1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:11,560 When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from 2 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:16,120 his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,440 sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,280 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:28,800 ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction 6 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:34,080 that he had threatened. But to Jonah the seemed very 7 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:39,160 wrong and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord. 8 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,440 Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,240 That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,880 Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious 11 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:56,200 and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. 12 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,800 A God who relents from sending calamity. 13 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:06,280 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die 14 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:12,280 than to live. But the Lord replied, Is it 15 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,480 right for you to be angry? Jonah had gone out and sat down 16 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,920 at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, 17 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,320 sat in the shade, and waited to see what would happen to the 18 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:30,360 city. Then the Lord God provided a 19 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:35,240 leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his 20 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,840 head to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy about 21 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,120 the plant. But at dawn the next day God 22 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,600 provided a worm which chewed the plants so it withered. 23 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,680 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching E wind and the sun 24 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,960 blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. 25 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,920 He wanted to die and said it would be better for me to die 26 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,160 than to live. But God said to Jonah, is it 27 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,639 right for you to be angry about the plant? 28 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,800 It is, He said. And I'm so angry that I wish I 29 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,640 were dead. But the Lord said, you have been 30 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:23,800 concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or 31 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,480 make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died 32 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,120 overnight. And should I not have concern 33 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:43,040 for the great city of Nineveh? Thank you, Rowan. 34 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,200 Good morning. If you haven't read Jonah 35 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:50,880 yourself, you probably haven't heard the bits and pieces about 36 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,600 worms and plants. And a prophet who wants to die 37 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:58,520 doesn't kind of feature in in the kiddies story, you know, 38 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:00,440 doesn't come up in Sunday school. 39 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,440 But it is the portion that we're going to look at actually, I 40 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,720 want to anchor this morning in chapter 4, verse one. 41 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,880 But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong. 42 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,320 To Jonah, this seemed very wrong. 43 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,880 We we're going to have a bit of a run up until we deal with this 44 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,320 thing that's going on in Jonah's heart because it's important 45 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,840 that you see what is happening in God's heart, What's happening 46 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,720 in Jonah's heart, what's happening in the heart of the 47 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,280 Ninevites. And then you'll begin to see 48 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,000 what's happening in your own heart. 49 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,640 We allow the Spirit of God to do some ministry this morning, but 50 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,000 to start off to to set the scene, I want to show you 51 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,200 something that's going on in the heart of God that might offend 52 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,840 you. And that is from verse one and 53 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,440 two, as we've heard it read at the beginning of almost every 54 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,200 sermon we've done on Jonah. The word of the Lord came to 55 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,680 Jonah, son of Amitai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach 56 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,760 against it because its wickedness has come up before 57 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,200 me. There's two things I want to 58 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,400 draw your attention to in those two verses. 59 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,000 The 1st is this, if you, I don't know if you have it in your 60 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,960 Bible, but my Bible says the word of the Lord and that Lord 61 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,080 is in caps. Lord is all in capital letters. 62 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:05,120 I don't know if you have the same. 63 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,880 The reason for that is because that word Lord is a translation 64 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,640 of letters, not a word. The letters are YHWH, sort of 65 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,760 this holy abbreviated version of Yahweh. 66 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,200 And so the scribes who had transcribed the scriptures, when 67 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,920 they got to the name Yahweh, it is the highest name of God. 68 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,880 And so they treated it with with such reverence that they 69 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,000 wouldn't even say the name or write the name. 70 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,160 It's not like you know he who shall not be named. 71 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,960 It's the one who is so holy that even these filthy lips don't 72 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,480 dare mention the name. And so that's, that's what it's 73 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:43,760 saying there. But here's something that's 74 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,240 fascinating about that name. It's not just the highest, 75 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,680 greatest name of God. See, you could have written 76 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,120 there the word of Adonai or El El Yon God Most High came to me. 77 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:00,960 But he says Yahweh because Jonah knew the heart of God, and so he 78 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,000 used the heart of God to represent what is going on. 79 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:09,000 And that name Yahweh is the covenant name of God. 80 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:14,400 So a God by the name of Gerhoff and Rod says the name Yahweh was 81 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,320 committed in trust to Israel, alone among the nations. 82 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:22,520 In it alone lay the guarantee of his nearness, the covenant 83 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:27,600 making God, and in it alone lay the guarantee of his readiness 84 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,440 to help. And Jonah's going. 85 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:37,520 This seems wrong to me. You can help me, you can help 86 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:43,560 Israel, you can help three CR. But my ex-husband, don't you 87 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:55,200 dare. My boss, the man who raped me, I 88 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,920 hear that. I know I said to you, Are you 89 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:00,360 ready for the heart of God to offend you? 90 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,080 So that's the first thing, the will of the Lord came to Jonah. 91 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,120 And the second thing that says go and preach against the city. 92 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,480 A little tip, something that we learned in Bible college, if you 93 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,400 open Scripture and you open, maybe you're studying Jonah and 94 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:16,280 you've got the ESV or the Message or the New Living 95 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:19,520 Translation, you'll notice that this preach against it is 96 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,080 translated differently. So I think the New Living 97 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,840 Translation says, you know, tell them about my pending judgement 98 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:28,040 or something like that. The ESV says call out against 99 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:29,720 them. I'm reading from the NRV and it 100 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,240 says preach against it. Whenever you see that disparity, 101 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,320 you got to know that there's something happening with the the 102 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,720 phraseology, the imagery that is portrayed in Hebrew that's not 103 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,160 quite translated perfectly into English. 104 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,600 And so I went and took a look at one of the concordances and 105 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,920 Strong says, yeah. Note this word, Korah has a wide 106 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:53,400 variety of applications. And here are some of the nuances 107 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,840 to this word. Remember, we're looking at the 108 00:06:56,840 --> 00:07:00,160 heart of God. Korah is to preach again, so 109 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:06,280 speak judgement, but it is also to invite, to be called, to be 110 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:12,920 chosen, to cry out to me the covenant making God, and to call 111 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,280 for my help. So God is not just saying to 112 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:25,200 Jonah, go to Nineveh, tell them he call Madam 10-9. 113 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,640 He's not saying go and stand in the midst of the Ninevites and 114 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,920 let them know there's a God who wants to make a covenant with 115 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:39,840 him and forgive them and deliver them from the pending judgment. 116 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,760 And what does Jonah say? But to Jonah this seemed very 117 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:46,280 wrong. And he became angry. 118 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,480 Actually, he stormed off, went off to Tarshish. 119 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:53,960 And then you have the storm and the whale and he gets vomited 120 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:55,760 out. And then he when he does sort of 121 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,000 turn a little bit, he gives a real half hearted sermon to to 122 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,320 Nineveh. It was so short you could have 123 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,000 just tweeted it and he could have stayed at home and really 124 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,360 spared himself the trouble. And then they repent. 125 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,280 No. To Jonah, this seemed very 126 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,640 wrong. Don't you just hate that about 127 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,920 God? Don't you hate? 128 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,800 I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God. 129 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,720 I hate that about you. Slow to anger. 130 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,360 Abounding in love. Drives me nuts. 131 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,960 A God who relents from calamity. To Jonah, this seemed very 132 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,520 wrong. To you, this seems very wrong. 133 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,919 Slow to anger, but you know what he did to me? 134 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,280 You know what she said about me? You know he stole all my glory 135 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,240 and my clients and got the promotion. 136 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,320 It's a heart of God and a defended Jonah. 137 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 And if we're really honest, it offends us too. 138 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:03,160 So what's up? What's what's going on here? 139 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:05,640 Why is Jonah so offended? Why are we so offended? 140 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,120 To understand this, I want to look at two aspects of of the 141 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,680 dark recesses of our heart and of Jonah's heart, and we're 142 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:14,040 going to link these three together. 143 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,440 Here's the first thing that was up Dan Carlin. 144 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:21,400 If you're a historian, if you like to go down rabbit holes as 145 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,520 I do, Dan Carlin has got a series called Hardcore History, 146 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,600 looks at all those very dark issues of of humanity's past. 147 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,200 And in one of the episodes, he actually talks about Nineveh, 148 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:35,560 and it's fascinating. So Nineveh, if you don't know 149 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,560 it, was the capital city of Assyria, the empire of Assyria. 150 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,560 So this was one of the very first empires that had lasted 151 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,200 for something like 2000 years, the Assyrian Empire. 152 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,040 And Nineveh was its capital. It's where the king set. 153 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,440 As we just heard, it was where the king repented. 154 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,120 But the thing about Nineveh and the thing about the Assyrians, 155 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,880 they were unmatched in power and brutality. 156 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,560 If you were here last week, you would have heard car share but a 157 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:04,880 little bit of the the dark interior decorating of the the 158 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,920 Assyrians flaying people, skinning them alive. 159 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,360 They would brutally, brutally destroy their enemies. 160 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,360 Dan Colin actually says they invented terrorism. 161 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,200 Now, I thought that was just hyperbole, but I mentioned it to 162 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,040 Eugene and Eugene did a little bit of digging and he said, do 163 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:30,840 you know that Nineveh, the ruins of Nineveh, lie right in the 164 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:36,720 seedbed of ISIS? So we're not just talking about 165 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,320 a bunch of people who are power hungry and have no boundaries, 166 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,040 not a bunch of Barbarians. There was a spirit behind there 167 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,120 that Nineveh is right where ISIS have based themselves. 168 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,320 And the the map that he showed me was like these little 169 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,080 tendrils that go throughout where Assyria used to be across 170 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,800 the Engineer E They were brutal. They were wicked. 171 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,360 Dan actually says that they would do the kind of damage and 172 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,320 nuclear bomb would do to a city or to the enemies, but they 173 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,400 would do it by hand. But the thing about the 174 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,160 Assyrians, the the most wicked thing about the Assyrians is not 175 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,640 only that they took their time, but what they wanted to do was 176 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,680 they wanted to work out judgement and punishment and 177 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,440 brutality that would leave generational scars. 178 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:25,720 So what they would do is they would go and here's a city 179 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:30,520 that's is resisting us. They're not only going and and 180 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:35,600 execute and bludgeon to death and torture pregnant women and 181 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:40,880 men and children, then not only burn their crops and tear down 182 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:43,520 their villages, but they would they would flatten everything. 183 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:45,640 They wouldn't leave another stone on top of one another. 184 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,600 They would take that rubble and they would spread it into the 185 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,720 the fields as well as sowing weeds. 186 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,200 Weeds, not weed. OK, now we got some people from 187 00:11:55,200 --> 00:12:02,760 Boxberg and Benoni here, weeds and scatter salt so that if 188 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,600 there were any survivors anywhere, there was no way they 189 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,320 would be able to survive. They could not come and live in 190 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,160 that place anymore. There's one account where they 191 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,440 actually diverted a river. Now just think how long it 192 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,000 takes, you know, when you're on holiday, all your volleys down 193 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,320 in in Durban and you buy the lagoon and you want to get the 194 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,800 lagoon to sort of come to the see how much effort that is. 195 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,400 Now imagine how many years it would possibly take to diver to 196 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,120 river. So it would go straight through 197 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,520 the middle, middle of that village or that city so that 198 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:33,640 there would be nothing left to say. 199 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:34,920 Yeah. You know, in the bend of that 200 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:36,160 river. Well, there used to be an 201 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,160 amazing town there. Pretoria used to be there 202 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,760 generational scars. They wanted to leave death and 203 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:51,000 destruction in their wake. And God says Jonah, would you go 204 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,680 and tell them I want to forgive them. 205 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:58,880 It's funny. All of a sudden there's a little 206 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,640 bit more compassion in Jonah. You know, you pretty uptights 207 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,840 and self-righteous and saying, Lord Jonah, I would have gone. 208 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:17,160 But what if I told you that in 721 BC that same king who sat in 209 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:21,920 the dust in chapter 3 rallied the Assyrians and they swept 210 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,960 down upon Israel and unleashed hell. 211 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,000 Everything that I've told you about the Assyrians happened to 212 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,200 the people of God maybe 20 years after the book of John was 213 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,440 written. Now, it's not just a case of 214 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,920 this is who they are. God knows this is what they're 215 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:47,480 about to do. And they had a particular 216 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,400 cruelty that they meted out to the Israelites, see, because the 217 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,120 Israelites were very precious about their heritage. 218 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,560 So what they did was they slaughtered the men, they took 219 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,160 the women home as slaves, they impregnated them, and then they 220 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,840 kicked them out. And that's where we get the 221 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:08,360 Samaritans from a generation upon generation upon generation 222 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,760 that was sent home to be rejected and despised and 223 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,440 exploited and oppressed. Such is the wickedness. 224 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:27,160 But God says, not only do I know who you are, three CR, not only 225 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,280 do I know what you've been up to Pretoria, I know what you're 226 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,360 going to do. And still he says to you and I, 227 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,040 I want to bring my forgiveness. I want to make covenant with 228 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,560 you. I want to cleanse you and 229 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,280 forgive you. But to Jonah, this seemed very 230 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,920 wrong. My Bible, actually, the heading 231 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,720 in chapter 4 says Jonah's anger at the Lord's compassion. 232 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:59,720 You know, in 2006, a God by the name of Charlie Roberts armed 233 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,720 himself and went into an Amish community. 234 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:04,840 I don't know if you remember the story. 235 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:07,960 You know, I think Little House on the Prairie, when it comes to 236 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,240 a school room, classroom kind of set up. 237 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,120 He stormed in there, too graphic to give details other than the 238 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:19,040 fact that he locked the door and executed at point blank. 239 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,400 You have 25 children in the classroom before he pulled the 240 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,480 gun on himself. And of course, the media 241 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,480 descended on it in droves. Thousands upon thousands of 242 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,920 media outlets were carrying the story and they had the funeral 243 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,360 for these children and the Amish gathered and they had their 244 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,200 funeral. And then to the Globe's 245 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 amazement and the media's shock and horror, they left their 246 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:46,520 funeral and went to Charlie's funeral and grieved with his 247 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:53,600 widow and his three children and forgave and loved on and 248 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,800 actually created a fund to look after the family and to get the 249 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,560 children through school and get a degree until they had work 250 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:02,480 they constantly cared for. 10 years later, I was reading an 251 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:04,960 article. There was still a tight knit 252 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,040 community with Charlie Roberts wife and children. 253 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,400 The world did not know what to do. 254 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,440 There's such power when we forgive, it's because when you 255 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,720 forgive you, you are joining with the very nature and 256 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:23,040 character of God. And that power is far greater 257 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,040 than the power of the Ninevites and the Assyrians, far greater 258 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:31,560 than Charlie Roberts, so much so that within hours, the narrative 259 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,760 changed. It went from this horror. 260 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,680 And how could he and, you know, bring the death sentence back or 261 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,760 whatever the case, it changed to 2 1/2 thousand outlets talking 262 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,680 about the Amish forgiveness. And if memory serves correct, 263 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,320 one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, got saved 264 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,280 because of their forgiveness. He was sitting doing research 265 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:52,760 for a book. It could. 266 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,560 What do you do with this? He was completely undone because 267 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:59,960 see, the grates of the wound, the greater the forgiveness and 268 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,280 the greater display of the nature and the grace and the 269 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:08,000 glory and the character of God to a world that never otherwise 270 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,280 would see it. But to Jonah, this seemed very 271 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,280 wrong. Don't you forgive Charlie? 272 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,880 You remember it. You remind the world, you sit at 273 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,079 that dinner table and you tell them how bad you were fathered. 274 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,160 You sit at that dinner table and you commiserate it. 275 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,000 You're a shocking boss. And you know I haven't had a 276 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,120 raise. And you know what he's. 277 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:39,520 And who does she think she is? You think that this is very 278 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,800 wrong. I think that this is very wrong. 279 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,720 You can deny it, but it growls in our hearts because I'm Jonah. 280 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:52,600 Another thing that's going on in the heart of Jonah. 281 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,360 We need Psalm 23 to unpack this and I'm just going to feel like 282 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:58,960 a little hard left here. Just bear with me. 283 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,000 Psalm 23 was a song that had been written about 200 years 284 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,320 before Jonah came on the scene. It was a song that he would have 285 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:07,960 been familiar with just as we are. 286 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,040 You know, it's the Lord is my shepherd. 287 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,200 I shall not want he leads me beside still waters lays me down 288 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,520 in green pastures, though I walk through the valley of the shadow 289 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,640 of death or shall fear no evil. That's PS Psalm 23. 290 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,920 Back in those days, they would, and even today they'd included 291 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:27,040 in their Shabbat ceremony. So he would have been familiar 292 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,760 with this and he would also been familiar with one of the verses 293 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,520 that we're not so familiar with. And that is why we have a table 294 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,640 there. You prepare a table before me in 295 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:40,200 the presence of my enemies. OK, Why the table? 296 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,320 Why the enemies? Well, we're dealing with Jonah 297 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,760 and his enemies. Now. 298 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,240 There were two views on this verse five of Psalm 23. 299 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,320 The first one, the traditional view, well, it's a lot of the 300 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,480 fact that just like we've seen here with the Ninevites and the 301 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,560 Assyrians, the Israelites were surrounded by enemies. 302 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,120 They often had them on their doorstep, wanting to lay siege 303 00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:06,320 to the city. And so the traditional view of 304 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,880 this verse was, well, Lord, here's your promise, You prepare 305 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,480 a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 306 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:19,520 So smite them. Smash his teeth in, burn him to 307 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,080 the ground. Actually in the prey that I 308 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,520 prayed when I was a young man was Lord, would you stop his 309 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:28,400 heart? Because you've prepared a table 310 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,000 before me in the presence of my enemies. 311 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,920 So this is the picture that Jonah had and what I have had. 312 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:46,360 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 313 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,760 You know it's like your 20 year school reunion. 314 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,040 Oh, what does it you do? I've been blessed with a 315 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:01,800 glorious life as my God has prepared a table before me in 316 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,480 the presence of my enemies. I know you said no when I asked 317 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,040 you to the matrix dance, but can I show you my abs? 318 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,600 Shame. Who's driving the Uno Fiat? 319 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,600 OK, so this is the view that Jonah had. 320 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,320 This is the traditional view, and it's the view that creeps 321 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:33,560 into our hearts because to Jonah it seemed very wrong that the 322 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:39,440 Lord would prepare a table before me, not for me, but 323 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,560 before me in the presence of my enemies. 324 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,320 To you and I, it seems very wrong that the Lord would 325 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,480 prepare a table before me because we need to do a little 326 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,800 bit of a Bible study around this concept. 327 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,000 So it was before me. It's not, you know, you reserved 328 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:58,920 a table. And so the waitress says there's 329 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,440 your table and it's before you. It comes with an invitation. 330 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,080 There's a seat at the table there, and there's a seat at the 331 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,320 table there. One of them is seating the King 332 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,840 of kings and the Lord of Lords who sits at the table. 333 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,440 And he said, will you come and she'll Han with me? 334 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,800 Because not just there, it doesn't say you prepare a meal 335 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:20,960 before me. It says you prepare a table 336 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,400 before me. And in the Bible this she'll 337 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:29,920 Han, this table always and well, rather predominantly represented 338 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,840 reconciliation. So God is saying here in Psalm 339 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,000 23, I'm your Lord and I'm your shepherd. 340 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,560 Yes, I make you lie down in Greek pastors. 341 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:42,720 Yes, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 342 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,520 but also I'm Yahweh and I want to redeem and restore and 343 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,040 forgive and renew. And that is going to require 344 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,480 some shul harm, some time at the table. 345 00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,480 See, if you go through Scripture, actually you see it 346 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,640 all over the place. So you see it in First Samuel 347 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,400 20. This is in David's time when 348 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,800 David was writing this, you see Jonathan, it says that he was 349 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,960 grieved at how shameful his dad was treating David. 350 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,800 Now in our day and age, we would write and so Jonathan stormed 351 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:20,200 off and slammed the door. But in this his day and age, you 352 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,880 will write. He stood up from the table. 353 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,760 We we can't sure harm father. I'm I'm grieved at how you're 354 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,360 treating David or we read in second Samuel Chapter 9. 355 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,640 It talks about how David now becomes king. 356 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,240 And so of course, what does the king do? 357 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:40,040 He obliterates the predecessor's family and any remnants there 358 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,160 because they always get to be in their bonnet and think they can 359 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,160 take the the crown back. And So what does David do? 360 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,960 He calls Mephibosheth, the only living descendant of Saul, and 361 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,400 he seats him at his table. And he says, you will always 362 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,040 eat, you will always show harm at my table. 363 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,840 There will always be reconciliation, even though Saul 364 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:01,720 wanted to kill me. This is the picture. 365 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,960 Or you go to Luke 7, Jesus is reclining at the table and the 366 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,800 woman with the alabaster jars is a sinful woman, which is 367 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,160 essentially a woman of the night, breaks it, alabaster jar 368 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,000 pours it on his feet. And what does Jesus say today? 369 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,600 Your sins are forgiven. Shul Han reconciliation in Acts 370 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,440 246 says every day they would meet in the houses together and 371 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,080 they would break bread with glad and sincere hearts. 372 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,200 Now that's kind of strange. Yeah, I'll say you break bread 373 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,440 with peanut butter and jam or you break bread with, you know, 374 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,880 wine and olive oil. But glad and sincere hearts. 375 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,040 They use this word because sincere there the literal 376 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:45,120 translation means without rocks, we're not throwing stones. 377 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:49,280 We'd having a short time. We are making sure that there's 378 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,680 nothing between you and I, that I don't have to walk into three 379 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,600 CR and see she's at the coffee counter. 380 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,640 I guess I'm going to have the free stuff and you walk across 381 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,320 because you have shell hard, no rocks. 382 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:11,120 Or on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he sat down on one end 383 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:17,200 of that table and he said tomorrow I will create the 384 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,960 ultimate shell hard. Tomorrow my body, like that 385 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,520 bread will be broken and my blood like that wine will be 386 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,080 poured out so that there will be no stones between us, There will 387 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:33,440 be no gap, there will be no animosity so that I can make 388 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:41,120 covenant with you. But to Jonah that seemed very 389 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:43,920 wrong. Me. 390 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:48,400 Yes, absolutely. My family, praise Jesus, you and 391 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:58,120 your rats. But to Jonah this seemed very 392 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:03,520 wrong. And to you, do you need to 393 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:08,360 forgive someone? Or better yet, who don't you 394 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:16,720 believe deserves forgiveness? Who do you say to Jonah? 395 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:18,680 To Stephen? This seems very wrong. 396 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,840 Maybe your spouse on the back of last Sunday. 397 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,800 Maybe they pulled up a chair at the table and said, Babes, 398 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,800 something I need to tell you. Who don't you think deserves 399 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:40,280 forgiveness? Maybe an ex and he's still not 400 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,760 paying. Who do you need to forgive? 401 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:51,240 Maybe it's a parent. If you had to describe your dad 402 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:52,840 in one word, what would that word be? 403 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:57,280 Absent Mickey. Disappointments. 404 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,360 Cruel. Who do you need to forgive? 405 00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:05,280 Stepmom. Maybe she stole your dad's heart 406 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,760 from you. Stepdad is functional but absent 407 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,880 in laws. All of us in laws. 408 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,440 Who don't you think deserves forgiveness? 409 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:27,680 Grandparents, I mean they said and did something that no 410 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,920 grandparents should ever do, crossed a line. 411 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:37,160 How do you feel about your son or your daughter? 412 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:39,880 Is there someone you need to forgive? 413 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:50,920 Or a brother, or a brother, or a brother, sister, family? 414 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:57,560 Who's it that you avoid when it's Mother's Day or Christmas? 415 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,640 Maybe it's a business partner. Maybe it's a boss. 416 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,440 Maybe it's a colleague who single handedly destroyed your 417 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,280 career. Who do you not think deserves 418 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:17,280 forgiveness? Maybe it's a trusted friend who 419 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,800 wounded and betrayed you. Maybe the person you don't think 420 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,880 deserves to be forgiven as you yourself. 421 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,080 Forgiveness is an event. Reconciliation is a process. 422 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,920 For some of us here, we need to forgive, but we actually need 423 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,920 reconciliation to complete the process of forgiveness. 424 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,600 I know what this is like when, when my dad and I were at our, 425 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:50,080 at our worst, I remember one of my mates had a bit of an 426 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,720 intervention here, you know, one of those, hey, listen, can we, 427 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,320 can we chat? And just before you know it, 428 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,440 there's like a room full of people in bed. 429 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:58,440 This thing will be the end of you. 430 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,880 And it was true. And it was clear as they, 431 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,640 everyone could see it. And so, you know, we shared, I 432 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,720 vented, I forgave, I prayed. And then he handed me the phone. 433 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:13,560 I said, what's your dad's number? 434 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,760 So for some of us, some of us, not necessarily all of us, some 435 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:24,880 of us need to not only forgive but also need to reconcile, need 436 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,960 to sit at that table. It might take a Peck of salt to 437 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:37,320 restore, to repent, to forgive. What I'm not saying, please 438 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:42,840 don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying you go to that 439 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,040 person at the coffee counter and say I forgive you. 440 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:51,600 Please, we are not children. If you're so self-centered and 441 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,040 so selfish that it became an issue, they might not even know. 442 00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,320 Then you sit at the table with yourself and God on the other 443 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,480 side and say Father, I've been holding on to poison and I want 444 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,960 to forgive them. It begins with repentance. 445 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,400 OK, but maybe you need to do that. 446 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:11,600 Maybe you need to sit at the table. 447 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,720 One, one thing you do need to do is you do need to work out this 448 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,200 reconciliation in community. So glad if we starting life 449 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,840 groups again. Put that as question number one. 450 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,160 Who do you need to forgive? Who don't you think deserves 451 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,640 forgiveness? How can we journey with you and 452 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,520 you get counsel? Maybe some of it it is just too 453 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:34,160 toxic for you to wade in on that and you need to do work in your 454 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:38,400 own heart. But today, I want to invite you 455 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,240 to the table. I want to ask you, is there 456 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:49,440 someone you need to forgive? Someone that you, even that 457 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,760 person that abandoned you or raped you? 458 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,360 There's power in forgiveness. There's power that the city 459 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,080 needs. Land with us. 460 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,760 Have you ever stopped to wonder how it is that we got to get our 461 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,960 hands on this tiny little story? I mean, think about it. 462 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,880 Who was there when Jonah was screaming at God? 463 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,520 Who was there to say to Jonah this seemed very wrong? 464 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,160 Who witnessed the the worm and the vine and the heat of the 465 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,160 day? Jonah. 466 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,320 Only Jonah. How did we get to find out about 467 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,320 Jonah? There's only one explanation. 468 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:41,480 He sat at the table. He came face to face with the 469 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:45,440 Ninevites and the Assyrians and this wickedness that he saw with 470 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,880 his own eyes and the dark, deep wickedness and resentment and 471 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,720 unforgiveness that he had to see with his heavenly eyes. 472 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,040 And he sat at that table and he wrote down so that you and I 473 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,400 would see who he truly was and who he truly needed. 474 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,520 And the crazy thing is, in spite of the fact that the Assyrians 475 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:09,400 did generational damage, they're gone and forgotten. 476 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:16,640 But the forgiveness is still reaching and touching and 477 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:21,560 challenging and changing lives thousands of years later. 478 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,720 That is the power that the city needs. 479 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,320 That is the power that this community needs because the 480 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:34,360 Bible says where brothers dwell together in unity, a command of 481 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,640 blessing. But it begins by taking a seat 482 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,160 at that table, a moment of Shohan. 483 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:43,680 And I want to invite you to that today.