556.
And it's a good psalm to prepare us as we come to listen to God's Word.
Let's read Psalm 25 verse 1.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. In you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame.
But they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
Show me your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth.
And teach me, for you are God my Saviour.
And my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways.
According to your love, remember me, for you are good, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord.
Therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Who then is the man that fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
He will spend his days in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land.
The Lord confides in those who fear him.
He makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever on the Lord.
For only he will release my feet from the snare.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart have multiplied.
Free me from my anguish.
Look upon my affliction and my distress.
And take away all my sins.
See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me.
Guard my life and rescue me.
Let me not be put to shame.
For I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me.
Because my hope is in you.
Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles.
Amen.
Well, I'm going to ask Seth to come up.
And I'm going to pray for you.
Is that okay, Seth?
You don't mind people praying for you?
That's a good start.
So let's pray for Seth.
Father, we thank you for Seth.
And we thank you for him being here this morning.
We pray that you would use him to speak your words to us.
Fill him with the power of your spirit.
And may your spirit be at work within us.
Bringing us on to be the people you call us to be.
May we not leave this building without an encounter with you.
Hearing you.
And knowing you more deeply.
We pray this for your glory.
And for our good.
Amen.
Well, thank you.
It's great to be here.
I like this church.
I like to be here.
It's great to see just a glimpse of what God is doing
on this side of the county.
If you would just turn in your Bibles to Jonah.
I wonder if this could lower a little bit.
I'm not quite as tall.
Okay, not that much.
Right.
Turn your Bibles to Jonah.
If it's the church Bible, it's on page 927.
Now, last Sunday, it was only a week ago
that we were celebrating Easter.
And if we're thinking about Jesus at Easter,
which we should be, not just chocolate eggs and bunnies and things,
then we're probably focusing on his love for us.
We're probably focusing on his power to rise from the dead,
to give us that as well, that we'll be able to do that as well.
But there is something else going on at Easter,
maybe not quite so comfortable,
and that is God's judgment for sin.
Because Easter wouldn't have happened
if Good Friday hadn't happened first.
Jesus rose from the dead,
but before he rose from the dead, he had to die.
And why did he die?
Because of our sin and our rebellion,
it was that serious.
That's what it took.
If there had been an easier way to save us,
then God certainly wouldn't have made Jesus go to the cross.
If all roads lead to heaven, as some people say,
then why on earth would God send Jesus to die
just to open up one more road to the same place?
Jesus prayed in the garden,
if it is possible, let this cup be removed.
But it wasn't removed.
It wasn't possible.
There was no other way to save us
than dying the death that we deserved for our sin.
So yes, God's mercy is incredible.
It's amazing.
And it's to be celebrated.
But we're not going to understand quite how amazing it is
unless we have some idea
of the judgment that we deserved,
of what we're actually being saved from.
But if we only emphasize one or the other,
we can go off either way.
We can emphasize God's mercy so much
that we forget about God's judgment.
Or we can emphasize God's judgment so much
that we forget about his mercy.
We can go off balance quite quickly.
And this morning, we're going to look at a prophet,
Jonah,
who got the balance wrong in both directions
at the same time.
Which might seem a bit crazy, but it's true.
He's an interesting case,
and I think we can learn a bit from him.
So let's look at just the first couple of verses there in Jonah.
It says,
The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai.
Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it,
because its wickedness has come up before me.
So right at the beginning here,
we see a command.
God's judgment is to be preached to Nineveh.
So there's God's justice.
Why will God be judging Nineveh?
Well, he says right here, he says,
Their wickedness has come up before me.
They're wicked.
We don't know everything there is to know
about the ancient empire of Assyria,
which Nineveh was the capital of most of the time.
But we know enough,
we've discovered enough to know
that they really were quite wicked.
Even by the standards of the people around them,
they were wicked.
And the standards weren't very high.
They worshipped false gods,
and their gods were capricious and cruel,
and the people that worshipped them became like them.
And it was normal in those days
for war to be very brutal.
I suppose war always is brutal.
But the Assyrians took torture and intimidation
and cruelty to just new highs,
new lows maybe is a better way to say it.
They were horrible.
I won't go into detail.
It's well documented.
If you want to know,
you can find out just exactly how terrible they were.
But we know very well they were wicked.
Now in Jonah's time,
they had already started to build a reputation for themselves.
They'd already started to expand their empire,
taking over some of their neighbors.
They hadn't got to Israel yet,
but they definitely were a threat.
They kind of stalled for the moment
when Jonah was around
because they were having some internal rebellions.
They were having some famines and things.
But Jonah knew that the first chance they got,
they would love to come and conquer Israel
and be just as cruel and merciless
as they had been to everyone else.
So he knows what's going on here.
He knows that these people really are wicked.
And what is his response?
Sorry.
What's his response to God's command
to go and preach judgment on them?
Verse 3.
Jonah ran away from the Lord
and headed for Tarshish.
Or Tarshish or Tarshish.
Anyway, that place.
He went down to Joppa
where he found a ship
found for that port.
After paying the fare,
he went aboard
and sailed for Tarshish
to flee from the Lord.
He ran away.
But why would he run away?
He didn't like them.
We see later
that he really wanted God to judge them.
He wanted it very badly.
And here God is telling him
that he's going to judge them
and that he should go
and announce that to them.
So why not go and tell his enemies
that they're doomed?
What would stop him
from wanting to do that
when he wanted them to be judged?
Well, basically, the reason is
that Jonah knew something
about God.
It's something that he had seen himself
because God had already used him
to prophesy to Israel.
We see this same Jonah show up
in 2 Kings, chapter 14.
And I'll just read to you.
In the 15th year of Amaziah,
son of Joash, king of Judah,
Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash,
king of Israel,
became king in Samaria.
He reigned 41 years.
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
He didn't turn away
from any of the sins of Jeroboam,
which he had caused Israel to commit.
He was the one
who restored the boundaries of Israel
from the Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea
in accordance with the word of the Lord,
the God of Israel,
spoken through his servant,
Jonah, son of Amittai,
the prophet from Gath-Hepper.
The Lord had seen how bitterly
everyone in Israel,
slave or free,
was suffering.
There was no one to help them.
And since the Lord had not said
that he would blot the name of Israel
out from under heaven,
he saved them
by the hand of Jeroboam.
So here's Jeroboam,
a bad king.
And yet God sends a message
with Jonah that says,
I'm going to bless you.
I'm going to bless Israel
through this bad king.
So Jonah already knew
that God was inclined
to show mercy to people
even when they didn't deserve it.
Because obviously Israel
had done nothing
to deserve this mercy.
This was an evil king.
The people,
the king had never repented.
The people had never repented.
And yet God says,
I haven't told them
that I would destroy them.
So I'm going to bless them instead
and give them another opportunity
to repent.
And turn back.
He knew also very well
what we've read already,
how God had revealed himself
to Moses.
We've had it read already
in Exodus 34.
The Lord,
the Lord,
compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abounding in love
and faithfulness,
maintaining love to thousands,
forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin.
Yet he does not leave
the guilty unpunished.
He punishes the children
and their children
for the sin of the parents
of the third and fourth generation.
So there's justice
in God's dealings
with people, yes.
But Jonah knew
that there was more
than only justice.
There was mercy
and forgiveness
even for those
who had rebelled
and sinned.
And that kind of forgiveness
had already been shown
over and over
and over and over again
in the history
of God's people,
Israel,
and even in the nations
around them.
In Jeremiah 18,
God says specifically,
he says,
if at any time
I announce
that a nation or kingdom
is to be uprooted,
torn down and destroyed,
if that nation I warned
repents of its evil,
then I will relent
and not inflict on it
the disaster I planned.
So God has said it
very clearly,
very specifically,
and Jonah had seen
the pattern in history.
That when God
announces judgment
against people
for their sin,
he leaves them
an opportunity.
often many opportunities
to repent
and be forgiven.
So why did Jonah run away?
He ran away
because he knew
that if he announced
God's judgment
against the Assyrians,
there was the very real possibility
that they would repent
and that they would not be judged
because God would spare them.
It wasn't actually
specifically part of the message
because the message
was only go to the great city
and preach against it
because of their wickedness.
It wasn't in the message itself,
but the very fact
that God was giving them warning
before he destroyed them,
before he judged them,
showed that he was giving them
a chance to repent,
to avoid the judgment.
And Jonah just could not
stand the thought
of that happening
to his enemies.
And if we look at chapter 4,
if you just turn over
to chapter 4,
Nineveh actually does repent.
It happens just as
Jonah was afraid of
and God spares them
from the judgment
that he had warned.
So in 4, verse 1,
to Jonah this seemed
very wrong
and he became angry.
He prayed to the Lord,
isn't this what I said,
Lord, when I was still at home.
This is what I tried
to forestall by fleeing
to Tarshish.
I knew that you are
gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger
and abounding in love.
Where have we heard
that before?
A God who relents
from sending calamity.
Now, Lord,
take away my life.
It's better for me
to die than to live.
He's pretty upset.
And here he is
quoting Exodus 34,
word for word,
God's character,
but he's not quoting it
as a praise.
He's quoting it
as an accusation
against God.
He's very much okay
with God
being gracious
to Israel.
He doesn't seem
to have any problem
delivering the message
that God was going
to be gracious
to Israel
in spite of their sin.
That's okay.
Not upset about that.
But when God
is gracious
to the Assyrians
even after they repent,
that's a problem.
And that's why
he runs away.
And it seems like
he thought that maybe
if he held back
the message,
that if he
just didn't tell them,
didn't give them
the warning,
maybe they really
would be doomed
because they'd have
no opportunity
to repent.
In his mind,
he seemed to think
that by running away,
he would make sure
that the Assyrians
got what they
really deserved.
Of course,
God wasn't so easily
put off.
He sends this
massive storm
to the ship.
The sailors are afraid.
They realize
it's the hand of God.
But Jonah's response
is interesting,
I think.
This is back
in chapter 1.
He talks about...
Sorry.
Jonah doesn't
beg for his life.
He doesn't say,
God, you know,
okay, fine,
I'll obey you.
Just please save us.
In fact,
Jonah doesn't
even pray at all.
The sailors pray.
They ask Jonah
to pray,
but he doesn't do it.
All he says
is just throw me in.
Which is basically
just saying,
just kill me now
because you get
thrown into a stormy sea
in the middle
of the ocean.
Well,
that's basically
certain death.
So, I mean,
is it possible
that Jonah
was actually
so committed
to making sure
that the Assyrians
were judged
that he was actually
willing to make,
to even die
to make sure
that that happened?
To make sure
that the message
would not get to them
and that they
wouldn't get the warning
and that if he died,
maybe they would die too.
One thing that Jonah
saw clearly,
he saw clearly
that the sin
of the Assyrians
was a serious thing.
And he was right.
Their sin
really did deserve
God's judgment.
There's no question
about it.
God had every right
to announce judgment
on Nineveh
for all the wicked
things that they had done.
But God had every right
to be gracious
as well.
And he had every right
to be gracious
to Israel
and he had every right
to be gracious
to wicked Nineveh.
What Jonah
can't see
very clearly here
is that God
also had every right
to announce judgment
on Jonah himself.
Jonah deserved
the same kind of judgment
that Assyria
was getting.
After all,
he had directly
disobeyed
God's clear command.
He had tried his best
to subvert
God's revealed will,
his stated will,
and make things happen
according to his own agenda.
He was very committed
to that,
even to the point of
maybe even being
willing to die for it.
And he never even
repents.
If you look in chapter 2,
he gives this long prayer
after God saves him
from his trying
to kill himself.
in verse 3 of chapter 2,
he said,
You hurled me
into the deep
in the very heart
of the seas
and the currents
swirled about me.
All your waves
and breakers
swept over me.
I mean,
he's basically,
he's saying
God hurled him
into the deep
and it was God's waves
that were over him.
But is that really fair?
I mean,
wasn't it Jonah
who asked the sailors
to throw him in?
Wasn't the very fact
that he was on the ocean
a result of his
direct disobedience?
I mean,
if he had gone to Nineveh,
he wouldn't have had
to cross an ocean.
So,
and look in verse 4.
He says,
I've been banished
from your sight,
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.
But,
who banished him?
Wasn't it Jonah himself
that was doing
his level best
to get away from God?
To get away
from God's sight?
And yet,
he makes it sound
like he's doing
something wonderful
looking towards the temple
after he's been banished.
And in verse 7,
he says,
my life was ebbing away.
I remembered you
and my prayer rose to you
to your holy temple.
He makes it sound
like he's pretty great
that in the middle
of all this trouble,
he's looking to the Lord,
but there's no admission
that he actually
was the cause
of all the trouble.
That his rebellion
against God
was the reason
for all of that trouble.
He kind of promotes himself
even in his prayer
of thankfulness.
He's quoting lots
of scripture.
He knows his Bible well,
but there's something
really missing here.
There's no repentance.
There's no admission
of doing anything wrong.
And contrast that response
with the wicked people
of Nineveh
when they heard his warning.
Look in chapter 3,
starting in verse 5.
The Ninevites believed God.
They declared a fast,
all of them,
from the greatest to the least,
and put on sackcloth.
When the news reached
the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne,
took off his royal robes,
covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat down in the dust.
Then he issued a proclamation
in Nineveh.
By the decree of the king
and his nobles,
do not let any man or beast,
herd or flock,
taste anything.
Do not let them eat or drink,
but let man and beast
be covered with sackcloth.
Let everyone call urgently on God.
Let them give up their evil ways
and their violence.
Who knows?
God may yet relent
and with compassion
turn from his fierce anger
so that we will not perish.
They repented immediately.
And even the sailors,
in 116,
it says,
they feared the Lord.
And offered sacrifices to him.
So it seems like
everyone is actually
responding to God
better than the actual prophet
of God.
And yet even this rebellious prophet
who can't admit
his own disobedience
is given a second chance
by God.
That's a great mercy.
I mean,
God didn't have to do that.
He could have found somebody else
who would be willing to go.
But to Jonah's credit,
he does go the second time,
although his heart
really doesn't change.
We've read already
from chapter 4
about how Jonah
was angry with God
when God spared the Ninevites.
But again,
God is gracious with Jonah
and he gives him
this illustration
at the end of the book
about a plant.
He makes this plant
grow over Jonah
and Jonah loves it
because it gives him shade,
makes him comfortable.
And then he takes it away
and Jonah's angry.
But basically,
he's teaching Jonah
that his perspective
is just way too small.
He cares so much
about his own comfort.
He cares about this plant.
He cares about his own agenda.
But he can't see
the desperate need
of a whole city
full of people
that God created.
So what Jonah saw,
he saw very clearly
that other people's sins
deserve God's judgment.
Which was true.
But what he overlooked
was that his own sins
deserve God's judgment
as well.
He just took for granted
that God had mercy on him.
And God did have mercy on him.
But he didn't recognize
his own even need for that.
But God sees all of it.
He sees all sin.
He doesn't pick and choose
whose sin to take seriously.
He doesn't pick and choose
what sin to take seriously.
We love to take sins
sins that we don't struggle
with seriously.
And we love to kind of
justify and overlook
the sins that, you know,
are more common to us.
But God doesn't do that.
He sees all sin
as serious
as it really is.
But thankfully,
our only hope is
that God is a God of mercy
as well.
But the question is,
do we really
realize
and do we
recognize
our own need
for God's mercy?
I mean,
Romans says,
the wages of sin
is death.
And all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
Isaiah says,
all of us
have become
like unclean.
I'm sorry,
all of us
have become
like one who is unclean.
All our righteous acts
are like filthy rags.
Even our righteous acts
are like filthy rags.
Even our best moments
are tainted
with sin.
Whether it's
wrong attitudes
or pride
or self-promotion
or self-sufficiency.
I mean,
it's clear that
even our good deeds,
even our good deeds
can be done
in rebellion
against God.
We might be like Jonah
and we might look down
on the really wicked people
around us
who are doing
really wicked things
and we think
that we're way
better than them.
But if we could see
from God's perspective,
it'd be obvious
that even if
our sins may be different,
all sin
is serious.
All sin
deserves
God's judgment.
We might try
to justify
our own sin.
We might take
God's mercy to us
for granted
like somehow
we deserve it.
But even while
we're looking down
on really wicked
people around,
we need to realize
that our sin
is so serious
that the only way
for God
to offer forgiveness
to us,
the only way
for God
to offer mercy
to us
was for Jesus
to take our punishment
to the cross.
that's how
serious
our sin is.
And following
on from that,
do we realize,
okay,
how serious
our own sin is?
But also,
do we realize
how serious
the sin is
of other people?
And do we realize
their need
for God's mercy
as well?
Jonah realized
very clearly
that people
deserve God's judgment.
But he didn't want
God to have mercy
on them.
But we might go
to the other extreme
and say,
well,
okay,
and just focus
only on God's mercy
to everyone
and say,
ah,
sure,
you know,
they'll be grand.
Even though
God is just
and he must
punish sin.
I mean,
the only place
where God's justice
and mercy
can meet
is the cross
of Jesus.
Where Jesus
met the demands
of God's justice
for us
so that God
could show us
mercy.
But do we even
care enough
about others
to show them
their need
and also
how God
has provided
mercy?
God gave Jonah
a message
of warning
to give to Nineveh
to give them
a chance
to repent
and to be saved.
But he's given us
a similar message.
I mean,
God's judgment
for sin
has not changed.
There still is
judgment for sin
today
just like there was
back then.
Jonah ran away
from giving that
message because
he wanted them
to be judged.
But we have
lots of reasons
for running away
too.
Maybe we don't
want people
to be judged.
We wouldn't
say that anyway.
Maybe some people
we do.
But maybe we're
just afraid of
what people
will think of us.
We're afraid
of our reputation
and people might
make fun of us
or see us
differently.
But the result
is really the same.
We'd still be
holding back
the message
that they need
to hear
to be saved,
to repent.
So,
we need to be
quick to remember
that we depend
on God's mercy
just as much
as everyone else.
We should be
quick to share
with others
that they need
God's mercy too
but that he has
provided it
in Jesus.
We need to take
sin seriously,
not just everyone
else's sin
like Jonah did,
but our own sin
as well.
But we also
should recognize
that in spite
of the greatness
of our sin,
God has provided
a mercy
that is even
greater.
It's not only
for us.
Jonah was very
happy to accept
mercy for himself
but this mercy
is actually
for everyone.
And he's given
us the privilege
of sharing
that message
with others.
The saying is
that the ground
is level at the cross
and it's true.
We all deserve
God's justice
and yet God
has provided
his mercy
that is available
to all.
And I think
that a great
thing for us
to do now
would be to sing
Thank You
for Saving Me
is the next song.
Thank you.