Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "The Grace of God in Jonah" by Neal Pollard

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"The Grace of God in Jonah" by Neal Pollard · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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  Brian, it's never been more important than in 2026 to have a week like we're about to
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  have be greedy.
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  And that is the ability to get away from and disconnect from all the distractions that
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  we have in our daily lives and to be able to spend time together and to cultivate and
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  build relationships.
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  I'm excited on behalf of all that are having the opportunity to go and to volunteer as
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  adults and for all of our young people who are going to attend this camp.
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  And let's pray for their safety.
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  Let's pray for their spiritual development in this time which is about to happen.
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  Perhaps this is not the best thing for me to say as a preacher preaching, but there
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  are times when I can relate to Jonah.
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  Sometimes I think that I've struggled with some of the same things that Jonah dealt with
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  that are revealed for us in the scripture.
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  There have been times in my life when I have run away from the commands and the requirements
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  that God has for my life and I have skirted the duty that God had wanted for me to have
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  and to fulfill.
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  There have been times in my life where I have judged the faithfulness or the lack thereof
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  of those to receive the gospel, those who I believe would and who I thought sure weren't
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  going to.
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  And I have found myself in a situation where I've lacked compassion.
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  Perhaps there have been times if I'm honest with myself when I felt myself morally and
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  spiritually superior to others.
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  There's a sense in which Jonah is not a very sympathetic character when we read the book.
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  The book begins with him running away from the very will that God has for him to do.
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  And when he finally does go and do the will of God, he seems like he doesn't want to see
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  it accomplished.
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  And when the will of God is accomplished, he seems angry to see that it happens.
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  But that's not to say that Jonah is without redeeming qualities as we walk through the
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  book.
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  In fact, if you look in chapter 1, he puts the needs and the concerns of others above
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  himself.
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  When we look at the sailors whose life he saves by owning up to the fact that he's the
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  one who causes the storm.
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  He cries out to God with abject poverty of spirit and asking for God's help in his time
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  of greatest need.
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  And then when he does go and he preaches the gospel, he preaches the absolute truth without
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  any fear.
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  And then in the end of the book, he rightly defines for us who God is.
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  He has a good picture of God's nature and how to describe him when he says that the
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  Lord is gracious and compassionate.
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  He is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and he relents concerning calamity.
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  Jonah chapter 4 and verse 2.
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  And when he uses that word gracious there, he is using a word that means to show mercy
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  to those who are needy and yet who are penitent.
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  When Jonah lays out for us the grace of God, he speaks of it alongside of other qualities.
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  And the Old Testament certainly shows us this when it talks about the qualities and natures
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  of God.
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  In Psalm 111 and verse 4, God's works are done so that they can be remembered.
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  The Lord is gracious and compassionate, Psalm 111 and verse 4.
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  When we go to read the book of Jonah, we see the grace of God as it is shown to the Gentiles,
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  the people who have no covenant relationship with God.
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  God wants his grace to be seen and he extends it to the sailors in chapter 1 and he extends
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  it to the entire city which is the capital of a world empire that he has said is going
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  to be destroyed and he doesn't do it.
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  Jonah chapter 3 and verse 10, he shows grace to the Assyrians.
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  But throughout the book, God shows his grace to the only one in the entire book who is
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  in a covenant relationship with God.
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  He shows it to Jonah, the man we've already described who at best was uneven spiritually.
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  In fact, it's the only book in the Bible in which the main character and the writer is
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  the antagonist.
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  He is the bad guy in the book.
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  And yet God continually shows his grace toward him.
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  When we think about this, this is consistent with the message of the Bible.
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  Not only is the gospel for all, but the grace of God is for all.
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  What is it that Paul says to Titus in Titus chapter 2 and verse 11?
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  He says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto all men.
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  In 1 Timothy 2 verse 3 and 4, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior
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  who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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  This is who God is.
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  And in the Old Testament, we see in Ezekiel's day that God has no pleasure in the death
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  of the wicked, but that he would repent and live, Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 23.
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  It is a fact that we need the grace of God unto salvation.
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  But it is much a fact that we will continue to need the grace of God after we come up
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  out of the baptistry.
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  For as long as we live our Christian lives, we are going to need God's grace abundantly
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  in our lives.
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  Not grace that will give us a license to use and misuse it.
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  Paul will remind us of this in Romans chapter 6 verse 1 and 2 when he says, what shall we
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  say?
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  Shall we continue in sin that grace may increase?
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  It never be.
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  How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?
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  Romans 6 verse 1 and verse 2, God's grace is not meant to cause us to give up and use
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  it as a substitute for our obedience.
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  And yet as we look at the grace of God in Jonah's life, we learn or we're reminded of
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  at least five facts about God's grace that can encourage us.
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  And let me suggest to you that if you think of yourself more like the sailors and more
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  like the Ninevites, that this still has application in your life.
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  But if maybe you find yourself on this side of the baptistry and you are in covenant relationship
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  with God, understanding the grace of God as it's unfolded in the book of Jonah can help
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  you as you grow and develop and try to look more like Jesus every day.
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  I want us to take just a few moments and see the grace of God and what it does in our lives
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  even if we can relate a little bit to Jonah.
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  The first thing we notice is that the grace of God pursues us when we run.
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  You think about how the book of Jonah begins.
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  The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, go rise and go to Nineveh
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  and cry out against it for its wickedness is great before me.
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  And Jonah goes to Joppa and he flees from the presence of the Lord and he pays passage
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  and he goes down into a ship to go to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
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  Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 through verse 3.
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  God is telling him to leave and go up to Nineveh.
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  But he goes 2,500 miles west away from there.
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  He's 500 miles from Nineveh when he is there at Joppa and he gets on a boat and he goes
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  2,000 miles away from the place where God says, this is where I want you to go and preach
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  my grace to those who are lost.
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  I tried to give myself a way to appreciate that and this is still in the age of the modern
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  car but if you want to know about how far that is, how far he's going from where God's
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  telling him to go, get in your car, gas it up, gas is cheap right now, and go all the
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  way to Seattle, Washington.
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  That's how far away that it was.
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  Basically he is going as far from where God has told him to go than he is meant and supposed
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  to be going.
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  But I want you to see that God doesn't leave Jonah to himself.
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  He could have.
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  He could have let him go on in his rebellion and in his disobedience but God chases after
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  him.
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  He pursues him.
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  He causes a great storm to come up and a great wind to rise, verse 4.
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  And it's through that that God is going after Jonah but he's not going after him in order
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  to hurt him.
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  Do you see God's grace and his love as he pursues the prophets?
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  You know in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4 the Bible tells us that sin is the violation of
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  God's law.
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  But where else do you see it where the violated runs after the violator?
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  And where the offended one goes after the offender?
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  But that's God.
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  Here's how it works in our lives too often.
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  Somebody sins against us and we make it known that if you're going to make things right
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  you have got to come groveling back to me and if you do I'll think about whether or
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  not I may forgive you.
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  God shows us the pettiness of the rules that we make in those regards.
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  Jesus wants that to live in our hearts.
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  And so he says which among you if he has a hundred sheep and one of them is lost does
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  not leave the 99 in the open pasture and he goes after the one until he finds it and when
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  he finds the sheep that was lost he puts it on his shoulders rejoicing and he comes home
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  to his friends and his neighbors and he says to them rejoice with me for that which is
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  lost has been found and I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
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  who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no such repentance.
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  Luke chapter 15 verse 4 through verse 7.
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  Now Jonah is not going to extend the same thing to the people of Nineveh as he should
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  but he's getting this lesson from God that as he runs God wants him and he goes after
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  him.
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  Do you see that that's how God has been from the very beginning of sin in the world?
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  I mean you put two people in paradise and you give them a job to do and you give them
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  very little for them to do by way of obeying and disobeying and yet despite that in their
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  free choice they choose to rebel against the will of God and understanding what they've
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  done they go and they hide themselves from God and what does God do?
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  God walks after them and he calls to them and he talks to them.
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  Genesis chapter 3 verse 8 and verse 9 and from that moment to the very present moment
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  God is saying that's what I want to do with you.
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  God's grace pursues us when we run.
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  When we're running away from what he wants us to do and what he has called us to do.
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  I know this is an imperfect picture but sometimes I find illustrations that really help me with
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  this and I don't know if any of you ever saw the movie Catch Me If You Can.
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  Catch Me If You Can is a movie about a young con artist and a counterfeiter who becomes
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  an FBI and a security consultant.
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  Frank Abagnale is this young man who because of a broken home life goes and he tries to
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  scratch and call and make his way but it finds him on the other side of the law and he goes
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  worse and worse and he goes further away from things that are right and as a result
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  of this he's running from the law.
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  And a lot of the movie centers around an FBI agent named Carl Hanratty whose job it is
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  to catch him and throughout the movie and there's the name of the movie and where it
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  comes from Catch Me If You Can he's trying everything he can to catch him and as he learns
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  more about his circumstances and what's brought him to this point of desperation while he
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  knows it doesn't excuse him he has pity and concern for him.
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  It's one of the beautiful touches of the movie.
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  Now we have to understand that God is not fooled by the things that we do and God always
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  catches us but he has a perfect sense of love and mercy that causes him to run after us.
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  He's the perfect heavenly father, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 48 and he runs after us
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  much as the prodigal's father does when he comes home in Luke 15.
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  God's grace pursues us when we run.
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  But as we walk through that's Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 through 14 as we continue to walk
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  through the book we also see that God's grace punishes us when we sin.
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  Now this is in the last few verses of Jonah chapter 1 and Jonah 1 15 through 17.
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  We get this picture that God's grace punishes us when we sin and I know that that doesn't
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  fit with the world's picture of grace.
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  When the world thinks about grace it paints this picture that we can live any way that
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  we want to and God indulges everything that we want to do without any need of repentance
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  on our part.
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  Jude warns that this was the mindset that many were going to take.
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  He says that some in the name of religion are actually going to come into your midst
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  and they're going to privately bring these destructive heresies and they're going to
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  turn the grace of God into a license to immoral living.
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  We understand that God is not pleased with what Jonah is doing and God's not going to
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  let Jonah continue to do what he's doing.
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  And so here's what happens in verse 15, he causes a great storm to arise and the storm
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  is going to continue until Jonah admits who he is and that he is the reason why this storm
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  has come in the first place.
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  And when he's thrown into the sea and the sea is calm and the storm is gone he's going
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  to bring a great fish and Jonah's going to have to spend three days and three nights
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  in that fish.
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  How can we say that God's grace, his undeserved favor, punishes us when we sin?
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  It's a mark of his goodness that he doesn't want to leave us in that sin but that he allows
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  us to suffer for the consequences of our sins.
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  Have you ever found yourself there that you have messed your life up so badly that you
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  have hurt friendships and relationships?
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  Maybe it's hurt you in your health, maybe in your economics, or maybe it has tarnished
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  your influence.
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  We can't get away from an immutable, unchanging law.
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  Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
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  For whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
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  He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
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  He that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap everlasting life.
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  Galatians 6, 7, and 8.
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  Jonah has made a conscious decision, I am going to rebel against the will of God.
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  And it is a sign of God's love, not his wrath and his justice, that he prepares this fish
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  in order to literally turn Jonah around.
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  The Hebrews writer helps us to get an appreciation for this.
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  He says don't despise the discipline of our Lord.
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  See what God does as a means of his love because he scourges those sons whom he receives.
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  Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 and verse 6, and then he says in verse 11 that no punishment
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  seems joyful but sorrowful, but afterward it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
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  God, his grace has punished Jonah in order to turn him around and to get him to go where
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  he needs to go.
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  He also is sending Jonah with a message.
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  We have no reason to think that Jonah makes up this message.
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  His message of grace is yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown.
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  Jonah chapter 3 and verse 10.
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  God is fully ready to exercise punishment against the Ninevites if they don't repent
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  and yet with that message of grace contained, God is extending a second chance because he
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  relents of what he is going to do.
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  It may be that there is some point in your life where you and your struggle and your
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  fleeing from the presence of God has something that comes along and hits you and knocks you
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  down.
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  As they often say, sometimes as we knock flat of our back to look up and to see God.
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  That's what happens to Jonah.
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  God's grace punishes us when we sin.
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  How thankful we should be.
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  But then third as we go on to the second chapter of the book, we see that God's grace pardons
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  us when we repent.
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  I think it's commonly believed that Jonah is at his best when he has spent three days
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  in that well motel as they used to say.
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  He has seen the grace of God and as he is there in the belly of that fish, he spends
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  the time praying.
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  As you look at the contents of this prayer, you see a man whose heart has changed.
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  You see what Jonah can be and what Jonah wants to be.
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  Jonah acknowledges from the belly of this fish that the fish was brought about because
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  of what he's done, his sin.
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  He realizes his dependency upon God.
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  He realized that God has brought this to turn him around.
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  That in this, that God has turned his heart so that he is ready and willing to repent.
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  And he sees in this the need for him to show gratitude and to appreciate the thanksgiving
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  of God.
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  He knows the tie between his repentance and his salvation.
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  God's grace pardons us when we repent.
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  God's grace is provided in the fish and then that fish literally turns him around and it
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  puts him on the place where God can use him.
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  I don't know, did it take three days because he had gone so far?
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  That fish was taking him right back because when he gets out, he goes and he preaches
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  the message to the people of Nineveh.
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  How marvelous that God's grace pardons us when we repent.
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  Again he goes to Nineveh and that's the message for them, although he doesn't want them to
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  obey it.
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  But we see how God's grace is at work in them as he preaches the message to them.
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  They're going to fast and they're going to pray and they're going to repent and God is
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  going to change his mind.
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  Nineveh is going to exist for another 150 years before the book of Nahum comes along
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  and says, you've gone so far, you're not coming back and now you're going to be destroyed.
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  150 years of grace and an ability to be able to live and a pardon life.
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  But then forth, as we walk through the book of Jonah, we also see that God's grace empowers
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  us when we return.
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  Jonah goes and he preaches his message to them.
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  What God is saying to Jonah is, I'm not done with you, I'm not washing my hands of you.
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  In my life growing up in the church, I've seen people who have done some things that
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  were very hurtful.
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  Hurtful to their families, perhaps it cost them their families.
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  I've seen circumstances where these people, because of the sins of their lives, lost everything.
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  Sometimes there are consequences that we have to face and suffer as a result of what
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  we do.
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  But look at God's disposition toward Jonah.
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  He is telling him, you're still useful to me.
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  I still want to have you be a part of my plan, to take my message to those who need that.
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  And it reminds me of how God does this over and over again.
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  Go to the New Testament times and think about the life of Peter.
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  Peter is a man who has denied his Lord, and in Luke chapter 22 and verse 31, you have
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  Jesus saying to him, Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat,
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  but I have prayed for you that when you have returned, you will strengthen your brethren.
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  What God says to Peter is, I'm not putting you on the shelf.
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  Now that you have returned, I'm going to allow you to be the one to be the first one to preach
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  the gospel to the Jews and also to the Gentiles.
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  God is telling Jonah, I've not washed my hands of you.
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  I want you to be useful in my cause.
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  Whatever it is that you may be struggling with, maybe you feel like you've been in a
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  season where you're like Jonah, God is saying if you'll repent and you'll return, I will
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  use you.
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  I can maybe open doors for you, but I might not with others when you come back home.
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  You see when the prodigal comes back home, he is restored, Luke 15 and verse 24.
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  And I don't know because the parable doesn't have this purpose, but is he given a job to
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  do his son, the responsibilities of sonship?
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  We know that's how it works in the body of Christ.
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  We also see that God's grace is patient with us when we relapse.
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  You get to chapter 4 and you see that Jonah's attitude is as bad at the end of the book
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  as his actions were at the beginning of the book.
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  Jonah has now returned.
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  He has gone and he's preached to the people there in Nineveh.
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  They have repented and yet even though God has extended his grace to them, Jonah seems
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  to be hopeful that God's going to go ahead and destroy them anyway.
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  And so in Jonah chapter 4 and verse 1, he's upset, he's angry that he looks out over the
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  city of Nineveh and it's not being destroyed.
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  You might even say, looking at verse 3, that his response is somewhat pouty and it's dramatic.
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  God wants him to understand and to see things the way he sees things and so he draws up
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  an illustration for Jonah.
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  It's hot on that particular day and Jonah, a plant is raised up by God and it provides
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  shelter for him and the text says that Jonah was very happy about this.
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  On a hot day, to be able to have some way to get away from the sweltering heat, Jonah
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  has this but then the Lord prepares a worm and it goes in and it infests that plant that's
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  providing shade and it withers and then God allows a scorching east wind to come and it
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  brings down heat on Jonah so that he despairs of his life and he says, death is better than
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  me for me than life.
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  And God says, this is a plant you didn't even provide for yourself.
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  I did this for you and look at how you feel toward that plant.
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  And God says, shouldn't I feel the same way about the people of Nineveh, verse 11?
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  People who are made in his very image, Genesis 1, 26 and 27, who are possessed of never dying
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  souls, Matthew 16 and verse 26, here are people who God loves so much that he wants them to
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  have that opportunity.
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  But I want you to focus on the fact that while God is pitching a defense for the Ninevites,
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  he is also showing his patience with Jonah.
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  Here's Jonah, an unreasonable man and God spends chapter 4 reasoning with him.
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  He doesn't punish him, he doesn't strike him dead, he patiently explains things.
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  Aren't you glad that God does that with us?
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  Because we're going to struggle with one sin problem or another for the rest of our Christian
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  lives and as we conquer one thing, it seems that something else comes along and God is
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  not ready to just be done with us.
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  He's patient with us.
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  Think about the disciples.
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  Jesus is 12 as they're walking with him and they have the most intimate relationship with
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  Jesus and they keep missing the point and they keep falling short and despite that,
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  Jesus continues to want to use them and to encourage them and to develop them and that's
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  what he's doing in our lives.
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  God continues to show his patience even when we fall short again.
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  That's because God is not willing that any of us should perish.
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  Jesus gave his life in order to prove that that's the case, 2 Peter 3 and verse 9.
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  He's ready and willing to use us.
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  Now, that doesn't mean that we could stay in a state of rebellion.
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  I've heard people oftentimes distort God's grace by saying that maybe they're in a marriage
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  that the Bible would call adulterous and they say, I can stay in this because God's grace
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  is going to cover that.
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  Or maybe it's a circumstance where somebody says, I know that I'm feeding this sinful
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  addiction and I'm not trying to do anything to break that but God's grace is going to
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  cover that in the end.
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  Or maybe somebody looks at the plain plan of salvation and they say, hey, God's grace
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  is going to cover that in the end.
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  That's not what we're talking about.
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  We're talking about individuals like Jonah and like those individuals in Nineveh who
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  are confronted with the word of God and are striving to live according to it.
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  But here's the great thing, God continues to be long-suffering and patient because we're
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  not going to ever fully get it as we strive to live.
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  We're going to be walking in the light, we're going to be trying to be more like Christ
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  but John says in 1 John 1 and verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
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  and the truth is not in us.
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  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to
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  cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
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  But God will continue to be patient as we fall down but as we get back up and serve
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  him.
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  Some years ago I preached a sermon entitled, Heals on the Roadway to Hell or Barriers Between
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  a Person and Being Lost.
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  Have you thought about that?
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  That God has placed the Bible as a barrier between us and being lost.
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  That God has placed the church as a barrier between us and being lost.
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  That God has placed our family as a barrier between us and being lost.
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  That God has given us our conscience, if it's properly trained, as a barrier between us
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  and being lost.
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  And God has given us his wonderful love as a barrier to keep us from being lost.
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  And so what God is saying is, I'm placing barrier and heal one after the other to stand
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  between you as a barricade and being lost.
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  That's God's grace.
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  If we're lost on the Day of Judgment, it's because we will have climbed over all of these
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  things that he's put between us and being lost.
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  Don't know from Jonah what all or none of us have been doing, man, but we get a front
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  row seat to a man that we can all relate to more.
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  If we've been walking with Christ and living the Christian life, we realize that we are
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  a constant picture of relapsing.
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  God won't allow us to stay there, but as we turn away from it, he will continue to
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  use us.
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  God pursues us when we run.
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  In his grace, he punishes us when we sin, but he pardons us when we repent.
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  He empowers us to do his work when we return, and he continues to be patient with us as
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  we relapse.
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  How could we refuse a God like that?
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  No wonder, from the king down, they responded to his grace in that way.
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  God continues to offer that to us.
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  If we're not children of God, the grace of Calvary is for us to respond to, and in our
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  faith and in our obedience, to have our sins washed away in baptism.
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  But once we come out of the watery grave to walk in newness of life, we're going to continue
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  to need his grace.
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  Maybe we've stumbled and fallen, and we need to come back home and be restored.
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  This song to encourage you is, if you need to do that publicly, to give you the opportunity
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  to do that.
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  Or if you are a child of God who just needs prayers and strength and help and the support
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  of your brethren, we give you that opportunity too.
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  If you need to respond to heaven's invitation, why not come right now as we stand and sing?