00:28:49.860 or when I eventually 00:28:49.860 --> 00:28:50.680 get the chance 00:28:50.680 --> 00:28:51.759 about why it is 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:53.279 that we can hear music 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:55.539 and we can hear a tune 00:28:55.539 --> 00:28:56.759 for the very first time 00:28:56.759 --> 00:28:57.799 and if there's a wrong note, 00:28:57.860 --> 00:28:58.120 we say, 00:28:58.119 --> 00:28:58.859 there's a wrong note 00:28:58.859 --> 00:28:59.479 in that tune. 00:29:00.379 --> 00:29:01.319 Why is it that music 00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:02.500 is hardwired into us? 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:03.939 Because God is ultimately, 00:29:04.139 --> 00:29:04.439 in a sense, 00:29:04.500 --> 00:29:05.299 the creator of music 00:29:05.299 --> 00:29:05.639 and beauty. 00:29:05.739 --> 00:29:06.559 They're singing in heaven 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:08.439 and he's made 00:29:08.439 --> 00:29:09.159 the created order 00:29:09.159 --> 00:29:09.859 in such a way 00:29:09.859 --> 00:29:11.479 that something like music 00:29:11.479 --> 00:29:12.819 is hardwired into us 00:29:12.819 --> 00:29:13.799 and we recognize 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:15.279 when something's not right. 00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:17.539 And in the same way, 00:29:18.379 --> 00:29:19.319 when I do something 00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:20.259 which is wrong, 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:22.199 the wrong that I do 00:29:22.199 --> 00:29:23.179 is not just, 00:29:23.739 --> 00:29:24.299 like let's say 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:25.839 I believe a lie 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:27.179 or let's say 00:29:27.179 --> 00:29:28.579 I'm filled with lustful 00:29:28.579 --> 00:29:29.659 or wrong thoughts 00:29:29.659 --> 00:29:31.359 or let's say 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:32.220 I'm nurturing 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:33.839 and harboring bitterness 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:34.679 or anger 00:29:34.679 --> 00:29:35.500 and it doesn't seem 00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:38.099 as if anybody's hurt by this 00:29:38.099 --> 00:29:39.599 because it's all inside of me 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:40.819 but what the Bible says 00:29:40.819 --> 00:29:42.139 is that every time 00:29:42.139 --> 00:29:42.899 we do something 00:29:42.899 --> 00:29:43.740 which is wrong, 00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:45.899 it's not just wrong 00:29:45.899 --> 00:29:47.819 in some type of legal sense 00:29:47.819 --> 00:29:49.059 against some type of code, 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:50.619 it's also a catastrophe 00:29:50.619 --> 00:29:54.139 because God's created the world 00:29:54.139 --> 00:29:57.459 where goodness 00:29:57.459 --> 00:29:59.579 is natural to it 00:29:59.579 --> 00:30:02.099 and any time we go 00:30:02.099 --> 00:30:03.000 from goodness 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:05.779 it has other types of impacts 00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:06.919 whether we recognize it 00:30:06.919 --> 00:30:07.939 immediately or not. 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:11.119 Our mind won't work as well. 00:30:12.459 --> 00:30:13.759 We now know from neuroscience 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:16.759 thinking certain thoughts 00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:17.759 for a long type of time 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:18.919 actually even starts to change 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:20.960 the way our brains are hardwired. 00:30:21.140 --> 00:30:22.100 Like who would have thought of that? 00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:22.980 Like the more we find out 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:23.759 about neuroscience 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:25.320 the more we find out 00:30:25.320 --> 00:30:27.300 that even victimless things 00:30:27.300 --> 00:30:28.640 like thinking certain ways 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.480 is actually going to have 00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:30.460 an impact 00:30:30.460 --> 00:30:31.420 in how we're wired. 00:30:31.580 --> 00:30:32.400 It has an impact 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:34.019 on how our heart pressure, 00:30:34.900 --> 00:30:36.660 how much our blood pressure 00:30:36.660 --> 00:30:37.740 and our heart rate 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:39.300 and all sorts of other types of things 00:30:39.300 --> 00:30:40.680 and our culture 00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:42.039 wants to hide this from us. 00:30:43.940 --> 00:30:45.340 A little bit controversial 00:30:45.340 --> 00:30:46.320 but I mean just 00:30:46.320 --> 00:30:47.500 the fact of the matter is 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:48.920 is that you can't watch anything 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:49.440 on TV 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:50.559 without having people 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:51.420 who are unmarried 00:30:51.420 --> 00:30:52.660 hopping into bed together 00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:54.940 and nobody on TV 00:30:54.940 --> 00:30:57.400 ever has a sexually transmitted disease. 00:30:57.940 --> 00:30:58.240 Ever. 00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:00.640 Ever. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:03.839 And they say 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:05.519 we live in a fantasy world? 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:06.759 Come on. 00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:09.519 Like nobody ever has one once 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:11.880 and nobody ever gets pregnant 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:12.839 and has an abortion 00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:15.439 and you don't ever see anybody 00:31:15.439 --> 00:31:16.619 after they've had an abortion 00:31:16.619 --> 00:31:19.480 and how much it can wreck people up 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:21.139 emotionally for so long 00:31:21.139 --> 00:31:22.379 even if they have an abortion 00:31:22.379 --> 00:31:24.659 and you don't ever see 00:31:24.659 --> 00:31:26.399 any woman 00:31:26.399 --> 00:31:28.000 who's given herself to a guy 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:28.939 and then afterwards 00:31:28.939 --> 00:31:31.159 how bitter she might be about men. 00:31:31.539 --> 00:31:32.220 Like no. 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:33.679 Oh yeah, bye. 00:31:34.379 --> 00:31:35.279 And then like the next 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:37.179 like that's not real world. 00:31:37.180 --> 00:31:40.140 It's this unbelievable fantasy world 00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:43.120 connected to these things 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:45.000 that have no consequence whatsoever. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:46.360 By the way, 00:31:46.420 --> 00:31:47.460 if you were here this morning 00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:49.660 and I've maybe touched a nerve 00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:51.220 by referring to abortion 00:31:51.220 --> 00:31:53.980 and in a room like this 00:31:53.980 --> 00:31:54.660 it's very likely 00:31:54.660 --> 00:31:55.940 that there are people in the room 00:31:55.940 --> 00:31:57.960 who've either encouraged an abortion 00:31:57.960 --> 00:31:59.220 or had one themselves. 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:01.120 I'm not saying anything judgmental 00:32:01.120 --> 00:32:01.880 about this. 00:32:02.620 --> 00:32:04.180 All I can tell you is 00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:06.860 the Lord knows what you did 00:32:06.860 --> 00:32:08.920 and he loves you 00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:11.519 and he wants you to know him 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:12.640 and he wants you to know Jesus 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:14.740 and he wants to bring 00:32:14.740 --> 00:32:16.580 healing to you 00:32:16.580 --> 00:32:17.460 as you come to him 00:32:17.460 --> 00:32:18.019 in repentance 00:32:18.019 --> 00:32:19.039 and amendment of life. 00:32:19.380 --> 00:32:20.220 He only loves you. 00:32:21.620 --> 00:32:23.060 And I encourage you 00:32:23.060 --> 00:32:24.080 if you've had 00:32:24.080 --> 00:32:25.320 something like that 00:32:25.320 --> 00:32:27.240 and that you just share 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:27.920 with one of us 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:29.060 you will not be condemned 00:32:29.060 --> 00:32:30.000 by any of us. 00:32:30.340 --> 00:32:31.400 We will just want to love you 00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:32.220 and pray for you. 00:32:32.220 --> 00:32:33.940 And 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:37.319 if you're wondering 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:38.079 we're going to get to this 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:38.460 in a moment 00:32:38.460 --> 00:32:39.759 there's only sinners 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:40.480 in this room 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.380 and 00:32:44.380 --> 00:32:45.839 it's only a sinner 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:47.380 who's standing in front of you. 00:32:48.120 --> 00:32:48.819 It's not 00:32:48.819 --> 00:32:49.519 perfect. 00:32:50.339 --> 00:32:50.920 Anybody here 00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:51.819 who thinks you're perfect? 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:54.640 Good luck. 00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:56.400 You're a legend 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:57.400 in your own mind. 00:32:57.779 --> 00:32:58.180 Sorry 00:32:58.180 --> 00:32:59.240 I don't want to insult you 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:00.059 but you're not. 00:33:00.059 --> 00:33:02.279 You're not. 00:33:03.059 --> 00:33:04.059 You're a sinner too. 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:05.679 But you see 00:33:05.679 --> 00:33:07.480 here's the big point 00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:08.099 of the text 00:33:08.099 --> 00:33:08.700 you see. 00:33:09.399 --> 00:33:10.220 So the first point 00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:10.679 is that 00:33:10.679 --> 00:33:12.679 what this text shows 00:33:12.679 --> 00:33:13.460 is the people 00:33:13.460 --> 00:33:14.500 didn't show the thing 00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:15.119 that ultimately 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:16.019 God would desire 00:33:16.019 --> 00:33:16.879 of them the most. 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:18.599 That they would become 00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:19.619 they would call out 00:33:19.619 --> 00:33:20.419 to Yahweh 00:33:20.419 --> 00:33:21.519 they would ask 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:22.019 that they would be 00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:23.679 included in the covenant people 00:33:23.679 --> 00:33:25.119 and they would begin 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:26.119 within that history 00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:26.759 of salvation 00:33:26.759 --> 00:33:28.099 to live as observant Jews. 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:29.019 That's the great thing 00:33:29.019 --> 00:33:29.680 that God would be 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:30.539 the greatest desire 00:33:30.539 --> 00:33:30.879 of his heart. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:31.740 They didn't say that 00:33:31.740 --> 00:33:32.940 but his response 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:33.460 to them isn't 00:33:33.460 --> 00:33:33.799 well 00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:35.359 the heck with you. 00:33:36.519 --> 00:33:38.339 Let the fire fall. 00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:39.400 No. 00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:41.359 They turn 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:42.259 from their violence 00:33:42.259 --> 00:33:42.819 and evil. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:44.259 The word for violence 00:33:44.259 --> 00:33:44.960 in this text 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:45.759 is also the word 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:46.819 for injustice. 00:33:47.099 --> 00:33:47.900 God cares 00:33:47.900 --> 00:33:49.019 about his created order. 00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:50.200 He cares 00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:51.039 about 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:52.420 the harm 00:33:52.420 --> 00:33:52.980 that we do. 00:33:53.099 --> 00:33:53.700 He cares 00:33:53.700 --> 00:33:54.420 about people 00:33:54.420 --> 00:33:55.160 doing evil 00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:56.000 which is also 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:56.819 a calamity 00:33:56.819 --> 00:33:57.599 which causes 00:33:57.599 --> 00:33:58.879 human suffering 00:33:58.879 --> 00:33:59.779 and unhappiness. 00:34:00.159 --> 00:34:00.779 He cares 00:34:00.779 --> 00:34:01.619 for injustice. 00:34:02.099 --> 00:34:02.619 He cares 00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:03.859 when people 00:34:03.859 --> 00:34:04.679 are doing injustice 00:34:04.679 --> 00:34:05.299 because he wants 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:05.839 them to turn 00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:06.460 from injustice. 00:34:06.839 --> 00:34:07.259 He wants them 00:34:07.259 --> 00:34:07.700 to turn 00:34:07.700 --> 00:34:08.319 from violence. 00:34:08.420 --> 00:34:08.759 He wants them 00:34:08.759 --> 00:34:09.199 to turn 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:09.819 from evil. 00:34:10.279 --> 00:34:10.679 And even 00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:11.460 if they do not 00:34:11.460 --> 00:34:12.360 go all of the way 00:34:12.360 --> 00:34:12.960 of calling out 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:13.940 to him for mercy 00:34:13.940 --> 00:34:14.759 the fact 00:34:14.759 --> 00:34:15.819 that they respond 00:34:15.819 --> 00:34:16.500 by turning 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:17.319 from injustice 00:34:17.319 --> 00:34:19.380 makes him smile. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:20.139 The fact 00:34:20.139 --> 00:34:21.079 that they turn 00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:22.139 from violence 00:34:22.139 --> 00:34:23.519 makes him smile. 00:34:23.619 --> 00:34:23.960 The fact 00:34:23.960 --> 00:34:24.659 that they turn 00:34:24.659 --> 00:34:25.359 from evil 00:34:25.359 --> 00:34:27.420 makes him smile 00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:28.339 and if it makes 00:34:28.339 --> 00:34:29.059 him smile 00:34:29.059 --> 00:34:29.779 it should make 00:34:29.779 --> 00:34:30.399 you and I 00:34:30.399 --> 00:34:31.379 smile as well. 00:34:35.839 --> 00:34:36.460 Some of you 00:34:36.460 --> 00:34:37.139 work in government. 00:34:37.339 --> 00:34:37.679 Some of you 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:38.339 work in private 00:34:38.339 --> 00:34:38.799 industry. 00:34:39.059 --> 00:34:39.579 Some of you 00:34:39.579 --> 00:34:40.859 are self-employed. 00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:41.359 Some of you 00:34:41.359 --> 00:34:41.980 are retired. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:42.619 Some of you 00:34:42.619 --> 00:34:43.159 are in between 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:43.839 jobs wherever 00:34:43.839 --> 00:34:44.559 you are. 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:45.879 At some point 00:34:45.879 --> 00:34:46.179 in time 00:34:46.179 --> 00:34:46.619 you should try 00:34:46.619 --> 00:34:47.359 to do the job 00:34:47.359 --> 00:34:47.779 the best 00:34:47.779 --> 00:34:48.839 you possibly can. 00:34:48.940 --> 00:34:49.559 You really should. 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:50.219 You should try 00:34:50.219 --> 00:34:50.839 to do the best 00:34:50.839 --> 00:34:51.359 you can. 00:34:51.779 --> 00:34:52.239 If you're having 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:52.940 trouble doing 00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:53.519 a good job 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:54.279 talk to somebody 00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:54.760 here at the 00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:55.000 church. 00:34:55.120 --> 00:34:55.480 Talk to 00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:56.180 somebody else. 00:34:56.540 --> 00:34:56.960 Get some 00:34:56.960 --> 00:34:57.660 insight about 00:34:57.660 --> 00:34:58.180 how you can 00:34:58.180 --> 00:34:58.820 be a better 00:34:58.820 --> 00:34:59.519 entrepreneur, 00:35:00.220 --> 00:35:01.140 a better poet, 00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:02.300 a better musician, 00:35:02.519 --> 00:35:03.760 a better self-employed, 00:35:03.820 --> 00:35:04.960 a better retiree, 00:35:05.019 --> 00:35:06.180 a better stay-at-home mom 00:35:06.180 --> 00:35:07.380 or a better stay-at-home dad. 00:35:07.460 --> 00:35:08.340 Wherever you are called 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:09.260 do the best 00:35:09.260 --> 00:35:10.500 you possibly can 00:35:10.500 --> 00:35:11.640 to the glory of God. 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:12.820 Pray that God 00:35:12.820 --> 00:35:13.420 will give you 00:35:13.420 --> 00:35:14.080 opportunities 00:35:14.080 --> 00:35:15.300 to share the gospel 00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:16.400 with your co-workers 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:17.060 or your neighbors 00:35:17.060 --> 00:35:17.660 or your friends 00:35:17.660 --> 00:35:19.160 and if you get a chance 00:35:19.160 --> 00:35:20.140 to bear witness to Jesus 00:35:20.140 --> 00:35:21.220 walk through that door 00:35:21.220 --> 00:35:21.860 and take it. 00:35:22.240 --> 00:35:23.060 But as well as that 00:35:23.060 --> 00:35:23.660 it does not 00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:24.500 being a good Christian 00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:24.879 at work 00:35:24.879 --> 00:35:26.639 is not only 00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:28.239 defined by being 00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:28.879 able to share 00:35:28.879 --> 00:35:29.559 the gospel. 00:35:32.019 --> 00:35:33.139 If you are working 00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:33.779 in the government 00:35:33.779 --> 00:35:34.519 and the government 00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:35.420 is going to be 00:35:35.420 --> 00:35:36.460 proposing something 00:35:36.460 --> 00:35:37.819 which is just wrong 00:35:37.819 --> 00:35:40.799 be the one 00:35:40.799 --> 00:35:42.099 who farts in the room 00:35:42.099 --> 00:35:43.179 so to speak 00:35:43.179 --> 00:35:44.319 and says 00:35:44.319 --> 00:35:45.119 what you want to do 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:45.579 is wrong. 00:35:48.679 --> 00:35:50.179 If you're in a boardroom 00:35:50.179 --> 00:35:51.239 and they want to do 00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:52.159 something that's wrong 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.299 try to talk them 00:35:54.299 --> 00:35:55.039 to doing that 00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:55.739 which is right. 00:36:00.899 --> 00:36:02.259 Seek the good 00:36:02.259 --> 00:36:03.440 fair prosperity 00:36:03.440 --> 00:36:04.579 of your business 00:36:04.579 --> 00:36:07.659 because God 00:36:07.659 --> 00:36:08.919 has compassion 00:36:08.919 --> 00:36:10.259 on this city. 00:36:11.859 --> 00:36:12.759 His longing 00:36:12.759 --> 00:36:13.799 is that every person 00:36:13.799 --> 00:36:14.259 in Ottawa 00:36:14.259 --> 00:36:15.159 will come to know 00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:16.059 Jesus as Savior 00:36:16.059 --> 00:36:16.500 and Lord 00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:18.099 but less than that 00:36:18.099 --> 00:36:19.339 he still has a heart 00:36:19.339 --> 00:36:20.079 for this city 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:21.239 that what will 00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:22.460 characterize this city 00:36:22.460 --> 00:36:23.519 is justice 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:24.380 not injustice 00:36:24.380 --> 00:36:25.159 prosperity 00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:26.719 not poverty 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:27.719 generosity 00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:29.019 not being 00:36:29.019 --> 00:36:30.699 a scrooge 00:36:30.699 --> 00:36:31.599 a proper 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:32.900 caring of the environment 00:36:32.900 --> 00:36:33.799 not a trashing 00:36:33.799 --> 00:36:34.599 of the environment. 00:36:35.259 --> 00:36:36.460 When a human being 00:36:36.460 --> 00:36:38.000 turns from being a racist 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:39.739 to loving the other 00:36:39.739 --> 00:36:41.259 that makes God smile. 00:36:41.380 --> 00:36:42.199 When a human being 00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:43.400 turns from injustice 00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:44.019 to justice 00:36:44.019 --> 00:36:45.159 it makes God smile 00:36:45.159 --> 00:36:46.239 and it should make us 00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:46.880 smile as well. 00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:48.760 If you could put up 00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:49.380 the third point 00:36:49.380 --> 00:36:49.640 to enter 00:36:49.640 --> 00:36:50.019 that would be 00:36:50.019 --> 00:36:50.539 very handy. 00:36:50.680 --> 00:36:51.160 This has been 00:36:51.160 --> 00:36:52.220 a point for every 00:36:52.220 --> 00:36:52.920 one of the sermons 00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:53.539 it will be in all 00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:54.340 five of the Jonah 00:36:54.340 --> 00:36:54.860 sermons. 00:36:55.780 --> 00:36:56.519 Because the Lord 00:36:56.519 --> 00:36:57.099 is God 00:36:57.099 --> 00:36:58.480 there is no other 00:36:58.480 --> 00:36:59.000 God 00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:01.099 hence there is 00:37:01.099 --> 00:37:01.840 no other 00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:03.039 when it comes to 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:03.300 people. 00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:03.960 That's why I said 00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:04.640 there's only sinners 00:37:04.640 --> 00:37:05.380 in this room. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:07.760 On one level 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:09.119 who is in this room 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:09.900 and who is outside 00:37:09.900 --> 00:37:10.760 are all the same. 00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:11.500 We're all sinners. 00:37:11.820 --> 00:37:12.579 We're all sinners. 00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:14.579 Every single one of us. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:17.800 We're all sinners 00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:18.720 whom God loves. 00:37:21.099 --> 00:37:21.500 Everyone. 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:24.000 And we 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:25.320 well could you put up 00:37:25.320 --> 00:37:25.960 the final point 00:37:25.960 --> 00:37:26.700 just to bring it 00:37:26.700 --> 00:37:27.260 to a close? 00:37:28.840 --> 00:37:30.019 If my only hope 00:37:30.019 --> 00:37:30.920 in life and death 00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:31.539 some of you will 00:37:31.539 --> 00:37:32.460 recognize this is 00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:33.160 connected to 00:37:33.160 --> 00:37:34.920 an ancient catechism. 00:37:35.380 --> 00:37:36.340 If my only hope 00:37:36.340 --> 00:37:37.119 in life and death 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:37.760 is the Lord's 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:38.660 great compassion 00:37:38.660 --> 00:37:39.860 given to me 00:37:39.860 --> 00:37:40.360 in Jesus 00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:42.019 then I will learn 00:37:42.019 --> 00:37:43.039 his way of compassion. 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:52.739 See this is how 00:37:52.739 --> 00:37:54.179 the gospel is to form us. 00:37:56.139 --> 00:37:57.119 I mean the fact 00:37:57.119 --> 00:37:57.920 of the matter is 00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:01.279 we will fall 00:38:01.279 --> 00:38:02.019 into the hands 00:38:02.019 --> 00:38:02.800 of almighty God. 00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:03.679 There is a judgment 00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:06.139 that every human being 00:38:06.139 --> 00:38:06.880 will fall under. 00:38:08.059 --> 00:38:09.199 Just as an aside 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:10.300 if this text 00:38:10.300 --> 00:38:10.820 of the Bible 00:38:10.820 --> 00:38:11.559 was written around 00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:12.039 755 00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:13.699 33 years 00:38:13.699 --> 00:38:14.519 after this Bible 00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:15.360 text was written 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:19.079 the nation of Israel 00:38:19.079 --> 00:38:20.360 did not heed 00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:21.300 the prophets 00:38:21.300 --> 00:38:22.460 calls to repentance 00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:24.119 and the northern 00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:24.940 kingdom of Israel 00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:25.659 was destroyed 00:38:25.659 --> 00:38:26.519 in 722 00:38:26.519 --> 00:38:28.820 and its people 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:29.360 scattered 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:30.079 because in fact 00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:30.840 the Assyrians 00:38:30.840 --> 00:38:31.719 practiced 00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:32.480 true 00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:33.719 genocide. 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:38.119 True 00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:39.079 genocide. 00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:39.219 Genocide. 00:38:39.219 --> 00:38:43.199 all of the people 00:38:43.199 --> 00:38:44.000 of the northern 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.539 kingdom 00:38:44.539 --> 00:38:45.500 were taken 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:46.319 into captivity 00:38:46.319 --> 00:38:48.679 and they are 00:38:48.679 --> 00:38:49.919 lost to history. 00:38:54.439 --> 00:38:55.699 130 years 00:38:55.699 --> 00:38:56.539 after this 00:38:56.539 --> 00:38:58.480 Nineveh fell 00:38:58.480 --> 00:38:59.799 and the Assyrian 00:38:59.799 --> 00:39:00.779 empire fell. 00:39:00.780 --> 00:39:04.380 I am very 00:39:04.380 --> 00:39:05.019 conscious 00:39:05.019 --> 00:39:05.960 not as conscious 00:39:05.960 --> 00:39:06.680 as I should be 00:39:06.680 --> 00:39:07.460 but I am conscious 00:39:07.460 --> 00:39:08.280 that I am a sinner 00:39:08.280 --> 00:39:09.519 and I am only 00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:10.640 redeemed by grace. 00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:13.160 It is only 00:39:13.160 --> 00:39:14.060 because the 00:39:14.060 --> 00:39:14.480 punishment 00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:15.460 that I justly 00:39:15.460 --> 00:39:16.040 deserved 00:39:16.040 --> 00:39:17.080 fell on 00:39:17.080 --> 00:39:18.220 the Lamb 00:39:18.220 --> 00:39:18.740 of God 00:39:18.740 --> 00:39:19.460 who takes away 00:39:19.460 --> 00:39:20.240 the sin of the world 00:39:20.240 --> 00:39:20.860 it is only 00:39:20.860 --> 00:39:21.519 because 00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:23.320 I who stood 00:39:23.320 --> 00:39:24.380 properly condemned 00:39:24.380 --> 00:39:25.500 for my wrongdoing 00:39:25.500 --> 00:39:26.500 that in the words 00:39:26.500 --> 00:39:27.120 of Isaiah 00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:27.699 Jesus 00:39:27.699 --> 00:39:29.199 in my place 00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:30.139 condemned 00:39:30.139 --> 00:39:30.920 he stood. 00:39:32.719 --> 00:39:33.380 It is only 00:39:33.380 --> 00:39:34.139 because of that 00:39:34.139 --> 00:39:35.279 that I have 00:39:35.279 --> 00:39:35.719 any hope 00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:36.079 in life 00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:36.579 and death 00:39:36.579 --> 00:39:38.259 and if in fact 00:39:38.259 --> 00:39:39.099 I am a complete 00:39:39.099 --> 00:39:39.920 and utter recipient 00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:40.659 of the Lord's 00:39:40.659 --> 00:39:41.159 compassion 00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:41.719 and mercy 00:39:41.719 --> 00:39:45.639 then I need 00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:46.019 to learn 00:39:46.019 --> 00:39:46.559 how to live 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:47.000 and walk 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:47.299 in the way 00:39:47.299 --> 00:39:48.000 of compassion. 00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:52.139 That is how 00:39:52.139 --> 00:39:52.659 the gospel 00:39:52.659 --> 00:39:53.199 shapes you 00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:53.539 to live. 00:39:54.579 --> 00:39:55.359 Please stand. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:05.079 Just bow our heads 00:40:05.079 --> 00:40:05.539 in prayer. 00:40:10.700 --> 00:40:11.220 Father 00:40:11.220 --> 00:40:13.380 we thank you 00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:13.920 for Jesus 00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:16.360 we thank you 00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:16.740 Father 00:40:16.740 --> 00:40:18.019 that he saw 00:40:18.019 --> 00:40:19.019 our great need 00:40:19.019 --> 00:40:20.440 that 00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:21.260 we had 00:40:21.260 --> 00:40:22.079 turned our back 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:22.539 on you 00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:23.220 and could not 00:40:23.220 --> 00:40:24.059 turn ourselves 00:40:24.059 --> 00:40:25.200 to save ourselves 00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:27.319 could not 00:40:27.319 --> 00:40:28.879 accomplish enough 00:40:28.879 --> 00:40:29.259 merit 00:40:29.259 --> 00:40:30.059 to make ourselves 00:40:30.059 --> 00:40:30.579 right with you. 00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:31.219 He saw our 00:40:31.219 --> 00:40:31.759 great need 00:40:31.759 --> 00:40:32.299 he came 00:40:32.299 --> 00:40:32.659 and lived 00:40:32.659 --> 00:40:33.419 amongst us 00:40:33.419 --> 00:40:35.059 amidst 00:40:35.059 --> 00:40:36.119 all of our 00:40:36.119 --> 00:40:37.480 mess 00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:38.239 all of our 00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:38.599 muck 00:40:38.599 --> 00:40:39.759 all of the 00:40:39.759 --> 00:40:40.239 injustice 00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:41.179 of this world 00:40:41.179 --> 00:40:41.679 all of the 00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:42.279 beauty of this 00:40:42.279 --> 00:40:42.480 world 00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:43.000 but all of the 00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:43.619 injustice 00:40:43.619 --> 00:40:44.659 and the evil 00:40:44.659 --> 00:40:45.559 he came 00:40:45.559 --> 00:40:45.960 and dwelt 00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:46.460 among us 00:40:46.460 --> 00:40:47.039 only without 00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:47.500 sin 00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:48.939 and that 00:40:48.939 --> 00:40:49.419 out of love 00:40:49.419 --> 00:40:49.819 for us 00:40:49.819 --> 00:40:50.259 he died 00:40:50.259 --> 00:40:50.559 on our 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:50.919 behalf 00:40:50.919 --> 00:40:51.279 he died 00:40:51.279 --> 00:40:51.719 on my 00:40:51.719 --> 00:40:52.379 behalf 00:40:52.380 --> 00:40:54.119 taking 00:40:54.119 --> 00:40:54.460 upon 00:40:54.460 --> 00:40:54.920 himself 00:40:54.920 --> 00:40:55.380 that 00:40:55.380 --> 00:40:55.840 judgment 00:40:55.840 --> 00:40:56.280 which I 00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:56.740 justly 00:40:56.740 --> 00:40:57.119 deserve 00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:57.460 and that 00:40:57.460 --> 00:40:57.980 fell on 00:40:57.980 --> 00:40:58.340 him 00:40:58.340 --> 00:40:59.440 that I 00:40:59.440 --> 00:40:59.980 by my 00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:00.320 faith 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:00.860 and trust 00:41:00.860 --> 00:41:01.519 and love 00:41:01.519 --> 00:41:02.400 my faith 00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:02.860 and trust 00:41:02.860 --> 00:41:03.360 in him 00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:04.599 that he 00:41:04.599 --> 00:41:04.980 would bear 00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:05.720 my punishment 00:41:05.720 --> 00:41:06.460 and bestow 00:41:06.460 --> 00:41:06.960 upon me 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:07.640 his righteousness 00:41:07.640 --> 00:41:08.099 Father 00:41:08.099 --> 00:41:08.940 thank you 00:41:08.940 --> 00:41:09.260 for your 00:41:09.260 --> 00:41:09.480 great 00:41:09.480 --> 00:41:10.039 compassion 00:41:10.039 --> 00:41:10.460 and mercy 00:41:10.460 --> 00:41:10.820 that you 00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:11.260 showed to 00:41:11.260 --> 00:41:11.460 me 00:41:11.460 --> 00:41:13.579 and we 00:41:13.579 --> 00:41:13.880 ask 00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:14.400 I ask 00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:14.760 Father 00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:15.619 that as 00:41:15.619 --> 00:41:16.159 the great 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:16.840 compassion 00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:17.679 that you 00:41:17.679 --> 00:41:18.099 have shown 00:41:18.099 --> 00:41:18.539 to us 00:41:18.539 --> 00:41:19.079 in Jesus 00:41:19.079 --> 00:41:19.619 as that 00:41:19.619 --> 00:41:20.300 grips us 00:41:20.300 --> 00:41:20.679 that we 00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:21.220 will learn 00:41:21.220 --> 00:41:21.800 to live 00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:22.500 in the 00:41:22.500 --> 00:41:22.840 way of 00:41:22.840 --> 00:41:23.420 compassion 00:41:23.420 --> 00:41:24.059 that we 00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:24.840 will be 00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:25.300 characterized 00:41:25.300 --> 00:41:26.519 by compassion 00:41:26.519 --> 00:41:27.059 in our 00:41:27.059 --> 00:41:27.940 office places 00:41:27.940 --> 00:41:28.500 in our 00:41:28.500 --> 00:41:28.920 neighborhoods 00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:30.380 in the 00:41:30.380 --> 00:41:30.820 city 00:41:30.820 --> 00:41:32.320 in our 00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:32.940 interpersonal 00:41:32.940 --> 00:41:34.039 relations 00:41:34.039 --> 00:41:35.880 that we 00:41:35.880 --> 00:41:36.280 will be 00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:36.880 characterized 00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:37.519 and known 00:41:37.519 --> 00:41:38.019 Father 00:41:38.019 --> 00:41:38.679 by people 00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:39.000 who are 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:39.340 gripped 00:41:39.340 --> 00:41:39.800 by your 00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:40.059 great 00:41:40.059 --> 00:41:40.599 compassion 00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:41.099 for us 00:41:41.099 --> 00:41:41.339 and are 00:41:41.339 --> 00:41:41.619 learning 00:41:41.619 --> 00:41:42.219 to walk 00:41:42.219 --> 00:41:42.920 the way 00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:43.619 of compassion 00:41:43.619 --> 00:41:44.239 and mercy 00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:45.699 caring for 00:41:45.699 --> 00:41:46.219 this city 00:41:46.219 --> 00:41:46.719 and caring 00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:47.119 for your 00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:47.799 created order 00:41:47.799 --> 00:41:48.199 in a way 00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:48.639 that brings 00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:49.199 you glory 00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:50.719 and is truly 00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:51.900 good for 00:41:51.900 --> 00:41:52.400 this created 00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:52.799 order 00:41:52.799 --> 00:41:53.739 and for all 00:41:53.739 --> 00:41:54.400 your creatures 00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:54.839 Father 00:41:54.839 --> 00:41:55.400 this is what 00:41:55.400 --> 00:41:55.920 we ask 00:41:55.920 --> 00:41:56.519 and we 00:41:56.519 --> 00:41:56.900 ask it 00:41:56.900 --> 00:41:57.099 in the 00:41:57.099 --> 00:41:57.400 name of 00:41:57.400 --> 00:41:57.699 Jesus 00:41:57.699 --> 00:41:58.500 and all 00:41:58.500 --> 00:41:58.860 God's 00:41:58.860 --> 00:41:59.480 people said 00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:00.420 Amen