WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 And this is God's word. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:08.000 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.960 the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.519 that great city, and call out against it 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:15.419 the message that I tell you. 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:18.280 So Jonah arose and he went to Nineveh 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:20.100 according to the word of the Lord. 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:23.120 Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:25.800 three days journey and breath. 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.359 And Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.679 and he called out, yet 40 days in Nineveh 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:34.600 shall be overthrown. 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.200 And the people of Nineveh believed God 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.960 and they called for a fast and they put on sackcloth 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.759 from the greatest of them to the least of them. 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.000 And the word reached the king of Nineveh 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.120 and he arose from his throne. 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:49.840 He removed his robe, he covered himself with sackcloth 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.879 and sat in ashes and he issued a proclamation 00:00:52.879 --> 00:00:56.280 and he published it throughout Nineveh. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.159 By the decree of the king and his nobles 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:04.159 let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. 00:01:04.399 --> 00:01:07.359 Let them not feed or drink water, 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.399 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth 00:01:10.399 --> 00:01:14.719 and let them call out mightily to God. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:16.719 Let everyone turn from his evil way 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:18.879 and from the violence that is in his hands. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:22.000 Who knows, God may turn and relent 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.280 and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:28.519 And when God saw what they did, 00:01:28.519 --> 00:01:30.599 how they turned from their evil way, 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.239 God relented of the disaster that he had said 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:35.640 he would do to them and he did not do it. 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:37.199 This is God's holy word. 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.359 You see, I was too eager to get up here and preach. 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.120 That's why I got up early. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:47.920 I see a lot of tired faces here tonight 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:49.039 and I feel it as well. 00:01:49.039 --> 00:01:51.519 It's dark outside, it's warm in here. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.679 I will try my very best to keep you awake. 00:01:54.679 --> 00:01:56.479 But how could we not stay awake 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:58.760 if it's such an exciting story? 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.240 Because the story that we just read 00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:05.680 is really a scandal, a scandal of grace. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.759 It's a story about a compassionate God, 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:11.719 a God who gives second chances, 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:15.680 a God who does not delight in destroying people 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.960 and killing people, but who wants people 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:21.759 to turn back to him, to run back to God. 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:26.080 It's all about God's scandalous grace 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.640 and mercy towards sinners like you and me. 00:02:29.640 --> 00:02:31.360 So let's look at the text. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.720 How do we see that God gives second chances? 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:36.160 Well, we see it all over the place. 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:38.520 We see it all throughout chapter three 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:40.000 in the book of Jonah. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.600 And it starts with Jonah already. 00:02:42.600 --> 00:02:44.600 We know Jonah ran away from God. 00:02:44.600 --> 00:02:47.400 He was then in the fish, he prayed a prayer. 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:52.160 He cried for help and God made the fish 00:02:52.160 --> 00:02:54.640 vomit Jonah out again on the beach. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:57.879 And the story in chapter three continues 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:02.879 with God asking Jonah to go to Nineveh once again. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.000 And he uses the same words he used 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:10.000 in the first chapter already with a little different, 00:03:10.359 --> 00:03:11.279 different wording. 00:03:11.279 --> 00:03:16.279 He says, preach to them, don't preach against them. 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:20.199 In the Hebrew, this is clearer. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.159 In the English translation, it doesn't come out as clear. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:28.159 But Jonah, he actually does it this time. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.840 You would expect maybe Jonah, the runaway prophet, 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.639 the guy who was so stubborn, he runs away again. 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:35.560 But no, he does it. 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.359 He goes to Nineveh and he goes 00:03:39.359 --> 00:03:42.759 and he preaches to this great city. 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:45.680 Some have said it's the shortest sermon ever preached. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.599 Just a few words. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.680 Personally, I think Jonah probably preached 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:54.439 more than just one sentence. 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:55.960 But regardless of what he preached 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.400 and how long the sermon was and how often he preached, 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.360 the gist was to say that in 40 days, 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:06.080 Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.520 So let's pick up on two things in the sentence. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:13.400 40 days and the little word overthrown. 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:15.040 Firstly, why 40 days? 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:18.960 What's the significance of that? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:23.959 The 40 days, if you are a Jew and you read the book of Jonah 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:28.279 and you see that God and Jonah, they're talking about 40 days, 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:31.039 your mind would go back to the last time 00:04:31.039 --> 00:04:34.240 in the Old Testament when people messed up 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.599 and there was a 40 day period given to them. 00:04:37.599 --> 00:04:41.560 And that's when the Israelites went out of the country, 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:46.560 the land of Egypt, and Moses was on the mountain, 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:49.000 receiving the 10 commandments on Sinai, 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.759 and the Israelites were making a golden calf 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:55.240 and they were falling into idolatry. 00:04:55.240 --> 00:05:01.240 It's in that story that Moses then intercedes on Israel's behalf 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:05.639 so that God would not destroy the people of Israel. 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:08.959 And for 40 days and for 40 nights, 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.720 Moses doesn't eat or drink. 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.040 So there is this 40 day period. 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:18.480 Now the logic would be that Jonah, he's also a prophet of God, 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:24.480 he could go to Nineveh and he would intercede for Nineveh. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.160 But Jonah, of course, doesn't do that. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:33.840 And it's here where you see that Jonah did have an experience of faith, 00:05:33.840 --> 00:05:37.680 an experience of grace in the belly of the fish in chapter 2, 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.879 but it seems as though the head knowledge has not sunk into his heart. 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:46.920 It seems like, although he says, 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:49.240 salvation belongs to the Lord, 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:54.040 he's still not very keen on the Ninevites being saved. 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:55.439 Why do I say this? 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:01.719 It's because of the word overthrown that we read in this little verse. 00:06:01.719 --> 00:06:07.399 The word overthrown, it's a word that is in Hebrew, it's called hapak. 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:11.040 It's not really important for you to know this, but it's interesting. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:18.319 It was used in the Bible for the destruction of the city Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:20.560 So Jonah knows this. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:28.360 And Jonah knows that this word overthrown could mean that God will destroy Nineveh. 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:31.360 But at the same time, this word overthrown, 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:36.360 it actually carries a notion of changing, of reforming, 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:42.120 and the sentence 40 days until Nineveh is reformed, or will be reformed, 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:43.879 sounds very different. 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.199 It's an ambiguous message. 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:50.600 But in Jonah's mind, he is convinced, 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:56.920 he's convinced that God will destroy the city of Nineveh, so he goes. 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:02.000 Now, why does God give Jonah an ambiguous message? 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:06.040 I think it's to expose how bitter Jonah is, 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:09.160 how obsessed Jonah is with judgment. 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:14.600 As we will find out later, Jonah doesn't believe that there is a second chance for Nineveh. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:16.840 Jonah hates the Ninevites. 00:07:16.840 --> 00:07:22.520 He hates those little dirty pagans who are so violent, who are a threat for Israel. 00:07:22.520 --> 00:07:25.000 That's what he really feels like. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:28.840 He thinks they are too far gone. 00:07:28.840 --> 00:07:35.400 And that's very interesting, because in Jeremiah chapter 18, God says this. 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:41.079 God says, if at any time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be abrooted, 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:46.759 torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation I want repents of its evil, 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:52.279 then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:55.319 God is giving it right there. 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:59.479 Clearly, God will have mercy on those who repent. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:09.000 The reason why Jonah goes to Nineveh the second time is because he's certain that he's just telling them 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:13.560 that they are going to be destroyed and there is nothing that they can do about it. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:15.800 And that's ironic, isn't it? 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.920 Isn't it Jonah who just got a second chance after he ran away from God? 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:26.680 Isn't it, isn't Jonah the only prophet in the Old Testament who even does get a second chance? 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:29.160 There's no other prophet who ever had that. 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:34.519 Usually, prophets were quite, they were judged quite quickly because they had so much revelation from God. 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.399 Jonah gets a second chance. 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:39.160 Why is that happening? 00:08:39.160 --> 00:08:41.000 Think two reasons. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:46.840 Firstly, Jonah tried to manipulate God, and God is not having any of that. 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:48.200 God won't let him do that. 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:53.320 Secondly, God wants Jonah to grow in mercy. 00:08:53.320 --> 00:08:59.080 The story is just as much about Jonah as it is about the Ninevites. 00:08:59.080 --> 00:09:02.600 It's probably more about Jonah than the Ninevites, to be honest. 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:11.720 It's all a story to show Jonah what mercy means and what God's character is like and how he is merciful. 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:13.560 Jonah is obsessed with judgment. 00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:25.160 He has a bitterness against these Ninevites in his heart, and God shows Jonah mercy in order for Jonah to show them mercy. 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:31.079 It's not the only time in the Bible that God is giving someone a second chance. 00:09:31.079 --> 00:09:33.480 I don't know if you've heard about Peter in the New Testament. 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:35.319 I like Peter a lot. 00:09:35.319 --> 00:09:37.799 Peter is an apostle. 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:39.559 He is a disciple of Christ. 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:41.480 He follows Jesus for three years. 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.120 He's got a big mouth, always talks a lot. 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:45.879 Sometimes doesn't follow up. 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:53.240 In the New Testament, there is this one moment where Jesus calls Peter the son of Jonah. 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:57.720 Peter's dad, we know his name from the Bible, is actually John. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.080 But Jesus clearly says Jonah, so Jesus is making a pun here. 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:03.639 He's saying, Peter, you're a son of Jonah. 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:06.039 What is he meaning by that? 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:07.560 Why does Jesus do that? 00:10:07.560 --> 00:10:12.039 It's because just a few verses later, Jesus predicts his own death. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:17.399 He reveals Peter his own will, and he says that he will have to suffer and to die. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:21.960 Peter denies that, and he tells Jesus that that can't never happen to him. 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:25.879 That should never happen to Jesus. 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:29.879 Jesus had just told Peter, I'll build my church on you. 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:33.560 But then he rebukes him and says, get behind me, Satan. 00:10:33.560 --> 00:10:35.639 You're a hindrance to me. 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:40.759 You're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:48.360 And then even later, Peter, after the, when Jesus is arrested, Peter betrays Jesus. 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.920 He messes up again. 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:56.120 And later in the book of Acts, Peter doesn't want to eat with the Gentiles. 00:10:56.120 --> 00:11:04.839 He doesn't want to eat unclean food, and it requires a vision for him to even go and eat with those Gentiles. 00:11:04.839 --> 00:11:08.439 Very interestingly, he is in Joppa at that point. 00:11:08.439 --> 00:11:15.000 If you remember, Joppa is the place where Jonah was when he fled God's commission, 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.319 God's commandment, God's mission for him. 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:22.760 And again, and again, and again, Peter messes up. 00:11:22.760 --> 00:11:27.320 And again, and again, and again, Jesus is patient. 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:32.920 And he gives him a second chance, and another chance, and another chance. 00:11:32.920 --> 00:11:36.200 That is Jesus' character. 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:39.400 And you can see in Peter that he is sorry. 00:11:39.400 --> 00:11:40.920 He weeps bitterly. 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:45.640 He repents, much like the Ninevites. 00:11:45.640 --> 00:11:48.920 God wants to give you a second chance, too. 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.959 If you're a Christian here tonight, you have experienced that. 00:11:51.959 --> 00:11:58.039 You've experienced the moment where you have given your life to Jesus, as we call it. 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.479 You have experienced the forgiving nature of God. 00:12:01.479 --> 00:12:08.519 I hope you live in the freedom of knowing that God is a God of second chances. 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:15.480 And that when you mess up, he will be patient and forgiving, if you ask him, for forgiveness. 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:19.000 So in that regard, Peter was better than Jonah. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.759 Nonetheless, many of us are sons and daughters of Jonah, 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:28.360 in the way that we need second chances. 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:33.639 And if you are here tonight considering the claims of Christianity, the claims of the Gospel, 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:36.680 and you might be looking for a second chance, 00:12:36.680 --> 00:12:43.720 then maybe this is your sign to go and to pray and to ask for a second chance tonight. 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:45.720 To ask for forgiveness. 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:51.960 Because as I said, this is a scandal of grace. 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.960 It's a scandal, judging from the expressions on your faces. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.279 I'm not sure if you're grasping what I mean. 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:02.759 This is something that has never happened before in the Bible. 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:06.840 The only way that this is not doing anything with you right now, 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:09.480 is either because you were raised in a Christian home, 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.360 and you heard the story a gazillion times, 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:14.840 and you're like, yeah, of course, you get swallowed by a fish, of course, 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:18.039 God doesn't destroy an inn of it, blah, blah, blah. 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:19.960 Move on, please, right? 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:27.000 Or you think that maybe the Ninevites deserve forgiveness. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.080 Maybe you think God can punish them. 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:29.720 Why would he? 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:31.639 They are just people, right? 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:36.600 And that's a worldview that our society has at the moment. 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:37.320 Punishment. 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:39.000 That's not good. 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:41.560 Would a good God do that? 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:43.559 Would a good God punish people? 00:13:44.599 --> 00:13:46.759 If you ask Jonah, yes. 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:49.319 Jonah wants it. 00:13:49.319 --> 00:13:50.359 Jonah says, yes. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:52.279 God, please punish them. 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:53.399 They don't deserve it. 00:13:54.199 --> 00:13:59.079 And Jonah is so blind that really he should have been punished too. 00:13:59.079 --> 00:14:02.679 Jonah is so blind to the fact that he is one of the Ninevites, 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.399 that he wants to see destroyed. 00:14:06.599 --> 00:14:08.359 That's true for us too, isn't it? 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:13.159 We don't deserve God's grace. 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.120 We don't deserve forgiveness. 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:19.960 The Ninevites, Jonah is actually right. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:22.120 The Ninevites didn't deserve forgiveness. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:24.440 That's exactly the point. 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:25.720 They did not deserve it. 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:34.680 But if they did deserve it, it wouldn't be grace. 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:36.920 That's what grace is. 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:39.479 It's a gift. It's something you can't earn. 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:44.039 Grace is something you do not deserve. 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:53.879 There's a story that I heard this week that portrays really well what grace is. 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.599 It really moved me, and I'd like to share it with you. 00:14:56.599 --> 00:15:01.000 It's a true story from the Second World War. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.639 And it's about a man called Irino Dapazzo. 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:09.080 He was forced by the Nazi regime to translate letters, 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:14.279 which would contain data about dates and names about Jews 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.120 who were supposed to get deported. 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.600 And he would warn those Jews before the Nazis had the chance to arrest them. 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:22.840 And he was found out eventually. 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:28.840 So they sentenced him to death, but because he had four children and a wife, 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:30.519 they lowered his sentence, 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:34.360 and he was imprisoned in a concentration camp. 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.360 And he had been there for about nine months. 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:40.199 He weighed around 90 pounds. 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:42.840 He was covered in wounds. 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:44.199 They broke his right arm. 00:15:44.199 --> 00:15:46.120 They didn't give him any medical help. 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:48.439 It was winter, winter in 1943. 00:15:49.079 --> 00:15:51.639 And this man is sitting around the fire with his mates, 00:15:52.439 --> 00:15:55.559 just talking about something, trying to make the time pass. 00:15:55.559 --> 00:16:01.559 When a commander, one of the guards, one of the commanders in the concentration camp, 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.359 calls Irino to his office. 00:16:04.359 --> 00:16:07.719 So Irino goes and he stands in front of this commander. 00:16:07.719 --> 00:16:09.319 He's shirtless. 00:16:09.319 --> 00:16:10.439 He's barefoot. 00:16:10.439 --> 00:16:15.479 He has almost, I mean, he looks half dead as it were. 00:16:15.479 --> 00:16:18.119 And this commander, he sits at his table, 00:16:18.839 --> 00:16:21.799 and the table is covered in food. 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:22.839 It's Christmas Eve. 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.840 And the commander eats, and Irino stands there. 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.600 The pazzo stands there, and he has to watch this commander eat food 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:32.759 in front of him for an hour. 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:37.800 And at some point, the door opens, and someone brings in biscuits, 00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:40.120 and cakes, and coffee. 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:45.960 And Irino stands there, and he watches the commander eat these little cakes. 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:50.840 And at some point, the commander says this, 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.720 and I read from his autobiography that he wrote later on. 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:57.240 The commander says, your wife is a good cook. 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:00.120 I didn't understand what he meant. 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:05.960 Then he told me, your wife has been sending you parcels of small cakes for seven months. 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:08.200 I've eaten them with great pleasure. 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:15.160 And now, the pazzo writes, I had to fight the temptation to hate him and accuse God. 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.840 I knew that my wife and children had very little to eat. 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:26.119 They had now saved flour, fat, and sugar from their already meager rations to send me something. 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:28.359 And this man here had eaten my children's food. 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:33.720 Again, the devil whispered to me, hate him, pazzo, hate him. 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:38.919 And again, I prayed, and God prevented the hatred from taking possession of me. 00:17:38.919 --> 00:17:41.799 Then I asked the commander to hand me one of the biscuits. 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:42.919 I didn't want to eat it. 00:17:42.919 --> 00:17:46.279 I just wanted to look at it and think of my children. 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.440 But the tormentor didn't grant my request. 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:49.799 Instead, he cursed me. 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:55.879 I said to him, you're a poor man, commander, but I am rich because I believe in God and 00:17:55.879 --> 00:17:58.200 have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. 00:17:58.599 --> 00:18:02.039 He got very angry and sent me back to the camp. 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:05.639 And this scene stuck with Irino da Pazzo. 00:18:05.879 --> 00:18:10.599 And when the war was over, he could not forget what had happened on Christmas 43. 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:13.480 So he decided to find this commander. 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:17.240 And 10 years later, he actually found him and he decided to visit him. 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:21.400 And then he writes this, he no longer recognized me. 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:27.079 Then I told him, I'm number one, seven, five, three, one. 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:29.960 Do you remember Christmas 1943? 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:32.519 Now he remembered all the horrors. 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:36.120 Him and his wife were suddenly terrified. 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.799 Trembling, he asked, have you come to take revenge? 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:41.480 Yes. 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:44.599 I replied and opened a parcel I had brought with me. 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:46.519 A large cake appeared. 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:50.599 I asked his wife to make coffee. 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.279 Then we drank coffee and ate cake together. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.400 The man looked at me, completely confused. 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:01.160 He could not understand why I was acting like this. 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:05.720 Finally, he started to cry and asked me to forgive him. 00:19:06.360 --> 00:19:09.880 I then said that I'd forgiven him for the same reason. 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:13.480 That I'd forgiven him for the sake of Jesus' love. 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:19.160 A year later, he confessed his terrible guilt to Jesus Christ and his wife also 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:20.440 gave her life to Jesus. 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.520 Both were able to experience liberating forgiveness from all their sins. 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:25.800 Wow. 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:28.200 What a story. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:29.960 That is what grace is. 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:37.240 It made me think about how Jesus stood in front of the Sanhedrin undressed, 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:39.480 mocked, they spat in his face. 00:19:40.120 --> 00:19:40.920 They beat him. 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.519 Just like this man, Irino Dapazos, stand in front of the commander, 00:19:44.920 --> 00:19:49.960 mocked, tormented, this man eating the food of his children and wife. 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:54.839 Yet Jesus went to the cross willingly. 00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:57.160 Yet God chased you. 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:01.720 See, grace is not simply forgiving your debt. 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.880 It is like this man coming to you and bringing your cake. 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:09.480 Giving you so much more than you deserved. 00:20:10.600 --> 00:20:11.640 That's a scandal. 00:20:12.520 --> 00:20:13.800 It doesn't make any sense. 00:20:14.120 --> 00:20:17.000 Grace is always a scandal. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:24.200 But there is something else in this story, the Ninevites. 00:20:24.600 --> 00:20:25.560 What do they do? 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:27.000 They repent. 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:29.560 Martin Luther says this, 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:37.480 in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ, a man must completely despair of himself. 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:41.799 Jesus always preached, repent and believe. 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:44.279 And that's what the Ninevites are doing here. 00:20:44.679 --> 00:20:48.919 If you look at verse five, it says, and they believed. 00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:57.799 And then after that it says, they called for a fast and they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. 00:20:57.799 --> 00:20:59.799 And there are two things I'd like to point out. 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:02.039 First of all, they believed in God. 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:04.039 Secondly, they repented. 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:07.000 They believed in God. 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:08.440 They knew so little. 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:11.879 Jonah had given them almost nothing to work with, right? 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.119 They didn't even know the name of God. 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:14.919 Yahweh. 00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:18.919 They knew so little yet they believed. 00:21:19.639 --> 00:21:23.399 Such little revelation, such little knowledge about who this God is. 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:27.320 Yet they placed their faith in God. 00:21:27.320 --> 00:21:31.320 And friends, the Ninevites are not giving us any excuses tonight. 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:32.680 We've got the Bible. 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:37.480 We've got the freedom to visit church services every Sunday. 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:42.360 We've got the internet, thousands of sermons and articles, right out of fingertips. 00:21:44.120 --> 00:21:46.759 We know so much yet believe so little. 00:21:48.120 --> 00:21:49.640 Secondly, they repented. 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:52.520 Secondly, they repented. 00:21:52.520 --> 00:21:57.560 These horrible, violent, aggressive, nasty Ninevites. 00:21:57.560 --> 00:21:59.160 He would never expect them. 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:03.000 Like the commander in the story, he would never expect him to repent. 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:03.960 Yet they did. 00:22:04.600 --> 00:22:06.600 And there's one little application in there. 00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:10.200 Do you sometimes look at people and think they're too far gone? 00:22:11.080 --> 00:22:12.520 Because the Gospel says no. 00:22:12.520 --> 00:22:15.160 The Gospel says he will never be too far gone. 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:21.720 From verse six onwards, we get details of what their repentance looked like. 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:24.440 The king leaves his throne. 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:27.720 Even the animals aren't allowed to drink or eat anymore. 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:29.480 They put on sackcloth. 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:33.080 They cry out to God and they turn away from their violent ways. 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:37.320 And that's exactly what repentance means in the original language. 00:22:37.320 --> 00:22:38.600 Turning away. 00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:42.600 Turning away from your path, from the things you did. 00:22:42.600 --> 00:22:43.880 It means turning around. 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.440 It means running to the Father. 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:53.640 Some of you might wonder whether all of this is done to try to earn your salvation. 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:54.360 I repent. 00:22:54.360 --> 00:22:57.560 Therefore, I've deserved God's grace. 00:22:59.080 --> 00:23:00.280 That's not what it's all about. 00:23:01.080 --> 00:23:05.880 All of these things, fasting, putting on sackcloth, sitting in ashes. 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:08.680 They're all signs of humiliation. 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:11.160 They humble themselves. 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:16.040 A sign of saying, I'm utterly sorry for what I've done and there's nothing. 00:23:16.600 --> 00:23:19.320 There's nothing in this world I can do to save myself. 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:23.960 It means saying, I do deserve the punishment that is prepared for me. 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:25.160 That's what the Nine Invites are saying. 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:30.519 Maybe, maybe, maybe God will have mercy on us. 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:33.880 They know there's nothing left to do. 00:23:35.080 --> 00:23:39.240 Truly repenting means recognizing that God's grace is not cheap. 00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:40.759 God's grace is costly. 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:44.200 We know this on this side of the cross. 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:49.720 We know what God had to do in order to be able to lavish this grace upon us. 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:52.359 He had to send His only Son to die on the cross. 00:23:54.120 --> 00:23:55.400 Grace is costly. 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:56.279 It's not cheap. 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:03.319 As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, what is costly for God cannot be cheap for us. 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:07.079 It costs them a lot to call us sons and daughters again. 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:12.759 If your reaction to your sin is not like the reaction of the King who arises from His throne, 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:18.519 removes His robes and then sits in sackcloth and ashes, then it's not the right reaction. 00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:24.759 If you do not get up from the throne of your life recognizing that you are actually powerless, 00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:30.199 that you calling the shots, you making the decisions, led you into death and despair, 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:33.639 then there is no chance to truly repent. 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:35.960 We have to humble ourselves. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:42.040 If you do humble yourself, if you do do it, if you realize that you need forgiveness, 00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:47.160 then that you need grace, then there is every second chance in the world. 00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:52.600 Then God will be faithful and He will forgive your sins. 00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:56.040 Tim Keller puts it that way. 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:00.520 The irony of the gospel is that the other person is not guilty. 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:08.200 The irony of the gospel is that the only way to be worthy of it is to admit that you're completely 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:09.400 unworthy of it. 00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:13.720 Can you tonight say, I'm not worthy? 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:15.799 I'm not worthy of your grace. 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:17.559 I'm not worthy of your forgiveness, God. 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:19.559 That is the only way. 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:27.480 The free church believes or subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:30.759 and there is this beautiful sentence in there, and it says, 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.839 as there is no sin so small, but it deserves damnation, 00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:41.799 so there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent. 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:44.120 Did you hear that? 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:52.120 There is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent. 00:25:52.119 --> 00:26:00.439 If you truly repent, if you say, I'm sorry, if you humble yourself, if you give all your life, 00:26:00.439 --> 00:26:04.839 if you surrender your life to God, then He will give you a second chance. 00:26:05.639 --> 00:26:10.119 Not because you did so well, not at all, but because Jesus did. 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:17.319 Romans 8 verse 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:26:17.879 --> 00:26:20.279 You see, God loved you when you were still sinful. 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:24.279 He went into the city when the city was still sinful, 00:26:25.399 --> 00:26:27.160 and He went on the cross and died for you there. 00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:31.720 When your eyes are open for the first time, you can see all the dirt, 00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:34.440 you can see all the things you've done and said and thought, 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:39.240 all the filth in your life, and you feel horrible, and you know what, that's scary, 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:42.920 but that's a good thing, because without that, there is no chance to say, 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:46.839 I'm sorry, to ask for forgiveness, to truly repent, to turn away, 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:54.119 to have a change, to change the way you're thinking, to have a change of mindset. 00:26:56.039 --> 00:27:00.759 God relented from destroying Nineveh, and that's truly a scandal. 00:27:01.959 --> 00:27:07.559 Why? Because grace always is a scandal. Let us pray. 00:27:09.159 --> 00:27:15.959 Father, we thank you for the story tonight of the city of Nineveh, 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:21.079 the city that belonged to you, that you saved from destruction. 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:28.120 I pray for all of us here tonight that you would give us hearts that are repentant, 00:27:28.120 --> 00:27:31.240 that you would help us to lead lives that are repentant, 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:37.640 that you would call us sinners to turn around to you and to run back into your arms. 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:45.640 We ask for forgiveness for all of us sins. In Jesus' precious name, amen.