WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 All right well good morning Ontario. How are we doing this morning? Good, good. That's great to be 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:11.519 with all of you here this morning. My name is Pastor Patrick Daly and I have the privilege 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:16.879 of serving here as the pastor of Ontario Community Church. When you come through the doors of the 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:24.719 church I want all of you to know that you are loved, you are welcomed here and that Jesus Christ, 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:31.839 He died on the cross and He rose again on the third day. He is victorious over sin and we 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:38.799 should be encouraged to love God and to love other people. We should be empowered to study the word 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:45.439 of God, to grow in Christ and we should engage the community. There's so much to our Lord Jesus 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:53.120 Christ. So I want to start off with a question to ask you guys as here's our opening question. 00:00:53.119 --> 00:01:01.679 Have you ever felt the urge to start over? Maybe you felt the urge to run away from responsibility. 00:01:02.239 --> 00:01:08.000 Maybe things are just going on in life that are just so overwhelming you just want Jesus Christ 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:15.280 to come back and say you know what I'd rather be with the Lord. I know that for many of us. We've 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:22.000 had those situations, we've had the urge to run away from our problems or even to start over. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:28.719 And no matter how far we run though, I want us to understand that we can always come to the 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:34.719 Lord, we can always return to the Lord. We should be encouraged to seek the Lord Jesus Christ no 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:41.120 matter what season we are in life, no matter what it is that we are going through. Our God 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:50.560 sent His Son Jesus Christ. God is the source of life. God gives us that firm foundation, 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:56.719 that truth that we are all looking for, that peace that is surpassing all understanding. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:02.079 And as we begin our time here, I want us to remember, I want us to think of those moments 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:07.280 where we have thought of starting over or we have thought of running away from our responsibilities 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.960 or we have had those moments of isolation. Maybe there's been a time where you have felt separated 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:18.480 from God. Maybe there's been a time there's something that you're struggling with and you need to 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:24.079 offer it to God. I want you to remember that although we may feel like it may be the end of our story 00:02:24.079 --> 00:02:29.199 because of all of the overwhelming things that are happening in our world or in our families, 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:36.399 our friends or even our personal life, it is not the end of your story. We have to remember if we 00:02:36.399 --> 00:02:43.359 feel alone or we feel separated, it is in those moments that we can turn to God, that we can 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:51.440 seek Him for He gives us life, He gives us peace, He gives us so much. You see in Scripture we learn 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:58.880 about people who experience the mercy and the love of God when they decided to turn their lives 00:02:58.880 --> 00:03:05.680 over to the Lord. I know at times it's hard to face the truth. I know at times it's hard to face 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:12.880 culture or any situation that we are placed in. It can be hard to embrace responsibility. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:19.120 It can be hard to make amends asking for forgiveness from our brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:26.000 It can certainly be difficult to do but God gives us the chance to turn to Him. 00:03:26.799 --> 00:03:35.280 God gives us the chance to go to Him, to run to the Father and to make our life right with Him 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:41.759 and maybe for some of us make a return for Him. It is my encouragement for all of us here that we 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:48.399 come to know God and that we come to grow in Him. And despite our fears and despite our doubts, 00:03:48.399 --> 00:03:55.840 despite our hesitations or us running away, we can always turn to God's love and to God's mercy 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:04.000 because God's mercy is beyond anything and any man's mercy for that matter. God's love is beyond 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:13.360 man's love, human's love. We are never too far gone and we are never too lost. We can start over 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:18.319 with God and grow with Him. So I want us to pray and then we're going to go ahead and read from the 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:24.319 Word of God. Let's bow our heads and pray together. Father, we thank you for giving us the chance to 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:31.279 gather here today to praise, to worship and adore you. We love you. We thank you for allowing us 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:37.679 to come here together on this Sunday in this church together. We ask that as we delve into Jonah 00:04:37.679 --> 00:04:45.279 chapter three, that we may learn about who you are and that we may grow, that we may come to read 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:53.439 your Word. May you reveal the meaning to us. May we follow your Son Jesus Christ. Help us open our 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:59.279 minds to your guidance and help us open our hearts to love you. Lord, I don't know where everyone 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:05.919 is at in their own spiritual journey, but I pray that their spiritual journey is leading towards 00:05:05.919 --> 00:05:12.239 you. I pray that everyone is on a path to know you and to grow in you. Whatever problems or issues 00:05:12.239 --> 00:05:17.359 or anything that's going on in our own lives, we offer our burdens and we cast our cares to you. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.799 Be with us as we learn about Nineveh's redemption and its connection in Scripture. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:30.400 And we say these things in Jesus' name and everybody says Amen. Let's go ahead and turn our 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:39.199 Bibles to Jonah chapter three. If you, we have our ESVP Bibles, it's going to be on page 921. 00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:45.920 921, Jonah chapter three. So it says here, 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:55.120 then the word of the Lord came to Jonah's the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:02.400 that great city and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and he 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:09.520 ran off again. No, he arose and he went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:16.560 was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breath. Jonah began to go into the city, 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:22.719 going a day's journey and he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:30.879 and the people of Nineveh, they believed in God. They called for a fast and they put on 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:36.639 sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:44.079 and he rose from his throne. He removed his robe. He covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:52.399 and he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:59.839 let neither man nor beast nor flock taste heard nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:06.560 drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:14.480 Let everyone turn from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:22.480 God may turn in relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. When God saw 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:31.840 what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God what? He relented. He relented of the 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:41.599 disaster that he had said he would do to them. He did not do it. That is a very powerful word. 00:07:42.719 --> 00:07:48.239 We start off in verse one where God is coming to Jonah for the second time. For those of you who 00:07:48.239 --> 00:07:55.599 have been with Ontario and been listening to our study in Jonah, we found that God came to Jonah 00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:02.640 and Jonah ran off. This time, the second time, God is coming to Jonah again and this time, 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:10.080 Jonah is going. He is obeying. He is listening to God and he's going to the city of Nineveh. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:17.200 Jonah ran off, right? And he got swallowed by the great fish. He repented and God gave him a 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:24.720 second chance, much like how when we sin, we have the opportunity to repent and to be vomited out of 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:31.520 the fish. Remember, you get vomited out of the fish onto dry land, which is symbolizing restoration 00:08:31.520 --> 00:08:39.200 and being fully restored back with God. So God is giving Jonah that divine revelation. And what 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:47.040 does it say? It's the same thing as the beginning in the book of Jonah. To arise and to go to Nineveh, 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:54.000 that great city, and to call out, as we've talked about this before, he is going to preach 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:01.039 against the city of Nineveh to preach out against it. Jonah was called to preach out, to proclaim, 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:07.840 to cry out against it. What is this purpose that God has for Jonah? It's to preach to the city of 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:14.799 Nineveh, to turn from their evil ways and to get right with God. We know that God mentioned the evil 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:21.919 that came up in chapter one. And this time, God is telling Jonah to preach a specific message. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:28.159 So does Jonah run off again? Does he just say, you know what, I didn't learn my lesson this time? 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:35.919 No, absolutely not. He goes to the great city of Nineveh, which is amazing that it says it is such a 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:42.959 large, great city that is three days journey to walk in breath. And that is a huge city, especially 00:09:42.959 --> 00:09:50.799 for that time period. So Jonah goes into the city. And what does he do? He preaches, he 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:58.719 proclaims, he calls out just as God had called him to do Jonah gives the warning that Nineveh 00:09:58.719 --> 00:10:07.279 needs to change their ways, their evil ways. So did the people do nothing? Like, what are you crazy, 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:17.519 Jonah? I'm not going to listen to you. No, they believe the, the, the, do they get angry and cast out 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:24.720 Jonah? They don't, they believed in God. And this is an incredible critical part of the story where 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:30.799 the people repent. I just have to say that Jonah must have had some amazing speaking abilities. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:39.439 And through the power of God was able to get an entire city of 120,000 people to repent and 00:10:39.439 --> 00:10:45.679 turn from their sin to get right with God. And this is how God operates in our world. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:51.919 He calls each and every one of us for his purpose. God called Jonah to preach to the city and in the 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:59.279 city, Jonah preached when Jonah preached, they responded. Isn't that a wonderful encouragement 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:05.199 for us when we share with our friends, with our family and the people that we interact with, 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:13.759 the faith that we hold dear to? Isn't this not an encouragement that when God calls us, we must 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:19.600 respond? I hope it's an encouragement for you because God calls each and every one of us. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:27.600 Just as God called Jonah for a greater purpose in his life, so too does God call us for greater 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:34.480 purpose in our lives. You know, something that's really sad in our culture. You use technology, 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:40.960 you use your phones, you play video games, and these things are cool, cool tools to use. Right? 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:46.480 There's some great games out there, right? There's some great apps and there's some funny, you know, 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:55.040 dancing on TikTok or whatever. But the thing is, that should not become our life. That is just a 00:11:55.040 --> 00:12:02.480 tool that we can use. How many of us have felt lonely or isolated before? How many of us have felt 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:08.960 that there is something that is missing in my life? I know that, you know, I'm 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:16.879 a younger, younger man. And I realize that a lot of people who are my age and people who are younger 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:22.560 than me, they feel that there's something missing in their life. And they search online, they search 00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:28.560 through their technology, they search through the things that are fleeting for purpose. But let me 00:12:28.560 --> 00:12:38.000 tell you something. To seek God is to find greater purpose. To seek God is to find new 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:48.399 life in him. To seek God is to find identity in him. By seeking God, your life will never be the 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:56.159 same. And it says how in scripture that the city, they called for a fast and to put on 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:02.080 satcloth from the greatest to the least. It is in the next verse that the word reaches the king of 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:08.639 Nineveh. It says in verse six that the word reached the king and he, and then this is very 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:16.720 important. What does he do? He arises, he rose from his throne. Then what does he do? He removes 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:24.639 his robe and he covers himself with satcloth and he sat in ashes. That's very weird when you're 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:29.120 reading that. You're like, what? Okay, he takes off his robe. That kind of makes sense, right? 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:35.440 He covers himself with satcloth and he sat in ashes. What in the world does that mean? And we 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:40.799 should take note of this. As modern readers, we don't understand the significance of what the king 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:49.440 is doing here. And so in your notes here, the king of Nineveh removed his robe. He covered himself 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:54.480 with satcloth and he sat in ashes. I tried finding an image that would represent this. This was the 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:03.360 best I could find. So to remove his robe. Now, some of you have studied scripture. Some of you 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:10.320 may have seen movies where someone who is going through, they're depressed, they're grieving, 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:16.399 they rip their clothes. How many of you know what I'm talking about? So there's actually a difference 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:22.639 between ripping your robe and taking and removing your robe as in the context of what the king is 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:29.679 doing. When someone ripped their robe, that was a moment of vulnerability. That was a moment of 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:38.240 grief of loss. In this context, though, it's not saying that the king ripped his robe. He is removing 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:46.240 his robe. And there's a big difference. Removing the robe, it is an act of humility. It is laying 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:54.480 down your power and going to God for obedience. It is going to God for submission and repentance to 00:14:54.480 --> 00:15:00.320 the Lord. That is different than what you find in, for example, the book of Joe, where there is the 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:07.279 tearing of the robe. It's something I don't think that should be overlooked. Because this is specific 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:14.000 to the context of a king who's laying down his power for God, as opposed to someone who is grieving 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:21.679 for the loss of everything. So it goes to show you that the king of Ninepah, he received the call. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:28.159 He heard the warning from Jonah that the city would be overthrown. And instead of rejecting the 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:36.559 warning, he did something about it. The king, he responded to the call. And what I want you guys 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:43.679 to think about that is sometimes we need to respond to God's call in our lives, even if it is 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:49.359 through the words spoken through somebody. Does this remind you of when the captain rebuked Jonah? 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:56.159 When he said, get up and call out to your God. In this context, it has to do with the king. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:01.919 So what about the other things? To cover yourself, when the king covered himself in sackcloth, 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:09.919 he, it's taking a time to mourn. It's taking a time to grieve. It's taking a time, kind of a 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:18.159 modern day example would be if you were to, how many of you have used burlap before? Right? For 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:24.240 feed or storage or whatever. Have you tried wearing that or felt it rub against your skin? 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:30.240 It's not the most comfortable of things. It's not silk. It's not cotton. It's not any of the other 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:35.919 kind of clothing. Can you imagine wearing that though? Get kind of itchy after a while. I must 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:40.799 admit that that's kind of the equivalent to that. It's supposed to make you uncomfortable though, 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:47.360 because your focus is not on your clothes. Your focus is on suffering, if you will. Your focus 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:53.759 is on God. So when he's, he's taking off his robe, the king's taking off the robe, he's putting on 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:59.279 sackcloth, something that's extremely uncomfortable and he's sitting in ashes. These in your notes, 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:06.559 you'll see there's verses here. What's very unusual about this passage is that it's all three. Typically 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:12.399 in scripture, you'll find someone wearing sackcloth and fasting or someone removing their robe, such 00:17:12.399 --> 00:17:18.960 as in first and second Samuel, or sitting in ashes. Here you have the king doing all three, 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:24.720 and that goes to show you the extent at which the seriousness that this king was doing. When you 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:31.440 can imagine a king doing that, that's not something you see kings do all the time. It's like if you 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:37.200 can imagine, I'm, if you can imagine the president or if you can imagine the mayor doing something 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:43.279 mourning for the sins of this country or mourning for the sins of the state or mourning for the 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:50.000 sins of the city, that would be a very similar, maybe not exactly the same, because I can't imagine 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:56.559 a politician wearing sackcloth, but you get the idea though, the idea of mourning. I mean, 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:02.799 maybe some of our politicians should wear sackcloth, but the point is though, taking time to mourn for 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:08.079 sin is something that's incredible. And this makes me think though about the leaders that we have in 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:12.960 our own lives, from the local leaders, right, from the statewide, national and global leaders, 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:19.279 even people who are in positions of power in corporations or governments. This is a reminder 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:26.639 for us to pray for our leaders, those who hold in positions of power. They have been placed there, 00:18:26.639 --> 00:18:32.160 and one of the things that we can do is ask that God will intervene, that they will hear the call 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:39.680 from God in the same way that this king of Nineveh heard the call from Jonah. Now, I'm not asking all 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:44.799 of you to go out into the streets and to proclaim that the city will be destroyed, but what we can do 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:50.480 is certainly pray for our leaders, and I want this to be an encouragement for you. If there are, 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:58.960 we pray that our leaders come to know the Lord and use their power for making good and Godly 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:05.200 decisions. That's certainly something, I know we can disagree with policies that are made, I know 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:10.399 that we can disagree with things that they do. We can certainly pray for them though. We can certainly 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:17.519 pray that God will intervene and show them what truth is. Wouldn't it be fantastic if you heard of a 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:24.720 politician or maybe read about a politician who gave their life over to the Lord and made laws or 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:31.360 legislations or made decisions that impacted the community for good? Just think about that. I mean, 00:19:31.360 --> 00:19:38.400 when you think of a king in this context, someone turning it around and going as far as to lay aside 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:45.600 his power for God is just a wonderful story. And we all need to pray for those who are in authority 00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:51.840 that God would lead and guide them to make good, Godly decisions. Like I said, it is a prayer that 00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:57.200 we should have about our leaders, that they come to realize that although they are in positions of 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:04.000 power, there is a power that they are accountable to. I want you to think about that. No matter how 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:09.920 you can be the king of the world, you can be the king of a country, you can be the president of the 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:16.160 United States, but you have accountability to God. And to lay aside your robe is to recognize, 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:21.519 yeah, you may have power, but there's someone who's more powerful than I will ever be, then you will 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:28.160 ever be, then any of us will ever be, and that is our Lord, our God. So the king, he issues a decree 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:35.360 which says, let neither man nor beast nor herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or drink 00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:41.600 water. So you can't eat and you can't drink. And what's so weird about this verse is that 00:20:42.560 --> 00:20:49.120 the people and the animals. That's a very interesting one. So I'm going to go to this next 00:20:49.120 --> 00:20:57.120 slide here. I tried finding something with animals, it was rather difficult. I couldn't find an image 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:03.679 where the people were wearing sackcloth as well as the animals. But you get the idea though, 00:21:03.679 --> 00:21:10.879 just think of this as an idea. So the people and the animals, they fasted in more sackcloth by the 00:21:10.879 --> 00:21:16.399 king's decree. So nobody is going to eat, nobody is going to have a drink. So the king's like, all 00:21:16.399 --> 00:21:21.279 right, that's it. No more food, you're going to have to wait, no more water. We are taking time 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:27.920 to wear sackcloth, to fast, and to pray to God that this city will be saved. Can you imagine 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:36.000 if something, if a decree was made by a leader? That would be, that would be incredible. And we 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:42.240 can see in scripture that this is incredible, that the city is repentant and they're turning from 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:51.759 their sin to go to God. Scholars have debated, why in the world, scripture is funny, right? 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:57.599 Why in the world would even the animals have to put on sackcloth here? Like I understand why people 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:03.680 would need to put on sackcloth, but why in the world is the animals? Well, the only thing that I 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:11.120 could find on this is just the idea that the king wanted to make sure that everybody, I want to make 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:17.279 sure everybody is repenting here. I want to include these animals because they're part of my domain, 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:22.079 they're part of the kingdom here, so I got to make sure that they repent too, because I want to make 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:30.799 sure that this city is saved. So it's just kind of like a, it's showing this kind of over exaggeration, 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:34.559 if you will. It's just showing that the king is just making sure everybody is going to repent. 00:22:35.199 --> 00:22:39.839 So that's, the intention here is just to make sure that everyone realizes the depth and the 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:45.519 seriousness, the gravity of the situation. Again, can you imagine your dogs and your cats and your 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:51.039 horses and your cows and your chickens all wearing sackcloth and you as well? It's just quite a 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:57.359 funny image. Again, I tried finding some sort of image on there, but I couldn't. But I know there 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:03.039 is some humor in this, but if a leader was to command to do this, to repent, I'd put on some 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:07.359 sackcloth. It might be harder to get my children in, it might be hard to get animals to do it, 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:13.119 but you get the idea though. The people were commanded by the king to fast and to be covered 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:19.279 with sackcloth and to call out mightily to God. And as many of you heard in the previous, 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:26.799 in previous sermons, you know that this isn't crying in desperation for help. It's calling upon 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:39.119 God. When we call upon the Lord, we will be saved. And that's, no, it's not that. To think that the 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:44.799 city of Nineveh went to such great lengths to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord is 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:52.879 remarkable. It makes me wonder, how can we respond when God calls us to repent of our sins? Do we 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:57.680 mourn for the wrong that we have done? Do we pray and do we ask for forgiveness from God? 00:23:58.320 --> 00:24:04.880 Certainly, there is a call in Scripture for us, even as a community, to turn from our sins and 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:12.320 to get right with God. The final part of verse eight says, let everyone turn from his evil way 00:24:12.320 --> 00:24:19.360 and from the violence that is in his hands. You know what's unique about that verse? It's saying, 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:26.240 turn from your sin, even the sins you're doing right now. Like that's a crazy wording right 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.719 there. It's kind of like, hey, you guys got to stop what you're doing. And I know you're doing 00:24:30.719 --> 00:24:38.000 wrong right now. You got to stop right now. Like that's a crazy decree by the king. Turn from your 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:42.479 sins, even the ones you're committing from. And this is a great reminder that when we are turning 00:24:42.479 --> 00:24:48.079 from our sins, we should turn from the ones that we are in process of doings or the ones that we 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:56.240 are planning to do. Don't see your sin to completion. Stop from your sin in its traps. And I just love 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:01.039 how the word of God is saying that. I love how this king is saying like, okay, stop even the ones that 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:07.679 are in process. And it's a reminder for us that if you are currently sinning, don't keep living or 00:25:07.679 --> 00:25:12.879 doing the sin. Even like I said, if you're, if you're planning or you're in process of doing sin, 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:21.760 turn from that sin too. Don't see it to completion. Stop. Stop from your sin in its tracks. And I 00:25:21.760 --> 00:25:28.240 certainly hope that if any of you are sinning that you will stop immediately. No, well, I'm, I'm, I'm 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:34.240 in the process of stealing a, you know, embezzling money. I'm in the process of doing this. No, 00:25:35.040 --> 00:25:42.480 you got to stop what you're doing right now. Turn from your sins, repent. Verse nine goes on to say, 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:48.480 and I love what the king is asking. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:56.160 anger so that we may not perish. Does that look does that sound similar to another question that 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:04.079 was asked in the book of Jonah? You remember the captain in chapter one? You know, the captain said, 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:11.519 in chapter one, verse six, perhaps the God will give us a thought that we may not perish. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:17.599 And here you have the king that's saying, who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:27.920 fierce anger so that we may not perish. And so what's very interesting is when you think about the 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:39.839 the captain and the king. These are people who are positions in positions of authority. They 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:49.359 used their power to command their people to call out to God. Do these, did these, did the captain 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:55.359 or the king know the Lord? I don't think so. Because why would they be questioned? Well, who knows? 00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:01.119 Who knows what God's going to do? Or maybe God will give us a thought. I don't believe they did. 00:27:02.399 --> 00:27:06.559 But even though they didn't believe in the Lord and even though they weren't following the Lord 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:14.559 in his way, they were still like using their power to get people to turn to God. And I think 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:20.559 that's very interesting in scripture that we're seeing. They command their people to turn to God 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:26.559 through prayer and repentance so that they may not perish. Just like how the storm that was happening 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:33.359 earlier in scripture, right? To call out to their God. But remember, the sailors were saved. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:43.199 They turned to the Lord and in the same way the king is encouraging his people to turn to the Lord. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:50.240 When a city is in sin, when a country is going more towards the darkness or when someone you know 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:59.359 is in sin, pray to the Lord, pray for others so that they may turn to the Lord and they may 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:07.039 influence other people to come to know the Lord. We pray that our friends, our family, and if you 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:14.479 find yourself in a position of authority, if you are in in charge, if you're in charge in some 00:28:14.479 --> 00:28:21.439 capacity, I would think, use that for good. Not every leader is a Christian, but that doesn't mean 00:28:21.439 --> 00:28:27.919 we can't pray for divine intervention or pray for people to come to know the Lord. This is the 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:34.720 wonderful thing that we see in scripture. Twice you see two people who are in those authority, 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:44.000 authoritative positions to lead people to God. In both instances, both times, these leaders, 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:51.600 they don't know the outcome. They don't know the answer. But we know the answer that when they 00:28:51.599 --> 00:29:00.719 call upon the Lord, they will be saved. I think that's just remarkable. Because you see, all who 00:29:00.719 --> 00:29:08.159 call upon the Lord shall be saved. It's a wonderful encouragement. The leaders, they don't know God, 00:29:08.159 --> 00:29:14.879 but they will know the forgiveness, the grace and the mercy that God has for those who seek him. 00:29:15.439 --> 00:29:20.799 And in verse 10, it says that God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:29.599 and God what, destroyed the city? No, God relented. When people turn away from their sin, or when 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:37.919 someone pleads for the people, for the city, God is compassionate, and he shows his mercy to them. 00:29:37.919 --> 00:29:44.480 Just like how Nineveh was the prodigal city, a sin city, if you will, a city that was in sin, 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:50.319 that was doing evil, and the Lord knew what was going on. They had rebelled. It reminds me just 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:57.279 like how the Israelites had rebelled against God in the wilderness. God's mercy and compassion was 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:02.879 there when they turned away from sin. In your notes, you will see that there are, this is what we 00:30:02.879 --> 00:30:07.679 call the prodigal cycle. There are seven stories that I found in scripture. We're not going to go 00:30:07.679 --> 00:30:15.679 through all of them. Okay, that would be a very extensive study. But these are about people who 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:23.840 may have left God or ran from God. They faced the consequences. They repented and were made right 00:30:23.840 --> 00:30:28.960 with God to be restored in relationship with him. Just like how we're learning, or how we learn, 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:35.200 about Jonah the prophet, running from God, facing the consequences, being in that vulnerability, 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:40.960 being isolated from God, praying the prayer of repentance, and being restored. That is the 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:48.240 prodigal cycle. That is what happens. The city of Nineveh, the people rebel against God through 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:53.200 their wickedness. There is the threat of destruction. It shows the consequences of what happens if 00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:58.960 they do not repent. The people repent, and when hearing Jonah's warning, they are forgiven when 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:06.079 God relents of the disaster that's to happen. Their decision, it leads them to restoration, 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:15.599 because at this moment, at this time in scripture, Nineveh saved. The prodigal son in Luke chapter 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:24.319 15, the son takes his money, he leaves his father. Does he invest his money? No, he squanders it. 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:28.960 He squanders his money. He ends up facing the consequences through famine and poverty. He 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:35.039 comes to his senses. He decides to return to the father. He comes to the father he has taken back 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:46.079 in. And what is there? There is a celebration from the father. It's the same. It's not exactly the 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:54.000 same, but it's a pretty similar storyline. The Israelites in the wilderness, Moses interceded 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:00.879 for the people symbolizing the love, showing the love that Moses had for the people. Remember when 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:10.560 they worshiped the golden calf? Moses pleaded to the Lord. There you go. King David, I know we're 00:32:10.560 --> 00:32:16.560 pressed on time, so we're not going to go, I'm kind of going through it here. King David rebels by 00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:23.520 committing adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. There was the consequence, 00:32:23.520 --> 00:32:28.480 which was the death of David's child. The restoration was the birth of Solomon. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:37.680 Right? Because remember, God sends the prophet Nathan to confront David, and David is forgiven 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:43.519 by the Lord. So we know Solomon. We know him in scripture. And there's a couple other ones. One 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:49.759 of my favorite ones is that last one, Peter's denial and restoration in there, where Peter 00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:58.400 denies Christ. How many times? Three times. He denies the Lord three times. There is the consequence 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:06.000 where Peter is mourning. Right? And then later on, remember in the book of John where Jesus is asking, 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:14.000 Peter, do you love me? That would be the repentance. And the restoration is in the book of Acts, 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:20.800 where Peter is a key leader in church history when the church is expanding. So that's a really cool 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:29.440 one. And I just want you to think. So we had the seven prodigal stories, right? Jonah and the prophet. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.799 There's tons of verses for you to check out on there. But the main point is that 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:45.279 you see this pattern of sin, repentance and restoration. That goes to show you the 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:54.720 the vast amount of love and compassion that God has towards us. And it makes me think of our 00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:02.720 story in Christ. How there is rebellion, right? We acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a 00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:08.880 Savior. There's retribution that the Bible tells us that there's consequences for our rebellion, 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:16.880 for having life without God. There's repentance, how the Bible instructs us to repent and to sin 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:25.440 no more. Think of the woman at the well, or excuse me, the when Jesus said, go and sin no more. 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:33.360 When the Pharisees threw the woman towards, towards Jesus, Jesus said, go and sin no more. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:39.360 So the Bible instructs us to repent and sin no more reconciliation. The Bible assures us that we 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:48.240 can be made a right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. And finally restoration. The Bible 00:34:48.240 --> 00:34:56.000 promises that we can be restored in our relationship with God. And it is God that calls each and every 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:01.440 one of us to make a decision for him to have Christ at the center of our life. 00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:11.679 To turn from our sin and instead turn towards him. Will you answer that call? Will you start over? 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:23.519 Being connected, restored, or right with God? And in that I have a closing question to ask you. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:35.759 Let's see here. Well, the closing question is how can I start or start over with Christ at the center 00:35:35.759 --> 00:35:46.159 of my life? So let's pray. Father God, we are in awe of who you are. You are holy, strong, and 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:53.679 mighty. Your mercy is amazing. And you forgive. You forgive us even when it is hard for us to 00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:59.039 forgive ourselves and to forgive other people. We are amazed by the story of Jonah and how you 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:06.639 used him to bring a city to choose you to repent and to turn to you and not to remain in sin. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:13.599 And in the same manner we pray that we can respond for your call for our lives and that we can find 00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:19.039 you, that we can come to know you, that we can come to grow in you and to be able to go out into 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:25.039 the world to share our faith with others. We pray that we all know you, that we grow in you, 00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:30.880 and that we go out into the world and do good for you in your holy name. May we not be afraid of you. 00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:36.960 May we not be afraid of who you are or your word. May we respond by being a light in this dark and 00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:44.960 confusing world. May we arise and go out into the world today with you being for us and not 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:52.720 against us. We pray for those who do not know you, that they may come to know you. We pray for those 00:36:52.720 --> 00:36:58.000 that are isolated, they're separated, they're struggling, they have a lot of stuff that's going 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:02.159 on in their life. We pray that you give them peace, that you give them calm, that you give them 00:37:02.159 --> 00:37:05.519 strength, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that they may get through whatever it is they're 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:11.360 going on in their life and may they be restored in you. And for those of us who are restored, 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:18.320 may we be on a path of growth, may we be a path of going out and doing good in your name, 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:25.840 that we won't be like babies who are just on milk, that we can eat solid food. 00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:34.239 We ask God that you lead us and guide us as you always do. It is in Jesus' name that we pray and 00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:36.239 everybody says.