WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.799 First he's going to read the first one, it's on page 777, Jeremiah 18. 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.219 Jeremiah 18, 1-10. 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:27.719 We'll lift him up now so you can hold your finger in Jeremiah 18, which is on page 777. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.240 Okay? 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:40.960 And then flick onto page 928 to Jonah chapter 4. 00:00:44.980 --> 00:00:48.620 928, Jonah chapter 4. 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:55.480 So, Jeremiah 18, 1-10. 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:57.719 And Jonah chapter 4. 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.640 And Kirstie will read first and then. 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:03.859 Kirstie, if you just want to follow in that verse, it's on page 4. 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:07.859 Jeremiah 18, verses 1-10. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.219 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. 00:01:11.219 --> 00:01:15.420 Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:19.579 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:23.840 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands. 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:28.719 So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it, as seemed best to him. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.159 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:36.659 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does, declares the Lord. 00:01:37.119 --> 00:01:41.739 Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:48.979 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:59.079 and if that nation, I warned, repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I have planned. 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:03.980 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:11.360 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I have intended to do for it. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:19.800 Jonah chapter 4, page 928. 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:24.400 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 00:02:25.079 --> 00:02:26.159 He prayed to the Lord, 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:30.159 O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:33.359 This is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:37.419 I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:39.680 slow to anger and abounding in love, 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.120 a God who relents from sending calamity. 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:45.340 Now, O Lord, take away my life, 00:02:45.740 --> 00:02:48.340 for it is better for me to die than to live. 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:50.359 But the Lord replied, 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:52.719 Have you any right to be angry? 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:56.960 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:03.579 There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city. 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:11.020 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort. 00:03:11.699 --> 00:03:13.719 And Jonah was very happy about the vine. 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:20.139 But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:28.240 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:30.900 He wanted to die and said, 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.900 It would be better for me to die than to live. 00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:36.400 But God said to Jonah, 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:39.099 Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:41.300 I do, he said. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:42.719 I am angry enough to die. 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:45.080 But the Lord said, 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:49.099 You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. 00:03:49.700 --> 00:03:52.319 It sprang up overnight, and it died overnight. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:04:01.120 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. 00:04:01.979 --> 00:04:04.620 Should I not be concerned about that great city? 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:16.600 Thanks, Kirsty, and thanks, Chris. 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.039 There are some sheets of paper there with notes. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.400 Questions? 00:04:22.400 --> 00:04:22.560 Questions? 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:24.540 Any left, Joe? 00:04:24.640 --> 00:04:24.760 No? 00:04:25.340 --> 00:04:25.920 They're all out. 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:27.400 There's some there. 00:04:27.460 --> 00:04:30.939 If anybody wants one, Joe will give you one and a ten. 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:39.740 Well, over the last few weeks, we've been going through this book of Jonah. 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:45.860 What we've discovered is that Jonah has very little to do with a great big fish, 00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:49.580 and everything to do with a great big God. 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:56.039 A God who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:59.319 And this morning, we come to the end of the story. 00:05:00.180 --> 00:05:05.360 The last chapter, chapter 4, and the title we've given it is Living with Grace. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.360 Let's pray together. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.500 Let's pray together. 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:18.660 We thank you, God, for who you are. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.240 Great and awesome. 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:33.280 And we come before you humbly, because we recognize that when we read your word and look at what it says, 00:05:33.660 --> 00:05:35.660 it is you speaking to us. 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:46.680 And so we ask that you, by your power, by your spirit, would speak into our lives individually, 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:52.980 speak into our lives as families, speak into the family of this church, 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:57.860 that together we would better understand who you are, 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.620 the kind of response we should give you, 00:06:02.840 --> 00:06:04.860 and the way we should live, 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.300 and the way we should treat those around us. 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:11.420 Please help us. 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:13.600 We ask in Jesus' name. 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:14.460 Amen. 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:23.560 Well, last Tuesday, the long-awaited Savile Report into Bloody Sunday was released. 00:06:24.340 --> 00:06:29.020 It's been an attempt to look into the events which took place at the Civil Rights March 00:06:29.020 --> 00:06:31.639 over 38 years ago in Derry, 00:06:32.200 --> 00:06:34.139 in which 14 people were killed. 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:41.219 The hope has been to uncover the truth and correct any injustice. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:47.699 Of course, the release of this report and all the discussion around it 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:52.019 has raised the issue of justice in Northern Ireland. 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:57.060 People talk about the soldiers who fired indiscriminately 00:06:57.060 --> 00:07:00.919 and murdered innocent victims and have never been charged. 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:07.240 Others talk about those who caused terrible acts of terrorism 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:09.920 but were released early from prison. 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:14.180 It's a highly emotive issue. 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.060 All demands justice, 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:21.100 so when the scales tip in favour of the guilty, 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:24.700 there is understandably outrage. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.660 Not just frustration, but real anger. 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:34.080 And I think we all feel angry when faced with injustice. 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.360 Nothing boils our blood more than seeing the guilty walk free. 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:45.300 We are incensed at the thought that people who cause so much hurt, 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.200 so much pain, so much wrong, 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.560 doesn't matter how sorry they feel, 00:07:50.820 --> 00:07:52.820 doesn't matter their remorse, 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.580 how on earth they can avoid punishment. 00:07:55.579 --> 00:08:01.639 Well, Jonah was a prophet called by God 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:07.620 to bring God's justice and judgment on the people of Nineveh. 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:09.680 Chapter 1, verse 2, 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.019 Go to that great city of Nineveh, 00:08:13.159 --> 00:08:14.399 preach against it, 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.740 because its wickedness has come up before me. 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:20.819 Chapter 3, verse 4, 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:25.259 On the first day Jonah started into the city, 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:26.360 he proclaimed, 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.800 Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned, 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:31.860 or destroyed. 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:37.519 But then something very surprising happened. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.320 Chapter 3, verse 10, 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.879 When God saw what they did, 00:08:44.520 --> 00:08:47.300 and how they turned from their evil ways, 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:49.879 he had compassion, 00:08:50.640 --> 00:08:53.620 and he did not bring upon them the destruction 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:55.040 he had threatened. 00:08:56.920 --> 00:09:01.980 It seems like the scales have kicked in favour of the guilty. 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:05.139 No matter how sorry they are, 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:11.440 surely they still deserve to be punished for what they've done. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:15.300 Jonah's not just frustrated with God, 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:18.019 he's angry with God. 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.200 Look at verse 1 of chapter 4, 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:26.560 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:28.259 Literally, it reads, 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:29.860 Jonah was hot with anger. 00:09:29.860 --> 00:09:32.379 And in his anger, 00:09:32.560 --> 00:09:34.200 he comes to God in a prayer. 00:09:35.379 --> 00:09:39.039 It's always good to pray to God when we're angry. 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:41.740 Let him know how we feel. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.539 And this is how Jonah sells, verse 2. 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:48.060 We mustn't think of him here quietly in a nice little church, 00:09:48.180 --> 00:09:50.680 sitting in a wooden pew with his hands together. 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:52.500 No, he's angry. 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:54.680 He prayed to the Lord. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:58.200 Oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:01.480 That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.840 I knew that you're a gracious and a compassionate God. 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:07.480 You're slow to anger and abounding in love. 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:10.280 A God who relents from sending calamity. 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:17.459 That's the kind of God you are. 00:10:19.019 --> 00:10:20.519 How could you do this? 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.000 Look at what they've done. 00:10:23.079 --> 00:10:25.100 You know their evil and their wickedness. 00:10:25.379 --> 00:10:27.740 And now you're going to go and show them compassion? 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:32.220 You promised that you were going to bring your justice and your judgment. 00:10:32.620 --> 00:10:35.339 How can you relent and let them go unpunished? 00:10:35.340 --> 00:10:37.700 That's unjust. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.820 You can't do that sort of thing. 00:10:40.160 --> 00:10:44.100 If that's the kind of God that you are, look at verse 3. 00:10:45.860 --> 00:10:48.160 Now, oh Lord, take away my life. 00:10:49.160 --> 00:10:52.720 For it is better for me to die than to live. 00:10:55.300 --> 00:10:58.139 Can we understand how Jonah must have felt? 00:10:58.139 --> 00:11:04.159 I think we would all feel that way when we see the injustices in the world. 00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:05.919 When things go wrong. 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:09.939 Why does God not bring about the judgment that they deserve? 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:11.860 Why doesn't he wipe out the wicked? 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:13.600 Why does he let them live? 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:20.500 Well, that's the problem with living with grace. 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:25.200 God does not treat us the way we deserve to be treated. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.139 And that can make us angry. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:33.720 You see, when we're the guilty ones, we cry out for grace. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:38.720 We want to be treated, or rather we don't want to be treated as we deserve. 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:43.919 We want the God of Jonah chapter 2, who's slow to anger, abounding in love. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.279 A God who relents from sending calamity. 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:55.659 But perhaps, like Jonah, when others cry for grace and compassion, we get angry at God. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.860 And in our temper, we stamp our foot and we say, 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:00.779 You can't do that, God. 00:12:00.959 --> 00:12:02.120 That's unjust. 00:12:03.319 --> 00:12:07.199 If that's the kind of God you are, then I don't want anything to do with you. 00:12:09.139 --> 00:12:11.399 But that's what living with grace does. 00:12:12.319 --> 00:12:14.019 It can make us angry. 00:12:14.019 --> 00:12:17.399 How could you do that, God? 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.620 Well, like Jonah, I think we all need to be humbled by grace. 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:27.039 Look at verse 4. 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:29.980 But the Lord replied, 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.259 Have you any right to be angry? 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:37.519 You see, in response to Jonah's outburst, 00:12:38.079 --> 00:12:40.600 God provides a little object lesson. 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:43.820 It acts like a little parable. 00:12:44.560 --> 00:12:45.300 Verse 5. 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:46.960 Jonah went out. 00:12:47.060 --> 00:12:49.000 This is after he had delivered his speech. 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:53.620 He goes up onto the hill and he sat down to the place east of the city. 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:56.100 There he made himself a shelter. 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.320 He sat in its shade and he waited to see what would happen to the city. 00:13:01.180 --> 00:13:04.100 It's like Jonah's still stunned by God's response. 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:06.180 He sits there fuming away. 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:09.719 He can't show compassion to these people. 00:13:10.219 --> 00:13:12.120 There's no way he's going to do it. 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:18.359 Well, as he molds the matter over, God does something for Jonah, verse 6. 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:28.279 The Lord God provided a vine and made it to grow up over Jonah to give him shade for his head to ease his discomfort. 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:31.580 And Jonah was very happy about the vine. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.320 All of a sudden, his emotion changes. 00:13:35.060 --> 00:13:37.779 The anger is gone and now he's really excited. 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:38.419 He's happy. 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:44.459 And there Jonah sits, quite content in the shade of this lovely cool vine. 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:49.419 He nods off to sleep and falls away at peace. 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:51.679 Verse 7. 00:13:53.779 --> 00:14:00.199 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:08.080 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind and then the sun blazed on Jonah's head so he grew faint. 00:14:08.780 --> 00:14:14.580 He wanted to die and said, it would be better for me to die than to live. 00:14:16.580 --> 00:14:18.240 Now what's going on here? 00:14:20.160 --> 00:14:23.220 Well, I think it's God's way of humbling Jonah. 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:35.040 It's like God is coming to Jonah and saying, look Jonah, if you want fairness and justice, then let me show you what's fair. 00:14:36.180 --> 00:14:38.300 You didn't even ask. 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:44.200 And I made a vine to grow up to provide shelter for you and to cool you from the sun. 00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:50.060 And when you sat there in the shade, I didn't hear you say, God, that's not fair. 00:14:50.059 --> 00:14:56.179 But yet when the vine was destroyed, you start complaining and giving off. 00:14:56.379 --> 00:15:00.199 If it's fairness you want, then in fairness you don't deserve anything. 00:15:01.219 --> 00:15:03.959 Come on, Jonah, wake up and smell the coffee. 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:11.419 The truth is, when grace came to you, I didn't hear you cry unjust and unfair. 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.779 Let's think about God's grace in our own lives. 00:15:20.059 --> 00:15:26.139 If you have health to be here, if you have a home that you're going to go back to, 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:33.019 if you have work or some means of living, then it's all down to God's grace. 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:40.079 Our skills that we have, our abilities, our friendships, our families that we enjoy, 00:15:40.459 --> 00:15:45.159 the joys that we have, the loves around us, it's all part of God's grace. 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:48.500 And what about our salvation? 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.839 Forgiveness for all of our sins, the assurance of eternal life, 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:58.259 the blessing of his Holy Spirit, the joy and peace of God's presence, 00:15:58.959 --> 00:16:01.139 it's all God's grace. 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:04.339 It's his gift, his generosity towards us. 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:13.060 But rather than give thanks for his grace, we very often abuse his grace. 00:16:13.560 --> 00:16:15.060 We take it all for granted. 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:21.899 We're too busy enjoying it all to stop and reflect and acknowledge where it all came from. 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:26.600 Sometimes we need to be humbled. 00:16:27.459 --> 00:16:29.240 Sometimes we need to be reminded. 00:16:29.819 --> 00:16:32.340 Sometimes God not only gives things, 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.919 but sometimes God has to take things 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:39.860 so that we remember his grace. 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:42.019 Look at verse 6. 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:46.399 The Lord God provided a vine. 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:49.059 He provided it. 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:50.860 Verse 7. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.179 The next day God provided a worm. 00:16:55.059 --> 00:16:57.079 Worm, I've got a job for you today. 00:16:58.019 --> 00:16:59.460 Worm eats vine. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:01.759 And he did. 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:05.000 In verse 8, it says, 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.639 God provided a scorching east wind. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:13.580 This is the same God who provided the storm in chapter 1, verse 4. 00:17:13.860 --> 00:17:18.660 The same God who provided the fish in chapter 1, verse 17. 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:24.780 God is supremely and sovereignly in control of every detail of our life. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.280 God gives things and he takes things as he pleases. 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:32.860 He does what he sees best for us 00:17:32.860 --> 00:17:38.140 so that we can stop and wonder at his grace. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:42.920 Rather than give out about a lack of grace, 00:17:43.860 --> 00:17:47.340 we should be humbled by his provision of grace. 00:17:48.540 --> 00:17:52.060 None of us deserve what we have, 00:17:53.060 --> 00:17:56.960 but yet we receive it in bucket loads every day. 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:00.980 And that's what living with grace does. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.480 It makes us humble for all that we have. 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:12.120 This grace that Jonah is having to live with 00:18:12.120 --> 00:18:14.360 is a real challenge. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:16.700 It challenges him and it challenges us. 00:18:17.460 --> 00:18:18.420 Verse 9. 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:21.380 But God said to Jonah, 00:18:21.380 --> 00:18:26.960 Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:29.100 I do. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:31.600 I'm angry enough to die. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:37.179 Can we see here how Jonah's concern has changed? 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:38.019 In verse 3, 00:18:38.139 --> 00:18:41.639 Jonah was angry that God was going to show compassion 00:18:41.639 --> 00:18:44.539 to undeserving wicked people like Nineveh. 00:18:44.959 --> 00:18:46.079 Now in verse 9, 00:18:46.199 --> 00:18:49.179 Jonah is angry that God has taken his vine away. 00:18:49.180 --> 00:18:53.220 What's going on? 00:18:54.600 --> 00:18:57.360 Well, God uses the vine incident, 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:00.539 I think, to challenge Jonah and us in two ways. 00:19:00.860 --> 00:19:03.140 The first, it challenges us to think again 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:05.880 about what God's character is really like. 00:19:06.560 --> 00:19:07.500 Look at verse 10. 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:09.819 The Lord says, 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:13.039 You've been concerned about this vine, 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.460 though you did not tend it or make it grow. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.960 It sprang up overnight and it died overnight. 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:24.440 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.039 who cannot tell their right hand from the left. 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:29.779 That means they don't know what's right or wrong. 00:19:30.579 --> 00:19:31.980 And many cattle as well. 00:19:31.980 --> 00:19:35.860 Well, should I not be concerned about that great city? 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.579 You're concerned about a vine that you didn't deserve. 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.019 So why shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh 00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:46.799 who doesn't deserve my grace? 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:49.759 In other words, 00:19:50.019 --> 00:19:53.420 who are we to decide where God's grace goes? 00:19:54.620 --> 00:19:56.700 I was gracious with you, Jonah, 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.160 so why can't I be gracious to Nineveh? 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.920 I was patient with you when you ran off, Jonah, 00:20:03.060 --> 00:20:05.040 and I gave you a second chance, 00:20:05.300 --> 00:20:08.560 so why can't I be patient and give Nineveh a second chance? 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.240 And I was compassionate with you, Jonah, 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:15.380 and I provided a vine to shelter you from the sun, 00:20:15.700 --> 00:20:18.300 so why should I not be compassionate to Nineveh 00:20:18.300 --> 00:20:20.920 and provide them shelter from my wrath? 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.420 Do we like it where God's grace takes us? 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:32.980 The reality is we all want God's grace, 00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:36.920 but we also want to control who it goes to. 00:20:38.740 --> 00:20:41.180 Well, as the message of Jonah tells us, 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.940 we are not God. 00:20:44.100 --> 00:20:46.300 Grace is not ours. 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:50.840 We do not decide who gets it and where it goes. 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:57.099 Let me give just a couple of examples of this, 00:20:57.179 --> 00:21:00.019 one from the Old Testament and one from the New. 00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:01.759 The first one is Jeremiah 18. 00:21:01.859 --> 00:21:03.019 We had it read at the beginning. 00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:04.359 Jeremiah 18. 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:08.439 From page 777. 00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:09.899 I'll just read it there. 00:21:10.179 --> 00:21:11.279 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:11.339 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:11.339 --> 00:21:11.359 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:13.279 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:15.279 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:17.279 Verse 7 to 10. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:24.859 Verse 7. 00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:28.819 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:30.559 torn down and destroyed, 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:34.539 and if that nation I warn repents of its evil, 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.619 then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:43.939 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is... 00:21:43.939 --> 00:21:45.739 Sorry, verse 9. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:50.099 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 00:21:50.619 --> 00:21:54.119 and if it does evil and in my sight does not obey me, 00:21:54.779 --> 00:21:57.979 then I will reconsider the good I intended to do for it. 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:03.859 And then have a look at Romans chapter 2, verse 4. 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:24.159 Romans 2, verse 4. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:34.660 Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:39.019 his tolerance, and his patience, 00:22:39.800 --> 00:22:44.420 not realizing that God's kindness leads you towards repentance? 00:22:46.420 --> 00:22:51.540 You see, sometimes when we take these two readings from Jeremiah and Romans together, 00:22:51.539 --> 00:22:56.859 sometimes God gives his grace because people are repentant. 00:22:57.379 --> 00:22:59.460 And we can get our heads around that. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.779 But sometimes God gives his grace to people who aren't repentant. 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:09.639 To lead them towards repentance. 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.240 And that's what we have trouble with. 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:17.379 But just as we have no automatic right to grace, 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:22.140 so we have no right to say who should receive God's grace. 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:25.140 This is God's character. 00:23:26.260 --> 00:23:29.540 And we need to let God be God. 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:36.180 So it challenges us to think afresh what God's character is like. 00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:41.040 And then second, it challenges us to think through what our character is like. 00:23:41.760 --> 00:23:44.100 Back at Jonah chapter 4, verse 10. 00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:48.259 The Lord said, 00:23:48.659 --> 00:23:51.019 You've been concerned about this vine, 00:23:51.659 --> 00:23:54.259 though you did not tend it or make it grow. 00:23:55.619 --> 00:23:56.559 Verse 11. 00:23:56.959 --> 00:24:00.359 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people. 00:24:02.259 --> 00:24:05.000 It seems that Jonah's character has been exposed. 00:24:05.439 --> 00:24:08.039 He has more compassion for a plant 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:10.919 than he has for one fellow human being. 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:15.480 He's more upset that his precious little plant has died 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:19.420 than a whole city that sits under God's judgment. 00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:23.620 And it's as if God is saying to Jonah, 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.759 Why can't you have at least the same concern 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:28.720 for the people of Nineveh 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:30.840 as you do over a little vine? 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:38.899 Like Jonah, we can get angry when something is taken away from us. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.419 You ever get the flu? 00:24:43.859 --> 00:24:50.059 We complain as if it's our right to be in perfect health every single day. 00:24:50.059 --> 00:24:55.179 We get stressed out with the pressure of work and family 00:24:55.179 --> 00:24:58.319 as if I have a right to a trouble-free life. 00:24:59.419 --> 00:25:02.039 We get angry when our computer crashes 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:05.279 as if I have a right to live in a broken free world. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:10.680 We whinge and we whine at every upset. 00:25:12.879 --> 00:25:16.420 And it seems that we have more concern and compassion 00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:20.000 for the insignificant details of our lives 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.180 than we have for our fellow human beings 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:24.700 who live under God's judgment. 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:31.000 And that's the challenge of living with God's grace. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:37.759 The book of Jonah ends with a question. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.160 The very end of verse 11. 00:25:41.579 --> 00:25:42.920 God said to Jonah, 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:47.119 Should I not be concerned about that great city? 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:49.339 There's no answer. 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:53.900 Because I think it's written in such a way to say 00:25:53.900 --> 00:25:57.680 this is a question that each one of us has to answer 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:00.119 having gone through all the book of Jonah 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:02.759 as we've looked at God's amazing grace. 00:26:05.399 --> 00:26:07.199 It's asking us the question. 00:26:08.139 --> 00:26:11.559 Should we not be concerned for the people around us? 00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:14.879 Just like God was concerned for Jonah 00:26:14.879 --> 00:26:17.699 and concerned for the people of Nineveh. 00:26:18.739 --> 00:26:20.239 It doesn't matter who they are, 00:26:21.159 --> 00:26:22.279 where they come from, 00:26:22.699 --> 00:26:24.039 the color of their skin, 00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:25.579 their religious background, 00:26:26.479 --> 00:26:29.159 or what they have done. 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:32.459 Who are we to say 00:26:32.459 --> 00:26:34.779 where God's grace goes? 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:37.859 We've received his grace 00:26:37.859 --> 00:26:39.339 day by day. 00:26:40.299 --> 00:26:42.599 And we should offer God's grace 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:44.779 to one another. 00:26:46.159 --> 00:26:47.119 Let's pray. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:27:02.779 Father God, 00:27:02.979 --> 00:27:06.199 we thank you for you have reminded us afresh 00:27:06.199 --> 00:27:08.819 of your character, 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:09.859 of who you are. 00:27:09.859 --> 00:27:15.139 and we look at our own characters 00:27:15.139 --> 00:27:17.119 and our own way of thinking 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:20.159 and we confess 00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:22.339 that we do not treat people 00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:26.199 the way you have treated us. 00:27:28.439 --> 00:27:30.579 Father, please change our character. 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:33.139 Please change us from the inside out. 00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:34.140 God bless you. 00:27:34.140 --> 00:27:35.140 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:36.140 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:37.140 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:39.180 Give us a heart for those around us. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:45.560 Give us compassion for the people 00:27:45.560 --> 00:27:47.220 who do not yet know the Lord. 00:27:47.220 --> 00:27:49.220 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:50.220 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:51.220 Lord, please change us from the inside out. 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:53.799 Give us love for those 00:27:53.799 --> 00:27:56.460 who are under God's judgment. 00:27:59.460 --> 00:28:01.259 We pray, Father God, 00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:02.319 that in your mercy 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.500 and in your grace 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:06.759 you would be tolerant, 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:08.579 you would be patient, 00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:10.680 and you would be kind 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:14.740 that it may lead people to repentance, 00:28:14.740 --> 00:28:18.720 that it may lead people to turn to you. 00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:23.759 Father, help us to do our job 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.500 of bringing the good news 00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:29.380 and let us leave 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:32.359 the work you do in people's lives 00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:33.299 up to you 00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:35.099 as to how you see them. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:39.440 Help us then, we pray, 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:41.299 and we thank you for this book of Jonah, 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:43.359 for all that we have learnt 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:44.480 and all that we have seen. 00:28:44.740 --> 00:28:47.339 In Jesus' name, 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:48.660 Amen. 00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:48.779 Amen.