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Chapter 2, verse 10, from the 
book of Jonah. 

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And the Lord spoke to the fish, 
and it vomited Jonah out upon 

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the dry ground. 
Then the word of the Lord came 

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to Jonah the second time saying,
arise, go to Nineveh, that great

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city, and call out against it 
the message that I tell you. 

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Verse 3 So Jonah arose and went 
to Nineveh according to the word

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of 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 
giving, going a day's journey, 

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and he called out yet 40 days, 
and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

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Verse 5 And the people of 
Nineveh believed God. 

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They called for a fast and put 
on sackcloth. 

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From the greatest of them to the
least of them. 

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This is the word of the Lord. 
Oh Father, may the words of my 

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mouth and the meditations of our
hearts be acceptable to you, our

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Rock and our Redeemer. 
Amen. 

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Please be seated. 
So what does a merciful God do 

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with a prophet that doesn't want
God to be merciful? 

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Or maybe a little bit more 
personally, what does our 

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sovereign Lord do with you and 
me when we refuse to give mercy 

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to others? 
Now, the first time we meet 

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Jonah, it's in Second Kings, and
he's prophesying to one of the 

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kings of Israel, Bad King. 
And he says the borders that 

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were lost in a previous skirmish
will be restored. 

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And indeed, not long after that 
prophecy was given, the borders 

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and territories were restored. 
Now meanwhile, Jonah's coffee 

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shop contemporaries, Amos and 
Hosea, they're also prophesying 

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at the same time, and they're 
saying what Jonah said was going

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to come true and did actually 
will be reversed. 

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For if Israel continues in her 
unrepentant sin, Yahweh will use

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Nineveh and the Assyrians as a 
rod of discipline against 

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Israel. 
Now to make matters worse, Jonah

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is the only prophet called by 
Yahweh to take a message to a 

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non Israelite people group, to a
Gentile nation. 

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And of all of the Gentile 
nations that existed at that 

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time in the world, it happened 
to be Assyria, the most 

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brilliant and the most brutal of
all Barbarians. 

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To this day, scholars study the 
military brilliance and 

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brutality of the Assyrian army. 
So it's no wonder Jonah is 

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saying no way, but God is saying
Yahweh. 

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The biblical text, 
unfortunately, has painted our 

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disobedient prophet in a most 
unflattering picture. 

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He's actually shown himself to 
be the anti Good Samaritan, 

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going at great lengths to 
distance himself as much as 

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possible from those who are in 
desperate need of help. 

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God said go West and he, God 
said, goes east and he goes 

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West. 
God says travel by land and he 

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travels by sea and now come on. 
Really, Who in their right mind 

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would think they could escape 
the presence of an omniscient 

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God by getting on a boat? 
God asks him to take the message

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of mercy to an enemy, and Jonah 
sees it as a humiliating set up.

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And we'll see in chapter 4 he 
views it as a double cross. 

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The last time we saw Jonah, we 
saw him near death in a 

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claustrophobic, watery tomb. 
But even in those circumstances,

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under the inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit, he composes a 

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during expression of his own 
personal experience, which is 

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also a stunning prophecy of the 
death and resurrection of 

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Messiah, which 750 years later 
would be fulfilled by the person

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in the work of Jesus Christ. 
Unlike Jonah, Jesus was sent by 

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the Father willingly into a 
sinful world. 

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John 317 says God sent his Son 
into the world, not to judge the

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world, but to save the world 
through him. 

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So Jesus proves to be the 
greatest missionary, not running

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from sinners, but running toward
them to redeem. 

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And I think the question before 
us as we study Jonah is this Who

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will we be united to? 
Will we be united to Christ, the

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greatest missionary upon whom 
all of God's justice was thrown 

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on the cross so that we 
ourselves no longer have to sit 

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as hypocritical judges over the 
universe? 

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Well, let's dive into our text 
and our verses and and let's see

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what it holds for us. 
All right, the end of chapter 2,

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verse 10 finally has Jonah back 
on the beach. 

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So moving into chapter 3, verse 
one, it says then the word of 

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the Lord came to Jonah a second 
time saying, arise, go to 

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Nineveh, that great city, and 
call out against it. 

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The message that I give you. 
Now this is actually a repeat of

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chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. 
And so the word of the Lord came

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to Jonah, the son of Amitai, 
which means faithful. 

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So from the very beginning we 
understand that this book is 

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going to be laid and thick with 
irony. 

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For there are few things less 
appropriate to determine about 

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Jonah than faithfulness. 
And in verse 2 of chapter 1, it 

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says again, arise, go to 
Nineveh, that great city, and 

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call out against it. 
But there it says for their evil

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has risen to me. 
And we finally in chapter 3 and 

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I'll get back to our original 
story. 

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The story's about God and 
Nineveh, but then it became 

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about God and Jonah. 
And so back in chapter 3, we're 

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back to our story. 
It's about God and Nineveh. 

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But there's something different 
about chapter 3 verse two. 

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He doesn't say their sin has 
risen before me, but this time 

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he says to call out against it. 
The message that I tell you and 

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the language is very interesting
here because in chapter 3, 

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Yahweh softens the command. 
This time he actually says call 

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out to with a specific message 
that I'm going to give you and 

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we start to see how God reveals 
a nuance in his plan to save 

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sinners. 
He's clarifying his message of 

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mercy to this non Israelite 
people group. 

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The literal translation though 
wouldn't is quite clear. 

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Yahweh says preach the preaching
that I'm about to give you. 

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And finally, chapter 3, we get 
to the core of the book that our

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sovereign God's grace and mercy 
restores His servants and saves 

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sinners by the power of His 
Word. 

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You always call was the same 
'cause it was in chapter 1, you 

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always mission is still the same
mission. 

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God's purposes will not be 
thwarted by our lack of wisdom. 

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God doesn't change His message. 
God changes the messenger 

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through hardships in sanctifying
circumstances. 

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Doesn't God reorient our hearts 
to His sovereign ways? 

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Hardships and sufferings have a 
way of preparing us for a deeper

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ministry, do they not? 
Even James, the half brother of 

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Jesus, said. 
Consider it pure joy, my 

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brothers and sisters, whenever 
you face trials of many kinds, 

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because you know that the 
testing of your faith produces 

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perseverance. 
And let perseverance finish its 

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work so that you may be mature 
and complete. 

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Now who in this room would not 
want to be mature and complete? 

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And who in this room would love 
to dodge the bullet of 

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perseverance? 
Sometimes it's easier for us to 

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proclaim grace and mercy when we
ourselves have experienced it so

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abundantly. 
And so, in the case of Nineveh, 

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Jonah gets a second chance. 
In fact, you'll often hear 

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sermons on chapter 3 about the 
second chance, or the reluctant 

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prophet, or the prodigal 
prophet. 

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But we have something far better
than a second chance. 

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We have the second Adam, a 
person, the perfect Adam. 

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We are united with Christ. 
Christ was the one who was 

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thrown out into the storm of a 
tempestuous and cruel world. 

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Christ was the one who did not 
have seaweed wrapped around his 

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head, but a burial cloth. 
Christ spent three days 

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literally dead in the belly of 
carved out stone and came forth 

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on dry ground outside the tomb. 
This. 

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Not a second chance. 
This the second atom, the 

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perfect atom to whom we are 
united. 

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When we sit in judgement over 
others, we operate out of the 

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first atom. 
You know, that one that modeled 

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for Jonah. 
How to go the other way, how to 

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choose to live life 
independently of God. 

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But when we show mercy to the 
lonely and to the least, and to 

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the lost, we are abiding not in 
second chances, but in the life 

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of our 2nd and perfect Adam, 
Christ our Redeemer, Jesus our 

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King. 
Genesis 1825 asks, will not the 

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judge of all the earth do 
rightly? 

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And all along that judge planned
to meet justice on the cross, as

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the hymn says, till on the 
cross, as Jesus died, the wrath 

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of God was satisfied, for every 
sin on him was laid here in the 

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death of Christ I live. 
Isn't it good to think that we 

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can leave being Judge of the 
universe to Jesus, upon whose 

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shoulders it was intended to 
rest? 

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And our study of Jonah is an 
uncomfortable reminder that we 

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ourselves are a bunch of Jonah's
who look down our noses at 

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people who are different from 
us. 

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And we label them and we hurl 
derogatory, disrespectful, 

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dismissive sentences in their 
direction, Don't we? 

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When we categorize them kind as 
either as our blatant enemies or

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maybe our soft enemies because 
they're just not like us. 

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And we had in the other 
direction confident that those 

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who live differently will, in 
the end, get their just 

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desserts. 
But when we recognize our 

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desperate need for God's mercy 
and grace. 

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When we recognize that our own 
personal hardships and our own 

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besetting sins remind us of how 
desperately need we need Jesus, 

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we recognize that Jesus not us, 
that it is finished. 

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Jesus, not us, said the debt to 
justice has been paid. 

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In fact, when we sin, Jesus 
continues to pour out his mercy 

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and love upon us. 
Dane Ortland in his beautiful 

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and amazing book Gentleman 
Lowly, says that when we sin, 

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the very heart of Jesus reaches 
out to us. 

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Does that mean we should sin 
more? 

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May it never be. 
Galatians 5 says we do not use 

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our freedom to indulge in the 
flesh, rather to serve one 

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another humbly in love. 
And a chapter later we read, If 

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someone is caught in sin, you 
who live by the Spirit should 

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restore that person gently. 
Do you not hear those phrases? 

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Dripping with the Lord's rich 
mercy and abundant grace, 

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Philippians 28 says that Jesus 
humbled himself in obedience to 

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God and died a criminal's death 
on a cross. 

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And Christ willingly obeyed the 
Father's call before the 

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foundations of the earth, which 
is why Jesus is the true and the

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faithful prophet, the perfect 
messenger from eternity past. 

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Even as Jesus Himself said in 
John 434, my nourishment comes 

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from doing the will of my Father
who sent me and finishing his 

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work. 
Well, thanks be to God that in 

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God's mercy He gave our 
hypocritical prophet a hall 

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pass, and he finally makes it to
Nineveh. 

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Let's continue on with the 
second-half of verse 3, second 

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after verse 3. 
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly 

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great city. 
Three days journey in breath. 

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Now these 3 words. 
Now Nineveh was is the beginning

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of the second episode in our 
narrative. 

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This is the second scene now 
that we begin as we see that 

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Nineveh was indeed exceedingly 
great, but it can mean two 

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things. 
It can mean that it was really 

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big or massive, but it can also 
mean that it was important. 

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Now, look, Nineveh was certainly
big. 

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Over the last 150 years, Nineveh
has been excavated by 

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archaeologists and 
paleontologists, and many of the

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remnants of the city of Nineveh 
to this day can be seen in the 

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London Museum. 
It was an Oval about 7 miles 

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around about Nineveh. 
One archaeologist wrote this. 

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Dotted with majestic palaces, 
temples, canals and gardens, 

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it's walls rose 200 feet above 
the West Asian plain. 

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Fortified by 1500 watchtowers, 
The walls were so thick, it was 

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said, that three Chariots easily
drove a breast upon them, like 

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the kernel of a nut protected by
outer husks. 

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Nineveh was defended by 5 walls 
and three moats. 

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Each of the city's 15 gates were
guarded by castled ramparts, and

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within its perimeter were more 
than 30 temples shining with 

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silver and gold. 
But the Hebrew language 

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indicates that this great city 
was not just massive, it was 

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also important to Yahweh. 
Within the city known for kings 

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that RIP off the lips and hands 
of their enemies and stack huge 

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piles of skulls from their 
defeated captives, and many 

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other things that would be 
inappropriate to share with you 

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in the presence of children, 
there were hundreds of thousands

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of souls Yahweh knit together in
their mother's womb that He 

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desired to call to himself. 
City dwellers to whom we will 

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learn in a few moments, He gave 
the gift of saving grace, 

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regeneration, and repentance. 
To this day, God desires to save

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people in the city of Dallas and
in every city in the world and 

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in small towns and scattered 
villages. 

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And this is one reason why I 
want to ask you now, if you know

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our church is having a wonderful
missions conference on November 

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1st and 2nd. 
It's an essential time for this 

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congregation, for you and me to 
connect with the Lord through 

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His Word, through the study of 
the book of Haggai, hearing the 

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testimony of how God is 
continuing to work around the 

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world. 
And we'll see God's heart for 

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the nations at this conference 
as His glory is being revealed 

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in Christ to all peoples and all
cultures. 

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We'll hear again a call to 
commit ourselves continually to 

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the work through giving and 
going and praying toward Great 

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Commission efforts and church 
planting strategies. 

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We'll be excited to hear from 
our keynote speaker, Jaunty 

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Rhodes. 
Jaunty is married to Georgina. 

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He has five children. 
He's a church planter and a 

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minister of Christchurch, 
central Leeds in northern 

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England, a Presbyterian Church 
in northern England. 

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He's written a number of books 
including Man of Sorrows, King 

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of Glory, and one I know you 
enjoy having in your library. 

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Covenants made simple. 
So I want to ask you, are you 

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praying about this celebration? 
Is it on your calendar? 

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Please come, Please be praying. 
Come and see how the Lord is 

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still working in the world 
today, just as He is working in 

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the pages of Jonah's chapter 3 
and 4. 

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OK, now we got Jonah in in 
Nineveh. 

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Let's go to verse 4. 
Now Jonah began to go to the 

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city, going a day's journey, and
he called out. 

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Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be 
overthrown. 

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Relatively short sermon. 
You know, for a God who is rich 

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in mercy, this isn't perhaps the
oddest message he could have 

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given Jonah. 
Jonah doesn't refer to Yahweh. 

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He doesn't say anything about 
sin or repentance. 

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He doesn't say anything about 
the manner of response. 

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It kind of feels like Jonah's 
resentful interpretation of 

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whatever the Lord told him to 
say, doesn't it? 

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In just five words in Hebrew. 
And I don't know, 7 or 8 in 

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English. 
If it were in English, perhaps 

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Jonah would have said in 40 
days, your toast. 

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And we all know what 40 days 
indicates, right? 

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It's a change. 
It's something used to be to 

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something that's coming and end 
of one thing and the beginning 

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of another. 
And often times it refers to 

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transformation, right? 
40. 

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Days of torrential rain rebooted
all of creation, and the nations

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began again with Noah's three 
sons. 40. 

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Days to receive the law of God 
for divine instruction for the 

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Israelites of Mount Sinai and 
the one that comes to your mind 

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immediately. 
Four days of preparation for 

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Jesus earthly ministry and now 
40 days and Nineveh will be 

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overthrown. 
But the word overthrown or 

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overturned May pocket is used in
Genesis 19 about Sodom and 

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Gomorrah when it was they were 
destroyed. 

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It's also used in Isaiah 13 to 
say say the same thing about 

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Babylon. 
Babylon will come in and get the

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Assyrians. 
The Persians will come in and 

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get Babylon, and then the Greeks
will get the Persians and 40 

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years the Greeks will prepare 
the world for the incarnation of

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the second person of the 
Godhead. 

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So the Ninevites clearly 
understood that their 

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destruction was at hand. 
But NA pocket, that word NA 

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pocket has another meaning. 
It can also mean to transform. 

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In Jeremiah 3113, it's used when
Yahweh says He will turn His 

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people's mourning into joy. 
This other meaning reveals that 

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the purposes of Yahweh toward 
Nineveh are not the same as what

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Jonah thinks. 
Now. 

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Surely Jonah had the first view 
in mind, Nineveh's impending 

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doom. 
But perhaps God has another plan

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for Nineveh. 
Perhaps Yahweh views Nineveh 

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through the lens of His loving 
kindness, His power to transform

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darkness and death into light 
and life, to regenerate 

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spiritually dead people and to 
make them beloved sons and 

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daughters of the heavenly king. 
This same grace that restores 

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you and me also saves sinners 
through the power of His Word. 

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Verse five wrapping up and the 
people of Nineveh believed God. 

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They called for a fast and put 
on sackcloth from the greatest 

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of them to the least of them. 
And we see 3 responses, right? 

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They believed, they fasted, and 
they put on different clothes. 

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And so shall my word be that 
goes out from my mouth. 

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It shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that 

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which I purpose, and shall 
succeed in the thing for which I

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sent it, says the Lord in Isaiah
55. 

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And John Calvin says, the word 
goes out of the mouth of God in 

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such a manner that it likewise 
goes out of the mouth of men. 

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For God now speaks, not now 
speaks openly from heaven, but 

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employs men as His instruments, 
you and me. 

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God's Word does not return void 
the. 

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Spirit applies the. 
Word to the hearts of those who 

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hear. 
You are the instrument. 

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The Word is the means and the 
Spirit is the power. 

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And the Ninevites not only 
believed, but they believed in 

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God. 
The language is the same here, 

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used to describe faithful 
Israelites. 

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And what a powerful, powerful 
display of God's mercy that even

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the vilest, most brutal, most 
brilliant of people, when they 

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become children of God, are 
described as one of the members 

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of our family. 
And they fasted the sign of 

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being empty by sin while being 
driven to be satisfied in 

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Christ. 
And they put on clothes, but not

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just any clothes. 
They put on burlap, A ritual 

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indicating mourning and 
repentance. 

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Now, we don't do burlap any 
longer, but we do have something

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in our culture that's still 
true. 

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Generations ago, the bereaved 
would wear black for an extended

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period of time. 
And when we saw them in the 

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market or at church, we would 
know that they're in a difficult

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season in life. 
We would pray for them. 

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And so wearing burlap in the 
ancient Near East was a 

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significant sign of spiritual 
activity. 

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It reminded the wearer of the 
misery of sin and the need for 

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the smooth, satisfying, silky 
garments of righteousness. 

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It was an outward expression of 
an inward transformation. 

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And this happened, the text 
says, from the greatest to the 

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least. 
This can be interpreted as from 

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nobility to commoner. 
It can be interpreted as from 

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adults to children. 
Regardless, it shows that their 

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repentance was thorough 
repentance involving everyone. 

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Praise God. 
Jonah preached out of begrudging

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duty, but Christ preaches out of
perfect love and compassion for 

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you and me. 
Christ, the true prophet of 

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00:26:02,130 --> 00:26:08,520
mercy, rejoicing over 1 Sinner 
who repents Nineveh's repentance

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00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,480
delayed destruction. 
But Jesus death and resurrection

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abolished death for us and 
bought us eternal life. 

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Christ was indeed the greater 
Jonah, for he is the one who 

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gives us reconciliation with 
God. 

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Now this is not only true for 
the people of Jonah, but it's 

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true for you and me today. 
When we were seriously dead, we 

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couldn't even reach out for the 
life life preserver we were. 

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We were dead. 
We could do nothing. 

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God had. 
To bring the. 

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Life. 
Preserver to. 

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00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:55,000
Us, we were Ninevites, and yet 
by His mercy and grace He called

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us into His family and we have 
the reconciliation with Yahweh, 

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with God through. 
Christ. 

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On his death and remember. 
And to this day, we were. 

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00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:08,480
Right, not like Nineveh or 
Nineveh. 

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It's the first time repenting to
the leaving God. 

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But we recognize. 
That corruption still exists 

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00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,480
even within us to our 
regenerate. 

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00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,240
Our restless and. 
Confession of faithful teaching 

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00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,960
us and so we have a. 
Public. 

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00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,640
Confession of faith. 
We have a public confession of 

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00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,760
sin. 
We have private. 

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00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,680
Confession of sin. 
And the Lord says, come, come to

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00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:37,520
this table, and as you come, 
examine them yourselves. 

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Then confess and repent the 
Basque in the fellowship that 

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00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,160
you now have. 
With the God that called you out

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00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:52,320
of darkness in until you care 
the life like the Ninevites are 

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00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:57,080
invited to the table. 
Then today, on the other side of

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the cross, you and I are invited
to this view. 

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00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:01,880
This is not the Presbyterian 
table. 

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00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:03,600
This is not the table of the 
PCA. 

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This is the. 
Lord's Table. 

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00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,920
And if what we've spoken. 
Up this morning about Jesus 

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00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,680
Christ and his work of grace and
mercy in the year in your life 

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00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:13,320
is. 
True. 

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00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:26,080
Come feast, taste, rest and joy 
if many of the things about the.

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00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,280
Lord's grace and mercy we've 
talked about today. 

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00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:32,720
Is not true in your 
understanding of Jesus if you 

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00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,400
have yet to accept Him as your 
personal Lord and. 

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00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:37,400
Savior, would you? 
Continue to consider these 

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00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,400
things and reason. 
Through doubt and skepticism, 

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00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,960
Talk to Tommy or. 
Myself or anyone else in this 

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00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,160
room. 
About God whose? 

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00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,160
Rich and mercy compassion. 
And employment and. 

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00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:56,960
Grace, that's you may invite you
to let the elements pass, Lord 

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00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:02,480
Jesus, just as we read centuries
ago of reconciliation. 

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00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,240
Of vile offenders. 
Into your Kingdom. 

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00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,880
So now, Lord, we give. 
You thanks for. 

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00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:14,320
This peace before us as we 
celebrate our peace, not only 

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00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:15,120
with. 
You but with. 

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00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,200
One another, and with those upon
whom we beg you. 

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00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,120
Holy Spirit, help us show. 
Forgiveness. 

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00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,120
Compassion. 
And nursing. 

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00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,600
Many, many people different from
us. 

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00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:30,600
Who live different? 
Lifestyles. 

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00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,360
Different races, different 
perspectives, different 

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00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,200
viewpoints, different politics, 
different education. 

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00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,280
Come to this. 
Table whether it be for a 

400
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,880
picture. 
Of your kids and so Lord. 

401
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,840
We vow for you humbly now as. 
We particularly of this e-mail 

402
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:51,040
you're naming correct? 
Would you stand it?