If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to the book of Jonah.
And we're going to look at the book of Jonah this morning,
and I'm going to preach all four chapters this morning.
It's probably going to take two or three hours,
but I know that you don't mind and you don't have anywhere to go.
No, I'm teasing.
I'm going to do it in about 30, 35 minutes.
And there's a reason, because some books of the Bible you need to dissect
and look at verse by verse by verse.
And some books of the Bible, to be honest with you,
you need to start in chapter 1 and read them all the way to the end
and then step back and ask yourself, what is God saying?
And this is one of those kind of books.
You're actually better off, you'll understand the book better
if you read it as a whole than if you dissect it into many, many different parts.
How many of you remember the movie Forrest Gump?
How many of you actually saw that movie?
Raise your hand real high, Forrest Gump.
That's great.
All God's people saw that movie, right?
It's a great, great movie.
I think it's probably my favorite movie of all time.
I got a lot of favorites, but I really think that's right there near the top.
It's probably the most quoted movie I can ever remember seeing in my lifetime,
and I don't think I ever laughed harder or experienced a wealth of emotions more
in any other picture than that.
There were times I'd just laugh myself silly,
and other times, I mean, tears would be streaming down my face.
It was just a heart-touching movie.
Let me just test your memory on something, prove what I saw about her.
See if you can remember some of these quotes.
Forrest used to say, my mama always said what?
Anybody remember?
Now, you're going to read it.
You're going to get the clue, right?
Well, go ahead and say it with me.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're going to get.
Mama was a wise gal.
She said, life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're going to get.
She also said, stupid is as stupid does.
Remember that?
And then he said of Jenny, me and Jenny go together like peas and carrots.
And then in the end of the movie, when she's trying to convince him that she's not right for him,
remember what Forrest says?
He says, I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.
That was a great statement, wasn't it?
I remember so many things about that movie.
Here are a few of my favorite things that occurred in that movie.
You remember when he's on the park bench and people would come up and they'd sit down beside him
and have those little conversations?
Wasn't that a great, great part of the movie?
And remember when he went to play football at Alabama and he played for Bear Bryant
and they gave him the ball and, boy, he was fast, greased, lightning.
He goes around the end.
He runs down the sideline, scores the touchdown.
They just forgot to tell him to stop.
And he keeps running right out of the stadium.
Remember that?
And then, of course, he ran and ran and ran all across the West.
And he comes to a place where he says, I think I'm tired.
I'm going to stop.
Love that part.
When he's on the bus with Bubba, his buddy who later, they started a shrimp business.
And he says, here are all the ways you can fix shrimp.
So many different things about that movie caught my attention.
One of the best things, the ping pong scene now that we're in the Olympics.
Remember when he plays ping pong and it's just incredible how fast he can play?
Here's my question to you.
Is that a movie about ping pong?
Is it a movie about football?
Is it a movie about shrimp?
Is it a movie about waiting on a bus or getting off a school bus or fleeing from bullies or standing at the Washington Mall?
It's not about any of those things.
That's just things that set up the telling of the story, right?
And here's what's at the heart of the movie, and you may have never thought about this movie that seriously before.
But if you really sat down and you gave it some thought, and I've had the opportunity to do that, you're kind of at a disadvantage springing this on you this morning.
But if you sat down and thought about it, I think you'd probably agree with this assessment.
This is a movie about how a simple man can love so profoundly, and his love impacts the people who he interacts with.
I mean, in a marvelous, profound way.
Remember Jenny?
Boy, how he loved Jenny.
And how he loved his mother.
And how he loved Captain Dan.
And how he loved Bubba.
And then ultimately, how he loved his little boy through Jenny, right?
It's a powerful, powerful movie.
But it's not about any of those other things.
They're just things we see as we watch the movie.
You say, why are you telling me this?
Because that's the way it is with the book of Jonah.
I want to tell you the story, and when I finish, I don't think anyone here will say,
you took a liberty with that, because I'm going to try to tell you as forthrightly the book of Jonah in just a few minutes as I possibly can.
Here goes, you ready?
Chapter 1, Jonah gets a call from God.
God says, Jonah, I want you to go to the north and to the east, to Assyria, and I want you to preach.
I'm going to destroy that city in 40 days unless they repent.
Go tell them to repent.
You know what Jonah does?
He heads west.
He goes to the coast.
He catches a ship.
He's headed toward Spain.
He's going to Tarsus.
They don't get too far offshore until a great storm begins to prevail.
And the scripture says that Jonah, while others are scurrying about experienced seamen knowing their lives on the line,
they're throwing cargo overboard.
They're trying to lighten the load so the ship will rise in the water.
They're fearful it's going to be swamped and they'll sink.
And they find Jonah asleep in the belly of the ship.
Jonah, how can you be asleep?
Man, we're about to die.
We're all calling out to our gods.
We worship an assortment of gods.
Why don't you call to your God?
Maybe he'll reveal who's at fault here.
Jonah turns to him and says, hey, I don't need to do that.
I know who's at fault.
It's me.
I'm fleeing from God.
I'm disobedient to God.
And so God has brought about this storm.
If you want the storm to end, you need to throw me overboard.
Well, they're reluctant to do that.
They continue to lighten the load of the ship.
Finally, there's no other alternative.
Reluctantly, they throw him overboard.
Immediately, the sea's calm.
He's drifting down through the waters to the very bottom, chapter 2 tells us,
when God rescues him through a fish that we read about in chapter 1.
He has prepared a great fish.
The fish swoops down and swallows Jonah whole.
Incredible.
You'd think he'd have been bitten by the fish, devoured by the fish.
He swallows Jonah whole.
Chapter 2, he's in the belly of the fish.
He's there three days, and he begins to pray, God, somehow rescue me.
Well, God does just that.
He spits him up through the whale or through the great fish on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
He immediately goes to Assyria as he was instructed to do the first time.
Chapter 3.
He gets to Assyria.
There are 120,000 people in this city.
Now, just think with me, using common sense.
No skyscrapers.
No apartment complexes.
So, to have 120,000 people, you know this is an expansive city.
He begins walking from one end of the city to the other, and as he walks, here's what he's saying and preaching.
40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.
Hey, 40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.
He gets to the end.
He's actually hopeful that no one is going to heed his message.
That's what he's hoping.
They won't listen.
God will rain down fire on them.
They'll be destroyed.
He goes to this mountaintop, chapter 4, and he's perched on the mountaintop, and he's looking at the city of Nineveh.
He's angry because he's already made up his mind what's going to happen.
In his mind, he's thinking, I know, I know, I know.
That's why I didn't want to come.
God is going to relent, and God is going to forgive these people.
And sure enough, that's what happened.
They adorn themselves with sackcloth and ashes, a means of showing repentance.
They call out to God, and God is merciful.
From the king down, everyone in Assyria, they repent of their sin, and God spares Nineveh.
So here's Jonah.
He's angry as an old, wet horn.
Let me ask you.
I want to ask you to raise your hand.
Have you ever been so angry you could just hardly spit?
I mean, you're just so mad.
The veins are protruding in your neck.
Your face, the countenance of your face is changed.
Your fists are clenched.
I mean, you're just angry.
And almost angry, can't even talk.
Any of you ever been that way?
Well, that's where Jonah is.
He's that mad.
God speaks to him, Jonah, why are you so mad?
He says, Lord, back in Exodus 34, it says,
You're compassionate and slow to anger and patient and long-suffering and forgiving,
and you forgave the Hebrews back at Mount Sinai,
and I knew this was going to happen.
That's why I didn't want to come here and preach.
Well, he refuses to really say any more to God.
And guess what God does?
He allows this vine to begin to grow,
and it grows up until it covers Jonah's head
and becomes a shelter for Jonah.
Jonah is now more pleased.
He's out of the hot sun, the baking sun of the Mideast.
He's shaded from the sun, a little more bearable now,
until the next morning when he awakens, guess what?
God has prepared a worm, and the worm comes,
and he eats this plant that's growing over Jonah's head.
He devours the root, and the plant withers and dies.
On top of that, God sends a scorching, the Bible says,
scorching east wind, and now he's miserable.
Any of you ever been out in the desert?
I lived in El Paso for about a year one time.
Boy, it can get so hot in the desert,
and when it's dry and the wind gets up and the sand starts blowing,
and you've seen pictures of that in the Middle East, right?
Our soldiers in Afghanistan and those different places,
Syria, different places.
He is miserable beyond belief,
and this time he just explodes,
and he really takes it to God.
I knew this would happen.
I knew this.
I wish I could die.
Boy, you better be glad I wouldn't, God,
because I said, okie dokie.
We'll just let you die right here.
But God doesn't.
He's patient with it.
And then God gives him this message.
He says, Jonah,
how is it that you're discomfortable
because this vine that was over your head
and sheltering you from the sun has withered and died,
and you didn't do anything to bring about its growth?
You didn't plant it.
You didn't cultivate it.
It just appeared.
And now that it's gone because of this worm
and there's a scorching wind,
you are just beside yourself and living,
and you'd rather die than continue living.
When down below,
there are 120,000 people.
Now listen to this.
This is a stinging indictment.
Down below, there are 120,000 people.
Can you imagine how many people that is?
You see Clemson Stadium on a Saturday,
and it's about 80,000 people?
You hack that again.
That's 120,000 people.
He says there are 120,000 people.
They're not uncomfortable.
They're not just hot.
There's not just a scorching east wind.
They don't know their left hand from their right hand,
and in 40 days,
they're all going to die unless I intervene and rescue them.
And all you can think about is your own discomfort.
Now that's the story of Jonah.
Here's the million-dollar question.
What's it about?
What do you think God wants us to take away from that?
I want to begin by telling you what the book is not about,
two things it's not about,
and I'm going to tell you one thing it is about.
And some of you may leave here a little shook
because you'll say, you know what?
I always thought it was about this,
but really true it's not.
Let me begin by telling you this is not a fish story.
All the part about the great fish is interesting,
and it's real,
and it's historically accurate,
and I think it really and truly happened,
but I want you to understand this.
This is not a fish story.
And sadly, sometimes when we hear people teach our children,
that's what they seemingly make this all about.
It's all about the great fish,
and it's not.
And sometimes in worship in certain places
where guys don't handle the passage right,
I've heard folks, even adults,
preachers stand in the pulpit
and talk about that great fish
more than they talk about anything else,
how God did it,
and try to convince people.
It's historically accurate.
It's historically accurate
because Jesus affirms it.
Jesus says in the New Testament,
even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days,
so the Son of Man will be in the grave three days.
That settles it.
It happened.
But I want to tell you something.
There's no way you're ever going to make sense of that someone
unless they see this as a miracle
because that's what it is.
You understand it?
It's a miracle.
A fish doesn't swallow a man
never had before that time,
never has after that time,
and the man not be devoured
and live even further in the belly of the fish
for three days.
That just doesn't happen unless,
why?
It's a miracle.
So you either got to accept it as a miracle
or you got to say,
that didn't happen.
I choose to believe
it happened exactly as the scripture said.
It's a miracle,
but here's the deal.
That's not why God did it.
He didn't give us this book
so you would say,
wow, how powerful God is
because he created this fish
in which a man could survive for three days.
Is it true?
It's true.
But don't miss what the book is about.
It's not a fish story.
And I'm going to prove it to you right now.
I'm going to show you something
you may have never seen before.
And I want you to look at the scripture
so if you got your Bible,
I don't care what translation you're using,
I want you to open your Bible
and look at Jonah chapter 1 and verse 17.
Now, as soon as you found it,
you got that?
Look up and look at me.
It's real important,
just for a second.
How many of you are using the King James Version?
Raise your hand if you're using it.
Anybody here?
One there in the balcony?
Anywhere else?
New King James Version.
Anybody?
One over here?
One here?
A couple back there?
How many are using the NAS?
One, two, three here?
Anybody else?
How about the Holman?
The ESV?
A bunch with ESV, I'm sure.
Okay.
I don't care what translation.
NIV.
Oh, a lot of you NIV people.
NLT.
Anybody else?
Okay.
Down here on the front,
a couple there in the back.
Now, listen to me carefully.
I don't care which translation you're using.
It's all going to be the same in this sense.
The writer of Hebrews,
or the writer of Jonah, rather,
in Hebrew,
is giving us chapter 1 and verse 17,
and he's going to use a word
that's going to be used repeatedly
here in the book of Jonah.
Look at 117.
I'm reading from the Holman,
and the ESV says the same thing.
The Lord appointed a great fish.
Now,
I'm talking about the word appointed.
Look at your translation
and see what it says.
You see what it says?
If you're reading from the King James Version,
prepared.
NAS,
designated.
NIV,
provided.
NLT,
arranged.
ASV,
prepared.
Anybody see anything different than that?
That's what they all say, right?
Now, let me show you something else.
Go with me to chapter 4
and look at verse 6.
It's where he describes
this plant
that grew over Jonah's head.
In my translation,
remember what I said?
It said in the Holman,
the ESV,
appointed.
Chapter 4,
verse 6,
the Lord appointed a plant.
Now,
look at your translation,
whatever it is.
Whatever it says in 4, 6,
that's what it's going to say in 117.
This is yes and no.
You got it?
Isn't that right?
Everybody agree with that?
Whatever word it used
in chapter 117,
he uses that same word
in chapter 4,
verse 6.
Now,
go to the next verse,
verse 7.
The Lord appointed a worm.
Again,
whatever word is used
of that worm
is used of the plant,
is used of the great fish.
Finally,
go to 4, 8.
God appointed
a scorching east wind.
Whatever word you use
in 4, 8,
it uses in 4, 7.
In 4, 6,
in 117.
Now,
look up and listen
and get this.
Stay on the page with me.
These are all
things that historically,
realistically,
authentically happened.
They are all miracles
and they are all props
of God
in the telling
of this story.
And that's all they are.
We get all
worked up
over the big fish,
but the big fish
is no more
a miracle
than the plant
or the worm
or the scorching wind.
Do you see that?
I want to show you
something you may
not have thought about.
How many of you
have always marveled
how fast kudzu grows?
Well,
I'm from Oconee County.
It'll just take over
the world sooner or later,
right?
Kudzu?
It'll cover every building
inside you get a chance.
It grows.
In the mountains,
I had a pastor one time,
he was from Bat Cave
and he told me
in the mountains,
we call it foot of day
because that's how much
it'll grow.
They come and they cut
along the highway,
it'll grow a foot
before you come back
the next day.
I don't know
if that's true or not.
My wife has a begonia
and you can take
a cutting of this begonia
and put it in water
and put it in dirt
and I want to tell you something,
you come back
three to four weeks later
and that begonia
will be this high.
We've got two
beside our front door.
They just grow,
you can't kill them.
They just grow like crazy.
Could a man hide
beneath that begonia
as fast as it grows
and get shelter?
I'm going to tell you something.
For a plant to come up
out of the ground
and to cover a man's head
and he can make a shelter
from it in a single day,
that's a miracle.
Would you agree with that?
That's nothing short
of a miracle.
A fish that can swallow
a man and him be unharmed
after living three days
in his belly,
that's a miracle.
Well, what about the worm?
The worm doesn't get
his just due, does he?
The worm comes along
and eats away at this plant
and within hours,
it dies.
That's a pretty powerful worm,
wouldn't you say?
God has given that worm
pretty special powers.
This scorching east wind,
I believe,
came absolutely out of nowhere.
If there had been
a meteorologist that morning,
he wouldn't have said,
hey, today there's going
to be a scorching east wind.
It's going to be tough
on us here in Nineveh.
God created that
and it came out
of absolutely nowhere.
But understand this,
each one of those
are props
in the telling of the story
and the worm is not the story
and the plant's not the story
and the scorching east wind
is not the story.
And the fish
is not the story.
Everybody with me?
I want to tell you
a second thing that's not.
And this second thing
is a mistake
that some preachers have made.
I probably made it
sometime in my life.
We look at chapter one
and see Jonah's
saying, yes, I'll go
and then his disobedience
and then he's swallowed
by the fish
and he repents
and he's thrown up
on the shore
and we say,
how important
our obedience
to God is
in accomplishing
what God
is wanting to do.
This is not a story
about how important
we are
in God's will
being accomplished.
We way,
way,
way
overemphasize
Jonah's importance
if you make that
the teaching
that comes
out of this passage.
I want to tell you
something.
God could have
resurrected
Balaam's donkey
from the dead
and send him
to Nineveh
and in my estimation
he'd have probably
done a better job
of preaching
than Jonah did.
If you think
that city
got saved
because of
Jonah's great
preaching,
you have missed
this story.
I want to tell you,
he reluctantly,
even after being
swallowed by the fish,
goes to Nineveh
and preaches
and I think
it was probably
as sorry a message
as anybody
has ever preached.
It's obvious
by how he reacts
in chapter four,
he doesn't want
these people
to respond
and so I can see
Jonah now
hands in his pocket
40 days
and God's going
to wipe you
off the face
of the earth
and under his breath
and I kind of
hope he does.
40 days
and Nineveh
is going to be
destroyed.
40 days
and Nineveh
is going to be
destroyed
and he does
that three days
and then he goes
off and he pouts
and he's hoping
that God is going
to bring judgment
on but instead
God shows
absolute
mercy.
I'm telling you
it is not about
how God needs us
for his will
to be accomplished.
I want to tell you
something.
You need to obey
God because if you
obey God
God will bless
in your life
and you will
live close to God
and know fellowship
and communion
with God
and he is God
and we need to
obey him
and bring him
glory.
But if you do
not obey him
I want to tell you
something.
You will never
keep God's will
from coming about.
He is sovereign
and God is going
to do what God
desires to do
and God desired
to save Nineveh
and Jonah was not
about to get in the
way of that
occurring.
So let's bring it
home.
What is this story
about?
One simple truth.
Please understand
this.
This is a story
about the incredible
mercy and grace
of God.
Did you get that?
Had you ever
thought that before?
I hope so.
This story is about
one thing.
The story of Jonah
is about the
matchless,
wonderful,
powerful love
of God
for humanity.
He loves
sinners.
He loves people
who are way,
way, way
away from him.
We may not
give a nickel
about them
but God
loves them.
It's about the
grace and the
mercy and the
depths of the
love of God.
Now listen to me
carefully.
If I want to
demonstrate how
white white is,
do you know how
I do that?
I put it against
a backdrop of
black.
There's no better
way to show the
whiteness of white
than against the
backdrop of black.
There's no better
way to show the
blackness of black
than to put it
against the
backdrop of white.
Nothing contrasts
black like white
or white like black.
And that's what God
does in this book.
God is bringing us
to chapter four so
he can say to
everyone in this
room and to
Jonah and to the
people of that day
and time,
I want to show you
how I love and
I want to show
you how you
love.
I want to show
you what concerns
me and I want to
show you what
concerns you.
Jonah, you're all
about your comfort.
Man, when that
vine grew over
your head and
there was shade
and it was
blistering hot and
you found comfort
and shade, you
were okay.
your temper began
to ease because
really and truly,
Jonah, you know
what you're all
about?
You are all
about you.
You are self
absorbed.
You're the picture
of what it is to
be self absorbed.
As long as things
are good in your
world, it's okay.
But Jonah, look
below you.
There are 120,000,
listen to this,
older men like here
this morning and
middle-aged men and
young men and
young women and
middle-aged women
and older women and
children and babies
just like they're in
Nineveh.
Not to even talk
about their livestock
and their animals.
And those people
are pitiful.
You know how God
describes them?
In chapter 4, just
turn with me and
look there.
Look in chapter 4
in verse 10.
This is what God
says.
So the Lord said,
you cared about the
plant which you did
not labor over and
did not grow.
It appeared in a
night and perished
in a night.
Should I not care
about the great city
of Nineveh, which
has more than 120,000
people who cannot
distinguish between
their right and
their left as well
as many animals?
Boy, what a
stinging indictment.
He says, you're so
concerned about that
vine.
Should I not be
concerned about that
120,000?
And this is what he
says, who can't
distinguish their
left from their
right.
You know what that
means?
They are spiritually
blind.
They don't have any
moral, spiritual
compass.
Can I just ask you
folk at First Baptist
Pigs, are you aware
how blessed you are?
Not all of you, but
many of you are like
myself.
You are raised in
Christians' homes.
You worshipped in a
beautiful facility like
this most all your
life.
You had copy after
copy of copy of the
word of God in your
home.
If you don't have a
sense of moral
direction, it's your
own fault.
But there are billions
of people out there in
our world, about a
billion Chinese.
They don't have a clue
who Jesus is.
They're about a billion
Indians.
They don't have a clue
who God is.
And we look at them
and we judge them and
we say, man, they do
such crazy things and
they're acting this way
and that way.
And even people in our
own culture who've never
been exposed to the
gospel, many of them.
People like LBGQT.
I mean, they do crazy
things and we look at
that and we say, my
goodness, how could they
be so perverted?
I'll tell you what, they
don't know their left
hand from their right
hand.
Do you understand that?
They don't have a moral
compass.
They don't have a
spiritual compass.
And so they're lost.
My friend, that's the
message of the book of
Jonah.
Can I make three or four
real, real quick?
I mean, just about a
minute, a point.
Three or four quick
observations.
Here's the first.
First and foremost, Jonah
is a picture.
You won't like this.
I don't like it.
Of us.
Jonah is a picture of
me.
It's a picture of you.
It's a picture of us.
And when I say us, I'm
getting personal.
I'm not talking about
people outside the faith.
I'm not talking about
humanity.
It's a picture of those
of us who claim to know
God.
Because I got news for you.
We're pretty self-absorbed.
We say, I'm not like
old Noah, man.
I'm concerned about lost
people.
We're concerned about
lost people in name.
I mean, if we see
pictures of people in
countries who don't know
God and they're
perishing, we go like
this.
Boy, that's bad.
That's terrible.
Sunsuit teacher really
did a good job bringing
that point home this
morning.
That mission speaker did
a good job.
Let's go get a
cheeseburger.
You want to?
What's for lunch today?
And we rush off to our
comfortable little homes.
Truth of the matter is,
we get way more worried
if the stock market
suddenly collapses.
If the housing market
suddenly collapses.
Oh, that's what gets us
upset.
If one of us gets sick
and has to go to the
hospital, now that'll get
our attention.
Because, you see, we're
pretty self-absorbed.
This is a book about us.
It's a book about us.
Secondly, people in our
world are exactly like
the people who live in
Syria.
They're as lost as they
can be.
Sorry, I'm having trouble
with this with my big old
ears.
They're just as lost as
they can be.
They don't know up from
down, right from left,
and they're just lost.
And that's the way it is
with those folk in
Assyria as well.
Look at a third point.
Like Jonah, we don't like
them very much.
If we're just really honest,
we don't like the lost people
of the world very much.
And we don't like them for
the same reasons that Jonah
didn't like them.
And you know why he didn't
like them?
Because they were a threat
to him.
He knew that.
In 722, Assyria is going to
forsake God, and they're
going to march south into
Jerusalem and into Israel.
And they're going to defeat
Israel.
And it's going to collapse
and be no more as a nation
until 1948.
I don't know if Jonah saw
that coming or not, but he
knew they were a real
serious threat.
And that's the reason he
didn't want to see them
saved.
He wanted them to perish
because he didn't like them.
And I'll tell you, they
earned their reputation.
They were a brutal bunch.
Man, they would scatter
people.
They weakened every culture,
every country, every society
they ever conquered.
So they had earned their
reputation.
And if we'll be real, real
honest, we don't like the
lost people of the world
today either, do we?
What we like to do is find
somebody who's kind of like
us and share the gospel
with him and see them be
saved.
But if they're really out
there on the edge and
they're way away from us
and they don't have a clue
about spiritual things,
eh, they're expendable.
They're disposable.
Fourthly and finally, and I
close, in spite of how we
feel, God loves them.
In spite of how we feel, boy,
God loves them.
And that's what the book of
Jonah is all about.
He's just wanting to pound
home to Jonah and pound home
to us how much he cares for
people who are sinners.
And you know what?
When his son comes on the
scene in the New Testament,
and we're going to get that in
a few weeks, you're going to
find the same thing is true
of Jesus.
He is a friend of sinners.
They may not matter to us,
but they matter like
everything to God.
And because they matter to
him, they should matter to
us.
I want to tell you something.
The gospel is the gospel
and it's good news for us.
And it was good news for the
Hebrews.
And it was good news for the
Assyrians.
And I want to tell you something.
It's good news for our world.
When I was a young man getting
ready to go in the high school,
I was at Raines Heights Baptist
Church and in comparison to
this building, I was on the
next to the last row, about two
or three people over on that
next to the last row, sitting
in the back, my right arm around
the young lady, just trying to be
cool.
And somebody had said to me,
about two weeks earlier in a
locker room, he went on to become
a pastor.
He said, if you were to die today,
if we were to die today, I
actually said, do you think we'd go
to heaven?
We both had grown up in that
church or were going to that
church.
And I turned to him and I said,
Bruce, no way in the world I would.
I know I'm going to hell.
Because I'm not right with God.
I know I'm not.
And I'm sitting on that next to the
last pew and the pastors preached the
message.
And at some point, the Holy Spirit got a
hold of my heart.
And he convicted me.
He showed me just how messed up I was.
And boy, I was pretty messed up with
somebody that age.
I was just running from God.
Just crazy.
And I got up out of that pew, left that
young lady and came down that aisle and
came right here to the front where the
pastor was.
And I said, pastor, I need to be saved.
I was already a member.
The church had been baptized.
He says, Frankie boy, that's what they
call me.
Frankie boy, you don't need to be saved.
You just need to rededicate your life.
And thank God I had enough sense to know
he was wrong and I was right.
And I went over and I kneeled about where
that would be.
And I just talked to God.
I didn't know how to talk.
I just talked to God.
And I said, God, I desperately need you to
show me mercy and grace.
I believe you died for me.
And I'm asking you to forgive my sins.
And right there in the moment, he forget it
was the greatest moment of my life.
It changed everything about my life from
then to this very moment in time.
It changed everything.
I am so glad that God loved this sinner like
me.
And Jonah should have been so glad that God
loved this sinner like him.
And that he loved his Hebrew ancestors,
predecessors.
The gospel is good for everybody.
Amen?
It'll save everybody.
And it's good for you today.
If you're here in this room and you've never
received Christ, you may say, you know what?
I just don't get Christians.
I just don't understand why they live,
the way they live.
I just keep messing up.
And I just make a mess of my life.
I'm going to tell you something.
You need God in your life.
You need what those Ninevites needed.
You need what I needed.
You need the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.
And God loves you.
And that's why he gave us this book, to let you know how
much he loves you.
Would you come to him today?
Would you trust him today?
If you're here, maybe you're already a believer, but you're
just out there, man, as long as everything's good in my world,
I'm good.
Would you allow God to break your heart?
Would you allow him to give you a compassion for lost people
that maybe right now you just don't have, but you'd like to
have that?
Would you leave your seat this morning and consider coming here
and kneeling at the altar and doing business with God?
You don't need to talk to me necessarily.
You just need to do what I do, come talk to God and say, God,
here's what I need to get right in my life.
We're going to stand and the instrument is going to play.
And I'm wondering if the spirit of God is dealing with you and if
he is, would you come?
As we sing or as we're not going to sing, but as they play, you
come.
Let's stand.
Let's play.
Let's stand.