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All righty, if y'all would go 
ahead and remain standing for 

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our scripture reading. 
Just to let you know, I was 

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assigned Jonah three six through
10 and was told on Wednesday 

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that Mark was just going to 
focus on one through 4. 

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But he told me to go ahead and 
do what I was planning on doing.

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So I'm going to preach the whole
chapter. 

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I cut off limbs last night to 
shorten it as best as I could. 

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So give your attention to the 
reading of God's Word. 

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I will be reading all of chapter
3, one through 10. 

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Then the word of the Lord came 
to Jonah the second time, 

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saying, arise, go to Nineveh, 
that great city, and call out 

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against it the message that I 
tell you. 

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So Jonah arose and he went to 
Nineveh according to the word of

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the Lord. 
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly 

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great city. 
Three days journey in breath. 

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Jonah began to go into the city,
going a day's journey, and he 

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called out. 
Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall 

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be overthrown. 
And the people of Nineveh 

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believe God. 
They called for a fast. 

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They put on sackcloth from the 
greatest of them to the least of

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them. 
The word reached the king of 

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Nineveh, and he arose from his 
throne, removed his robe, 

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covered himself with sackcloth, 
and sat in ashes. 

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And he issued A proclamation and
published through Nineveh by the

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decree of the king and his 
nobles. 

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Let neither man nor beast heard,
nor flock taste anything. 

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Let them not feed or drink 
water, but let man and beast be 

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covered with sackcloth, and let 
them call out mightily to God. 

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Let everyone turn from his evil 
way and from the violence that 

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is in his hands. 
Who knows, God may turn and 

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relent and turn from His fierce 
anger so that we may not perish.

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When God saw what they did, how 
they turn from their evil way, 

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God relented of the disaster 
that He had said He would do to 

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them, and He did not do it. 
This is the word of the Lord. 

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All right, you may take your 
seats. 

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Let me quickly pray. 
Our gracious Heavenly Father, we

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do need your Spirit to open our 
eyes and to illumine the reality

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of this incredible text and what
it means for us. 

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So I pray now that by your 
Spirit you would unveil to us 

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the reality and the glory of 
your grace in this passage. 

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And I ask that you would be 
pleased to do this for your 

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glory and for our good in Jesus 
name, Amen. 

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All right, Jonah is a story of 
two passions, Jonah's passion to

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run away from the presence of 
God and God's passion to pursue 

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sinners who run away from him. 
And one of the themes of this 

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incredible book is found in the 
word great. 

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What happens in this book? 
It's greater than expected. 

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We have a great storm. 
We have the sailors who have 

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exceedingly great fear. 
There's a great fish, there's a 

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great city, and there's a wicked
people's great repentance. 

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But chapter 3, it opens with 
great grace. 

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You see, after Jonah's 
disobedience in chapter 1, he's 

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rescued and he's restored in 
chapter 2. 

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And now in chapter 3, he's 
recommissioned. 

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And don't let the significance 
of verse one pass you by. 

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Then the word of the Lord came 
to Jonah the second time. 

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The first time it came, Jonah 
disobey, disobeys, and flees 

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from the presence of God. 
So the fact that there is even a

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second time is absolutely 
amazing. 

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What prophet has ever disobeyed 
God in the Old Testament? 

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None of them. 
He's the only one. 

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And we have plenty of examples 
of people not getting second 

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chances in the Old Testament, 
right? 

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Lot's wife didn't get a second 
chance. 

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King Saul did not get a second 
chance. 

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Ozza, when he reached out to 
grab the ark, he did not get a 

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second chance. 
So what could be more startling 

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and more humbling to Jonah than 
to get a second chance? 

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It's as if nothing has changed 
since God first called Him to go

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to Nineveh. 
You see in chapter 3, what do we

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see? 
God responds to Jonah's great 

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sin with great grace and mercy. 
And this blew me away and it 

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cost me a lot of hours of 
thought over this. 

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In Luke 11 verse 30, Jesus says 
that Jonah became a sign to the 

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people of Nineveh. 
And I don't know what this means

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in this context because there's 
so many questions that I have, 

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like when Jonah was spit up, 
vomited from the fish, I mean 

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how long did it take him to get 
to Nineveh? 

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Did he go home 1st and take a 
shower? 

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I mean, was he bleached white? 
We don't know. 

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But did the Ninevites know about
the Fish Tale? 

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Did they know the story of a 
disobedient prophet who was 

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rescued, restored, and 
recommissioned? 

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So in what way was Jonah 
assigned to the Ninevites? 

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Well, I think that Jonah's 
rescue, that his restoration and

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his recommission is a sign that 
points to the fact that God is 

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both merciful and just. 
I don't know if the Ninevites 

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knew Jonah's story before he 
preached, but I do know this, 

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that God's message to Jonah is 
the same message that Jonah 

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preached to Nineveh. 
And some of y'all like Pete. 

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What are you talking about? 
Jonah's eight word sermon does 

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not communicate great grace. 
It communicates great judgment. 

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Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be
overthrown. 

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Let's evaluate this for a 
moment. 

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Remember the theme word. 
Great things in this book are 

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greater than expected. 
In chapter 1 verse 2, we're told

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how great the city of Nineveh 
is. 

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In chapter 3, verses 2 and 
three, Nineveh's greatness. 

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It's emphasized again, but this 
time it's greatness is doubled. 

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It's an exceedingly great city. 
Three days journey in breath. 

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Now this could mean it's so big 
that it takes three days to 

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cross all of it. 
Or the city, it takes three days

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to take it all in. 
There's one day journey from the

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suburbs, one day for business, 
and then one day for the return.

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So I think Jonah's in verse 
four, one day journey means it 

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takes three days to take it all 
in. 

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But the importance and greatness
of this city, it's emphasizing 1

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little Hebrew word in verse 3. 
The word Now normally in Hebrew 

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narrative when the continuation 
of a story goes, they put in the

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letter Bob, which means and it's
a connective, but it's not here,

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which means this is signaling 
something different. 

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It's telling us, look, pay 
attention, this is important. 

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What's so big about the size of 
Nineveh and its importance? 

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Answer. 
It's remarkable repentance after

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Jonah preaches. 
In verse 4, Jonah begins to make

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the journey into the city and 
then in verse 5 we are told that

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all of Nineveh believes God and 
repents. 

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This is why I almost entitled 
the sermon Every Preacher's 

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Dream. 
I mean, what preacher would not 

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want to see such great 
repentance and belief in God 

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after he preaches This is the 
greatest revival in the history 

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of the world Here, the whole 
city from the least to the 

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greatest repents. 
So chapter 3, it's not just 

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about God's great grace to 
Jonah, it's about God's great 

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grace to Nineveh, and it's about
Nineveh's great repentance. 

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So how is Jonah's message yet 40
days and Nineveh will be 

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overthrown. 
How is this a message of grace? 

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This sounds like a message that 
threatens God's judgment, 

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doesn't it? 
Well, if God had intended to 

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destroy Nineveh, then why send 
Jonah to warn them? 

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If God wanted to wipe them out, 
then why did he not just wipe 

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them out? 
Why does he give them 40 days to

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repent? 
Answer. 

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Because God is both merciful and
just. 

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See the first word in Jonas 
sermon that communicates this. 

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Yet yet this pronouncement of 
judgment, it carries the hope of

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being saved from it. 
Yet 40 days, which means this 

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can be reversed. 
And so does this word 

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overthrown. 
See this Hebrew verb, it means 

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to overturn. 
It's used to describe the 

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destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, but it's also a word 

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that means to turn a ground, to 
transform. 

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So although Nineveh was not 
overturned, it did experience a 

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turn around. 
See, Jonah's sermon is about 

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God's justice, but it holds out 
the hope that God is merciful. 

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God is both merciful and just. 
And because He is, I have to ask

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this question. 
Why do we not repent and return 

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to God quicker when we run away 
from him and sin? 

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If our hearts passion, which 
Jonah shows us, is to run away 

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from the presence of God, then 
what do we need to do? 

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Repent, turn back around and 
return to the God that we're 

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running away from, whether it's 
for the first time or whether 

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it's for the thousandth time. 
But here's something we need to 

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understand. 
Repentance. 

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It's not a one time thing. 
Martin Luther when he pinned his

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95 thesis to the door, his first
thesis was this. 

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Our Lord and Master Jesus 
Christ, when he said repent, 

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here's what it means. 
He will that the whole life of a

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believer be 1 of repentance, 
which means he's arguing that 

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the Christian life, it's a life 
of ongoing repentance. 

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Why? 
Because what does he understand?

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He understands that we still 
have sin that indwells us. 

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We still have a disposition 
within us to run away from God, 

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and it will be with us until 
glory. 

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Which means sin never takes a 
break. 

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Sin never goes on vacation. 
It's always active, especially 

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when it seems least active. 
So because sin it's always 

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active, we need to be what I 
call regular repenters. 

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See, some of you you may be so 
deceived by sin that you are not

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regularly repenting because you 
think you had nothing to 

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confess. 
You just equate sin with bad 

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behavior. 
And oh, what I did was not 

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really that bad. 
But if sin is a condition, if 

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it's a power that we're all 
under, it goes deeper. 

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It goes to the motivational 
aspects in our heart. 

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Why do we do what we do? 
So I can act good outwardly but 

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yet inwardly be full of sin. 
So some of you think I haven't 

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really done anything that needs 
to be confessed. 

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And then there are some of you 
whose heart has become so hard 

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that you know you sinned and yet
you stubbornly refuse to 

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acknowledge it. 
You don't want to return to God 

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because you're enjoying your sin
and I don't want to give it up 

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yet. 
And then there's others of you 

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who are believing the lie that 
you cannot return to God. 

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God has had enough of you. 
You're believing the lie that 

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your sin is so bad that God 
can't forgive it, or the lie 

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that you send so much that God's
grace, it's reached its limit 

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with you. 
It's run out. 

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See chapter 3. 
It's actually meant to make it 

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easier for us to understand 
repentance and then lead us to 

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00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,600
repent. 
See, as we look more closely at 

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Nineveh's remarkable repentance,
what's actually even more 

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remarkable than their repentance
is the character of the God who 

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00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:59,880
relents from destroying them. 
See, look at verse 5, which is 

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00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,880
not in your bulletin, actually. 
So they'll grab a Bible and look

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00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,520
at verse 5. 
The whole city believed God, 

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00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,200
we're told. 
It doesn't say that they 

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00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:17,000
believed Jonah, they believed 
God in chapter 3. 

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00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,080
As I said, it leaves us with so 
many unanswered questions 

200
00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:24,240
because I'm always like, OK, did
Jonah just preach this eight 

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00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,000
word sermon at once and then 
walk away? 

202
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,040
Or did he continually preach it 
the further and further he went 

203
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,880
into the city? 
We don't know, but we're given 

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00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,760
three concrete bits of 
information about Nineveh's 

205
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,880
repentance, which is going to 
help us to better understand 

206
00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:40,680
repentance. 
First, look at how quickly they 

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00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,520
respond. 
Here there is no hesitation. 

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00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,400
They immediately believe God. 
They call for a fast and they 

209
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:54,040
put on sackcloth. 
They immediately believe and 

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00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,520
then repent. 
And the order is significant. 

211
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:03,680
They believe God first and then 
act in repentance. 

212
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,760
So what does this show us? 
Repentance is easy. 

213
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:15,440
It's not complicated, and it 
should happen quickly. 

214
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:21,640
God does not require you to run 
a marathon in order to return to

215
00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:28,760
Him. 
Just trust Him and Sprint to Him

216
00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:33,640
as fast as you can. 
When you've run away, you don't 

217
00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,840
need to clean yourself up first 
in order to return to Him. 

218
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:45,840
Come as you are in your unclean 
condition and run to Him as fast

219
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,720
as you can. 
And the second, look at how far 

220
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:55,000
reaching their response is. 
And verse 5, from the greatest 

221
00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,280
to the least is reached, which 
means nobody's left out. 

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00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:08,240
This covers all types of people 
without distinction, from the 

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00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:14,079
most wicked to the least wicked.
There's nobody unique here. 

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There's nobody whose sin is 
beyond reach. 

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There's nobody whose problem 
it's too great or too small. 

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So this goes for the rich, this 
goes for the poor, this goes for

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the influential and the non 
influential. 

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This goes to man, woman, parent,
child, king, peasant, great, 

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small. 
All are reached. 

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Which means what? 
The grace of God can reach 

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anybody from the greatest to the
least. 

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Trust God and run to him more 
quickly to repent. 

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And then third, I want you to 
notice how deeply this reaches 

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them. 
What do they do? 

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They call for a fast, so they're
restraining from eating. 

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And then they put on 
uncomfortable clothes. 

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Sackcloth, OK, it's very rough 
material. 

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Why are they doing this? 
To show their humility. 

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And then in verse 8, they cry 
out mightily to God. 

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See, the depths of their 
repentance is illustrated by the

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king in verses 6 through 8. 
I want you to notice what he 

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does when word reaches him. 
He leaves his throne, He removes

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his robe, and he covers himself 
in sackcloth and sits in ashes. 

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To leave his throne is saying 
what? 

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There's only one king, and it's 
not me. 

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I am under the authority of a 
greater king. 

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I will bow to him. 
I will seek his forgiveness. 

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He is greater than me. 
And then to put on sackcloth and

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to sit in ashes. 
It signifies grief. 

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It signifies mourning. 
It's a sign of humility. 

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My life is over. 
I'm as good as dead. 

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So all I can do now is depend on
the mercy of God and then notice

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the decree in verses 7 through 8
that is issued. 

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The fast and humility. 
It's extended to the animals as 

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well. 
Could you imagine trying to get 

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an animal to wear sackcloth? 
Can you imagine the effort it 

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would take to not feed them or 
let them drink? 

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How uncomfortable this is. 
It's almost as if they know that

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their sin has affected all of 
creation and then notice the 

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deep change in their behaviour. 
Everyone doesn't just cry out 

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mightily to God, they turn from 
their evil ways, they 

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acknowledge their violence, and 
they stop abusing people. 

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See, this isn't just confessing 
general sins. 

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Oh, I'm a Sinner. 
They're confessing specific 

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sins. 
Each turning from their evil 

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ways, whatever that evil is, 
they each acknowledge the 

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specific evil that their hands 
have done. 

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So Nineveh isn't just confessing
their sin, they're changing 

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their ways. 
They're turning away from their 

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evil and they're turning towards
God for mercy. 

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Jonas sermon caused the greatest
revival in the history of the 

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world. 
The most wicked and brutal 

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people in the known world at 
this time turn away from their 

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evil and turn towards God, 
begging for mercy. 

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Nineveh's repentance is 
absolutely remarkable here, but 

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to me what is more remarkable is
that they repent after being 

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given such little grace. 
See Jonah's message yet? 

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40 days and Nineveh will be 
overthrown. 

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It holds out the hope that this 
warning could be overturned. 

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But the people of Nineveh don't 
know for sure. 

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They repent hoping that God will
relent. 

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And the words of the king show 
us that they don't know for 

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sure. 
Who knows, maybe he will. 

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God may relent and not destroy 
Nineveh, or he may not relent. 

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They don't know the heart of God
for sure here. 

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There's no good news in Jonah's 
message. 

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There's no explicit message 
about God's character, about 

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God's goodness, about God's 
love. 

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Jonah isn't wooing them with 
God's compassion and grace. 

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He's warning them of God's anger
and judgement, and there's no 

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call for them to respond at all.
In other words, there's nothing 

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in Jonah's message that tells 
Nineveh what to do, only what 

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God is going to do. 
So Jonah only preaches justice 

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and judgement. 
So if Nineveh can repent in such

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a remarkable way, if the most 
wicked people in the known world

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can turn away from their evil 
and turn to God for mercy when 

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they are given such little 
grace, then what is keeping you 

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from repenting and returning to 
God when in Jesus we have 

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greater grace? 
The Ninevites did not know that 

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God is both merciful and just. 
But you do. 

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The Ninevites didn't know that 
God is gracious. 

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He's slow to anger. 
He abounds in loyal, steadfast 

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love. 
But you do. 

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In Matthew 1241, Jesus says the 
men of Nineveh will rise up at 

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the judgment with this 
generation and condemn it. 

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For they repented at the 
preaching of Jonah. 

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And behold, someone greater than
Jonah is here, which means what 

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is God saying? 
Look, I only showed Nineveh 1% 

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of my grace. 
But in my son, I'm showing you 

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all of my grace, all of my 
goodness. 

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In my son, I prove to you that I
hold nothing back, but I give 

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you all of my goodness. 
I'm for you. 

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My first step towards you is 
always grace. 

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Brothers and sisters, Nineveh's 
remarkable repentance does not 

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compare to the gracious 
character of God. 

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00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,000
If God can relent from 
destroying the most wicked 

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people in the world, then won't 
He relent from destroying you? 

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If the Ninevites can repent with
such little grace being shown to

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them, how much more should we 
repent now that someone greater 

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00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:56,000
than Jonah is here? 
Someone whose grace is so much 

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00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,240
greater? 
Someone who doesn't run away 

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00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:04,000
from his enemies but pursues his
enemies with love and 

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forgiveness. 
Someone who doesn't preach God's

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00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:15,560
judgment, but who preaches God's
salvation and peace because 

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Jesus came to receive God's 
judgment for you. 

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Because Jesus pays for all of 
your sins. 

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Penalty. 
He's pleading with you. 

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00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,960
Trust me. 
Return to me. 

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Run to me as fast as you can. 
Whether it be for the first time

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or whether it be for the 
millionth time. 

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I will always take you back. 
You can come back. 

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00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,360
See repentance. 
It's easy when you see the 

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00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:05,680
greater grace of Jesus. 
Repentance goes deep when you 

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00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:13,400
see how on the cross, God's 
mercy and justice meet. 

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00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:20,560
Amen. 
Let me pray, Father, help us to 

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00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:25,840
be regular repenters. 
Help us to know that no matter 

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00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,400
what we've done, we can return 
to you. 

338
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:38,120
And when we return to you, you 
forgive us, You renew us, You 

339
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:42,720
restore us. 
So help us to be like Nineveh, 

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00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,760
who was shown little grace and 
yet they repented. 

341
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,160
And because of Jesus, we've been
shown great grace. 

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So we should always repent, but 
help us to do so. 

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00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,200
And I pray that you would for 
our good and for your glory, in 

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00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:07,880
Jesus name, Amen.