Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Ticked Off to the Bitter End │ Msg 89

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Ticked Off to the Bitter End │ Msg 89 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I had a fascinating conversation with one of the ladies
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Speaker 1: who works in our soul care ministry before our first
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Speaker 1: service started today. She was expressing gratitude for the opportunity
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Speaker 1: to serve there and it gave her an opportunity to
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Speaker 1: meet with different people following our worship service. as they
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Speaker 1: feel free to come in and pray or to talk
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Speaker 1: with individuals about some issue or concern that they're dealing with.
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Speaker 1: This particular lady who was very troubled sort of burst
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Speaker 1: in the room, and the two of them were alone,
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Speaker 1: and the lady who had just left our meeting in
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Speaker 1: what happened to be the worship service, the second of
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Speaker 1: the two morning worship services. Her opening words were, I
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Speaker 1: am Jonah. I am just like Jonah. I am just
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Speaker 1: like Jonah. And then tears were just streaming down her
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Speaker 1: face when she realized that what we had been presenting
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Speaker 1: from this book that bears Jonah's name, revealed the truth
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Speaker 1: of her own struggles. And she described herself as selfish, self-serving,
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Speaker 1: sometimes arrogant, I was moved over the story because of
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Speaker 1: the honesty of that kind of response. You see, the
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Speaker 1: Lord has preserved his word to make us aware of
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Speaker 1: who he is and then by way of reflection on
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Speaker 1: that of who we are And the beautiful thing about
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Speaker 1: Scripture is that there is nothing like it. Only God's
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Speaker 1: Word is alive and active and sharp as a razor-edged sword,
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Speaker 1: able to pierce right into the soul of the human heart.
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Speaker 1: the poet wrote, Whom have we, Lord, but thee, soul
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Speaker 1: thirst to satisfy? Exhaustless spring, the waters free, all other
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Speaker 1: streams are dry. Never take for granted the privilege of
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Speaker 1: the Bible in your own language. We turn to it regularly,
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Speaker 1: and I often do in my study almost on tiptoe,
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Speaker 1: realizing what a privilege it is to work with the
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Speaker 1: living lines of Scripture. I speak today, I realize, to
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Speaker 1: some of you who will find yourself feeling just like Jonah.
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Speaker 1: So be aware. It's not just for you, it's for us,
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Speaker 1: myself included. It'll reveal who God is and also who
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Speaker 1: we are. I'll be reading from the fourth chapter of
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Speaker 1: this book of Jonah, the last several verses, but we're
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Speaker 1: not through. We'll have one more message next week on
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Speaker 1: lessons learned. from a stubborn preacher, which certainly was Jonah.
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Speaker 1: But I'll be reading for you today, Jonah 4, verses
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Speaker 1: 5 through 11 from the New Living Translation. And once
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Speaker 1: you find the passage, please stand with one another for
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Speaker 1: the reading of God's word. Remember, all other streams are dry.
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Speaker 1: Jonah 4, verse 5. Then Jonah went out to the
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Speaker 1: east side of the city and made a shelter to
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Speaker 1: sit under as he waited to see what would happen
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Speaker 1: to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a
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Speaker 1: leafy plant to grow there. And soon it spread its
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Speaker 1: broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun.
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Speaker 1: This eased his discomfort. And Jonah was very grateful for
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Speaker 1: the plant. But God also arranged for a worm. The
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Speaker 1: next morning at dawn, the worm ate through the stem
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Speaker 1: of the plant so that it withered away. And as
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Speaker 1: the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east
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Speaker 1: wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on
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Speaker 1: his head until he grew faint and wished to die.
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Speaker 1: Death is certainly better than living like this, he exclaimed.
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Speaker 1: Then God said to Jonah, is it right for you
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Speaker 1: to be angry because the plant died? Yes, Jonah retorted,
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Speaker 1: even angry enough to die. Then the Lord said, You
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Speaker 1: feel sorry about the plant. Though you did nothing to
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Speaker 1: put it there, it came quickly and died quickly. But
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Speaker 1: Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness.
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Speaker 1: The Hebrew adds the line, People who do not know
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Speaker 1: their right hand from their left. Not to mention all
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Speaker 1: the animals. Shouldn't I have compassion for such a great city?
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Speaker 1: Bow with me as we pray. Amen. Today, our Father,
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Speaker 1: as we spend just these few moments in your living word,
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Speaker 1: may we be as open as the lady who acknowledged,
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Speaker 1: I am Jonah, just like Jonah. May you speak to
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Speaker 1: us in such a way that you crowd out all
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Speaker 1: other thoughts, you silence all other voices, and you make
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Speaker 1: insignificant all other events of this day so that we
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Speaker 1: realize you really mean what you say because you have
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Speaker 1: written it in such a way that it penetrates. It
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Speaker 1: digs deep within our souls, cutting down to where no
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Speaker 1: surgeon's scalpel could ever reach. revealing the thoughts and intentions
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Speaker 1: of our innermost thoughts and heart. Thank you, Father, for
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Speaker 1: your Spirit's work as you take charge of the truth
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Speaker 1: and drive it home. May I be just as open
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Speaker 1: as that woman was, and may we all realize You're
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Speaker 1: talking about us, though you wrote these things centuries ago.
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Speaker 1: We have our occupations and we are grateful for them.
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Speaker 1: We thank you for the salaries we earn and from
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Speaker 1: the money we make, we give. And we're learning to
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Speaker 1: be even more generous. You teach us even that. Use
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Speaker 1: our gifts today, which we give joyfully and generously for
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Speaker 1: the greater cause of Christ. And may this act of
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Speaker 1: giving help even further to draw us away from ourselves
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Speaker 1: and into the lives of those we will never meet,
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Speaker 1: who live in places we will never go, so that
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Speaker 1: their lives will be changed from a lifestyle we would
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Speaker 1: never know. We commit to you, our Father, These things
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Speaker 1: in prayer and these gifts that we give in the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus, the Emmanuel, God with us. And all
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Speaker 1: God's people said, amen. You may be seated. Jonah was
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Speaker 1: the most successful evangelist ever recorded in the Bible. That
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Speaker 1: surprises most people, but no one can compare the numbers
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Speaker 1: of converts in really a three-day campaign to the numbers
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Speaker 1: that Jonah could name. However, he was also the weirdest
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Speaker 1: evangelist in all the recorded scriptures. His was the only
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Speaker 1: revival where the evangelists needed more follow-up than the converts needed.
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Speaker 1: What a piece of work he was. If there was
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Speaker 1: ever an example in the Bible of God's message being
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Speaker 1: delivered effectively by one who didn't want to deliver it,
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Speaker 1: it is Jonah. And by the way, He never did
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Speaker 1: get the vision that God had, who according to what
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Speaker 1: Peter has written, he's not willing that anyone should perish,
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Speaker 1: but that all should come to repentance. Jonah believed just
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Speaker 1: the opposite when it came to the Gentile Ninevites. He
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Speaker 1: was not willing that any of the Ninevites would live,
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Speaker 1: not even one, but that all of them would perish.
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Speaker 1: The reason He was a racist. He was a prejudiced,
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Speaker 1: selfish prophet. From the very start, from the get-go, he
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Speaker 1: did not want to be seen anywhere around the Gentile
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Speaker 1: city of Nineveh. But thankfully, God's love and mercy was
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Speaker 1: far greater than Jonah's hatred and prejudice. And God had
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Speaker 1: his way. He knew what he was about. What happened
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Speaker 1: made Jonah so angry, he begged to die. More than once.
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Speaker 1: You will read in chapter 4 and verse 3, just
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Speaker 1: kill me now. This is after the people had begun
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Speaker 1: to change their hearts. This is after God has said,
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Speaker 1: I'll lift the ban on these people. I will not
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Speaker 1: bring a chaos over them and upon them. I will,
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Speaker 1: in fact, bless them and forgive them. It was more
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Speaker 1: than Jonah could stand to hear that. And the Lord
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Speaker 1: said to him, is it right for you to be angry, Jonah?
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Speaker 1: You'll remember from our time in that passage last time,
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Speaker 1: Jonah doesn't answer. He doesn't have an answer. He realizes
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Speaker 1: when he's asked that question that he's simply ticked off.
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Speaker 1: He's simply angry about the whole thing. God may have
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Speaker 1: changed his mind, but let me assure you, Jonah has not.
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Speaker 1: And of all things, when he makes the prediction that
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Speaker 1: in 40 days, if they don't change, God will bring
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Speaker 1: a judgment upon them, they were willing to believe the
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Speaker 1: warning and they changed. Jonah decided to build a little lean-to,
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Speaker 1: we would call it, a shelter, according to verse 5.
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Speaker 1: And he got under the shelter to break the hot,
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Speaker 1: searing rays of the Syrian sun as it beat on him.
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Speaker 1: And he sat on the east side of the city
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Speaker 1: and stared at the city, tapping his foot. waiting, hoping
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Speaker 1: that maybe their repentance would go thin and maybe they
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Speaker 1: would just turn and reveal that that repentance was a hoax. Nope.
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Speaker 1: Was not to be. And so Jonah decides, I'll simply
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Speaker 1: get alone. It's as if Jonah is hanging a huge
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Speaker 1: do not disturb sign on the opening of that little shelter.
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Speaker 1: Just leave me alone. All of you Ninevites, and you, God,
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Speaker 1: just leave me alone. And there he sits in this
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Speaker 1: tiny handmade shelter just to be silent and sullen as
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Speaker 1: he sulks. Before I go further, I have to say
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Speaker 1: something about isolation. And part of the reason is we
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Speaker 1: continue to be shocked as a nation when there are
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Speaker 1: mass killings, and we should be. How heartbreaking that someone
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Speaker 1: would break into a synagogue and randomly kill whoever the
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Speaker 1: bullet may hit, and after being captured make the statement,
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Speaker 1: all of them should die. no remorse whatsoever. Interestingly, the
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Speaker 1: man has been isolated. When you check, you will find
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Speaker 1: that most who carry out such horrible acts against humanity
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Speaker 1: often have been living isolated lives. They're not involved in
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Speaker 1: a healthy social relationship with others. They are certainly not
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Speaker 1: accountable to a group of people who are there to
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Speaker 1: help them realize that they're twisted in their thinking. They're alone,
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Speaker 1: all alone. And from that aloneness comes the isolationist's twisted thinking.
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Speaker 1: It's not original with me. Years ago, a professor of
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Speaker 1: psychology at Stanford University named Philip Zimbardo wrote an article
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Speaker 1: in Psychology Today titled, The Age of Indifference. In that
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Speaker 1: penetrating article, he puts his finger on the dangers of isolation.
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Speaker 1: I quote just a few lines from Zimbardo, quote, I
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Speaker 1: know of no more potent killer than isolation. There is
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Speaker 1: no more destructive influence on physical and mental health than
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Speaker 1: the isolation of you from me and us from them.
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Speaker 1: It has been shown to be a central agent in
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Speaker 1: the etiology, the word means origin or cause, in the
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Speaker 1: etiology of depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, rape, suicide, mass murder, and
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Speaker 1: a wide variety of disease states, close quote. What a statement.
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Speaker 1: It isn't healthy that he get alone. Now, this is
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Speaker 1: not referring to being alone to recharge one's battery or
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Speaker 1: to pull away from a constant activity of life so
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Speaker 1: that you could get yourself back together. This is an
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Speaker 1: aloneness that says, get out of my life. This is
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Speaker 1: the last stage of Jonas pouting. His twisted desire is
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Speaker 1: now to distance himself from all that's happened. He goes
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Speaker 1: east of the city and sits down and stares. Alone
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Speaker 1: with his private thoughts, still seething over God's decision to
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Speaker 1: change his plan from catastrophe and annihilation to divine blessing,
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Speaker 1: Jonah settles into his man-made shelter, succumbing to total selfishness.
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Speaker 1: Now then, The beautiful part of the story is that
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Speaker 1: even when he finds his prophet in this state of mind,
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Speaker 1: God graciously and sovereignly moves in to woo him back.
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Speaker 1: In fact, I found it interesting that Martin Luther makes
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Speaker 1: the statement, God begins to play with Jonah as a
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Speaker 1: mother will play with her distressed child in order to
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Speaker 1: cheer him. I don't know that I agree with Luther
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Speaker 1: that God is playing with Jonah, though I understand what
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Speaker 1: he means by that. God tries one maneuver after another
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Speaker 1: to get Jonah to come back. To turn around. Stop
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Speaker 1: the staring. And this fitful isolation. And to talk with him.
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Speaker 1: And to reason with him. One of the prophets writes,
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Speaker 1: Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
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Speaker 1: your sins be as scarlet, they... shall be as white
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Speaker 1: as snow. Let's reason with our God. Jonah is in
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Speaker 1: an unreasonable state. So what does God do? You have
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Speaker 1: your pen handy. Look at the text that we're looking at.
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Speaker 1: Jonah chapter 4. You'll find three things that God arranges.
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Speaker 1: Or your Bible may read he appoints. You will see
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Speaker 1: them right in the text. Verse 6. God arranged For
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Speaker 1: a leafy plant, your Bible may read a gourd. Verse 6,
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Speaker 1: he arranged for the plant. How comforting of God to
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Speaker 1: do that. I'll come back to it in a moment.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse 7. God also arranged for a worm.
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Speaker 1: This is an old cut worm that would come and
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Speaker 1: eat into the stem of the plant and kill it.
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Speaker 1: I'll get to that in a moment. And third, you
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Speaker 1: will notice verse 8, as the sun grew hot, God arranged,
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Speaker 1: there's the third time, God appointed a scorching east wind
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Speaker 1: to blow across that blistering sands of the desert east
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Speaker 1: of Nineveh. On top of the rays of the sun,
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Speaker 1: we now have the hot wind. You see the growing
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Speaker 1: intensity of You see the acceleration of God's plan? That's
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Speaker 1: how God sovereignly works. He begins with a comforting maneuver.
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Speaker 1: Look at what he does. Back to verse 6. He
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Speaker 1: arranged for a leafy plant to grow there. God didn't
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Speaker 1: have to do that. Could have left him alone in
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Speaker 1: the shelter and turned his back on him and ignored him.
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Speaker 1: God is no isolationist. No, not on your life. God
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Speaker 1: brought some comfort. How patient of the Lord to do that.
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Speaker 1: He arranged for a plant. It grew quickly and spread
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Speaker 1: its broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun.
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Speaker 1: This eased Jonah's discomfort. Look at that. And Jonah was
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Speaker 1: very grateful for the plant. Finally, he's grateful for something.
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Speaker 1: He hasn't been yet. Finally, he's grateful at least for
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Speaker 1: the plant. You know, Jonah's so negative, he reminds me
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Speaker 1: of the joke I read about some time ago where
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Speaker 1: there was this farmer who had a neighbor that was
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Speaker 1: the most negative neighbor you could ever live next door to.
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Speaker 1: No matter what he did, the neighbor fussed. and complained,
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Speaker 1: argued about this, groused about that. And this neighbor was
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Speaker 1: determined to win him over. So he got a brilliant idea.
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Speaker 1: He bought this incredible dog, wonder dog that could walk
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Speaker 1: on water. Okay? So he says to his neighbor, he's
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Speaker 1: going to go duck hunting. Won't you come with me? Sure,
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Speaker 1: we'll probably both die before we get back. Neighbor said, no, no,
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Speaker 1: we're going to have a great time. Come on, get in.
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Speaker 1: Puts his dog in the boat with him and they
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Speaker 1: go out and they're sitting in the blind. Boom, boom, boom.
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Speaker 1: They shoot the ducks and tells his dog, go get them.
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Speaker 1: Dog walks across the water, comes back with the ducks.
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Speaker 1: Dry as it can be. And the neighbor says, he
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Speaker 1: can't swim, can he? No matter what, no matter what,
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Speaker 1: he's going to fuss. That's Jonah. Except for when he's
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Speaker 1: got a little comfort, and now he's grateful for the plant,
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Speaker 1: the soulless plant. He's grateful at least for the shade.
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Speaker 1: I hadn't planned on the cutworm, but God had. God, remember,
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Speaker 1: is at work on Jonah. The plant is just part
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Speaker 1: of the process. By the way, before I get too
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Speaker 1: deep in this, he's at work on you and me
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Speaker 1: as well. And he begins very graciously, almost innocuously, to
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Speaker 1: soften us, to comfort us, to get our attention. But
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Speaker 1: he realizes that Jonah is not grateful for God. He's
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Speaker 1: grateful for the plant. So the Lord ratchets up the
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Speaker 1: plant and he sends along a worm. And what do
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Speaker 1: we read? He arranged for a worm in the next
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Speaker 1: morning at dawn. God starts early, doesn't he? The worm
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Speaker 1: ate through the stem of the plant so that it
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Speaker 1: withered away. There goes the shade. And if that isn't enough,
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Speaker 1: notice he tightens the screws even tighter. When the sun
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Speaker 1: grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to
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Speaker 1: blow on Jonah. God moves in mysterious ways. I don't
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Speaker 1: know what the leaves and the worm and the wind
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Speaker 1: are in your life. I wouldn't pretend to know. But
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Speaker 1: I know this. He moves in mysterious ways his wonders
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Speaker 1: to perform. He plants his footstep on the sea and
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Speaker 1: rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds and never
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Speaker 1: failing skill, he works together his bright design. and carries
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Speaker 1: out his sovereign will. He's at work in your life.
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Speaker 1: He's at work in mine. And now that the shade
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Speaker 1: is gone and now that the sun is hot, now
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Speaker 1: that the east wind is blowing, maybe this will be
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Speaker 1: enough to break Jonah. because without being broken, Jonah will
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Speaker 1: never surrender his selfish ways. The plant withers away, the
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Speaker 1: sun is hot, beats on his head, and he grows faint.
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Speaker 1: And what happens? He wishes to die. Death is certainly better.
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Speaker 1: than living like this. Then God said to Jonah, is
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Speaker 1: it right for you to be angry about the plant?
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Speaker 1: I mean, really, Jonah? Is that right? You've reduced your
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Speaker 1: life to the leaves of a plant. Unless you think
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Speaker 1: that that might have done it, Jonah's response is, yes. Yes.
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Speaker 1: Even angry enough to die. I think he shouted that.
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Speaker 1: In so many words, so many ways, he's saying, you
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Speaker 1: better believe it. Well, that was enough. Enough was enough.
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Speaker 1: Even God's leash has a limit. And he's reached the limit.
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Speaker 1: Here's the heartbreaking reality At this point, Jonah isn't even
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Speaker 1: thinking about the changed lives of the Ninevites. So God
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Speaker 1: once more turns there, which was the whole purpose of
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Speaker 1: getting him to come in the first place, is that
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Speaker 1: these people might be changed. And so the Lord said,
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Speaker 1: and from here on it's a monologue, Jonah says nothing else.
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Speaker 1: The book ends, if you will, with a death wish
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Speaker 1: that seals Jonah's lips. You feel sorry about the plant
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Speaker 1: though you did nothing to put it there. You have
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Speaker 1: compassion for the plant though you didn't even plant it.
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Speaker 1: It came quickly and died quickly. But look, Jonah. Look
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Speaker 1: at the city. Look at the smiles. Look at the
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Speaker 1: changed lives, from the king all the way to the peasant.
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Speaker 1: Look at the humility of these people who were once
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Speaker 1: arrogant in their wickedness. Look at this, Jonah. Look at this.
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Speaker 1: What a difference. What a change. In fact, let me
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Speaker 1: say something about the number. There's an insight here I
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Speaker 1: don't want you to miss. Nineveh has more than 120,000 people.
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Speaker 1: And I mentioned in the reading that the Hebrew has
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Speaker 1: the line that these are people who don't know the
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Speaker 1: right hand from their left. Now stop. If you were
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Speaker 1: sitting at your kitchen table and you were reading your
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Speaker 1: Bible at the end of Jonah and you come to
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Speaker 1: that line, which the New American Standard reads, including that,
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Speaker 1: who would that refer to? Who would be those who
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Speaker 1: do not know their right hand from their left? Small children.
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Speaker 1: is the only answer. Until they're old enough to understand
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Speaker 1: left and right and to understand that concept of hands
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Speaker 1: doing what right and left hands do, they're young. So
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Speaker 1: let's understand 120,000 has reference to little children. I agree
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Speaker 1: with Charles Ryrie in his In his footnote in the
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Speaker 1: Study Bible, in the New American Standard, where he says
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Speaker 1: this has reference to children, in fact, that puts the
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Speaker 1: number of the people of Nineveh over 600,000. 600,000. Not
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Speaker 1: just 120. This is the most significant revival recorded in
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Speaker 1: all the Bible. Look, Jonah! Look at that. Look at
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Speaker 1: all of these people, children, younger, older adults, and now
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Speaker 1: look at them, the change in their lives. Jonah, look.
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Speaker 1: Why should we not have compassion, not on the leaves
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Speaker 1: of a gourd, but on the lives of these once
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Speaker 1: lost souls who existed in darkness and knew nothing but
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Speaker 1: that lifestyle. Jonah, connect the dots. He doesn't. I would
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Speaker 1: love to be able to say that there exists a
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Speaker 1: reliable body of literature that gives us the later years
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Speaker 1: of Jonah where he came to his senses and he
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Speaker 1: realized how short-sighted he had been and selfish and he changed.
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Speaker 1: But I have no other literary work to recommend. Certainly
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Speaker 1: nothing in the Bible. In fact, interesting, the book of
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Speaker 1: Jonah begins with the word of the Lord where he
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Speaker 1: gave his message to Jonah to get up and go
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Speaker 1: to Nineveh. And the book ends with the word of
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Speaker 1: the Lord as they are at Nineveh and the lives
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Speaker 1: have been changed. But it ends in sort of an ellipsis,
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Speaker 1: just a dot, dot, dot, question mark. It's sort of
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Speaker 1: like the song Peggy Lee made popular. Is that all
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Speaker 1: there is? Jonah, is that all there is? You want
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Speaker 1: to die because a plant died? Let me state it
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Speaker 1: lest anybody miss it. This is the ultimate in a
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Speaker 1: selfish lifestyle. This is the individual who is proud of
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Speaker 1: the license frame that says he who dies with the
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Speaker 1: most toys wins. Really? I will not back off and
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Speaker 1: just be nice and tactful here. I'm going to be direct.
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Speaker 1: It's easy in this day and age to become that selfish.
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Speaker 1: It's easy. Just follow the direction of the majority. Plan
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Speaker 1: for yourself. Live for yourself. Think of yourself. Work for
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Speaker 1: yourself in the sense of your plans, your future, your salary.
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Speaker 1: Care a little about those who are lost. And press
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Speaker 1: right on in that lifestyle, and I will tell you,
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Speaker 1: Little by little, your world will revolve around sort of
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Speaker 1: an us four and no more, and I'm not too
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Speaker 1: sure about you three. It's all about me. How many
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Speaker 1: marriages have broken up because the mate simply did not
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Speaker 1: have room in her life or his life for one
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Speaker 1: other person? How many companies have split apart because there's
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Speaker 1: no sharing here? This is about me. This is mine.
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Speaker 1: We're a selfish body of people. Now, let me end
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Speaker 1: on a wonderful note. Turn from Jonah 4 to Philippians 2.
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Speaker 1: Quickly turn. What a marvelous contrast. Paul is writing to
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Speaker 1: the people of Philippi, and he turns to the ultimate
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Speaker 1: example of an unselfish lifestyle, but not before he has
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Speaker 1: given this imperative. Verse 3 of chapter 2. Don't be selfish.
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Speaker 1: Don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others
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Speaker 1: as better than yourselves. Don't look out for your own interests,
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Speaker 1: but take an interest in others too. And then he
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Speaker 1: turns to the ultimate illustration. You must have the same
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Speaker 1: attitude that Christ Jesus had. I love it that it's
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Speaker 1: the word attitude. It all starts there. Quickly transport yourself
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Speaker 1: to eternity past. when there was no earth, when there
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Speaker 1: was no matter, when there was nothing but the Godhead.
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Speaker 1: And in the midst of this eternal setting, the Father,
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Speaker 1: the Son, and the Spirit put together the plan of
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Speaker 1: eternal decrees, anticipating earth that would come. and people who
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Speaker 1: would populate it, and depravity that would captivate it, and
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Speaker 1: the lostness of humanity that would populate it. And the
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Speaker 1: Father and Son and Spirit agree, however it occurred in
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Speaker 1: that setting, that the Son would lay aside and not
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Speaker 1: cling to all of the glories of heaven and think
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Speaker 1: of what they were. Myriad of angels forever at his
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Speaker 1: beck and call. Co-equal, co-eternal, coexistent with the Father and
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Speaker 1: with the Spirit. Never a hint of sin to deal with.
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Speaker 1: Never an ugly, caustic comment to listen to. never mistreatment,
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Speaker 1: only harmony, only the joys of eternal glory in eternity past.
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Speaker 1: And the Son of God agrees to leave that and
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Speaker 1: to come here in our midst and to be born
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Speaker 1: as a human being, Emmanuel, God with us, and become
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Speaker 1: one of us apart from sin. Now you can read
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Speaker 1: on verse six, though he was God, did not think
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Speaker 1: of equality with God as something to cling to, no
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Speaker 1: selfishness whatsoever. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, took
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Speaker 1: the humble position of a slave and was born as
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Speaker 1: a human being. He was willing to come and live
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Speaker 1: among us. And if that wasn't enough, when he appeared
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Speaker 1: in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God,
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Speaker 1: died a criminal's death on a cross, the ultimate in sacrifice,
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Speaker 1: as opposed to selfishness, he was willing to die. And
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Speaker 1: as he hung there, was able to say, Tetelestai, it
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Speaker 1: is finished. It is finished. And slumped in death, having
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Speaker 1: paid the penalty for the sins of the world. Easy
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Speaker 1: to forget where he once was and now where he is.
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Speaker 1: The beauty of this passage is that he is the
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Speaker 1: example of how to live a life. We are given
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Speaker 1: the opportunity every day with choices. We can choose our
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Speaker 1: own way, or we can think of others. We can
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Speaker 1: do what is only best for us, or we can
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Speaker 1: do with what benefits others. Jonah chose the former, Jesus
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Speaker 1: the latter. As a result, Life revolves around the one
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Speaker 1: who gave himself that we might know eternal life. Isn't
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Speaker 1: that amazing? He who knew no sin became sin on
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Speaker 1: our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God
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Speaker 1: in him. The lady in Thomas put it well when
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Speaker 1: he said, The life that he lived qualified him for
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Speaker 1: the death that he died. And the death that he
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Speaker 1: died qualifies us for the life that he lived. It
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Speaker 1: would never have been possible had he selfishly clung to
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Speaker 1: the glories of heaven and said, I will not go.
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Speaker 1: But from the moment he became an adult human being
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Speaker 1: on a mission in his ministry, he was maligned, mistreated, hated, despised,
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Speaker 1: and ultimately a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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Speaker 1: I think it's beautiful that the Lord established for the
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Speaker 1: church a memorial to his death. It's called the Lord's Table,
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Speaker 1: for there is a little piece of pastry that reminds
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Speaker 1: us of a body that was given for us. and
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Speaker 1: a small cup of juice that is a symbol of
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Speaker 1: his blood poured out for us to cleanse us from sin.
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Speaker 1: How beautiful that he has us hold those in our
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Speaker 1: hands and of all things, put them in our mouths
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Speaker 1: and taste them, assimilate them so that we might truly
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Speaker 1: enter into what it means to remember his death until
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Speaker 1: he returns. Bow with me, will you please? Right where
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Speaker 1: you're sitting, just bow your heads. Close your eyes. I
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Speaker 1: must say to all who are hearing this today that
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Speaker 1: this table is the Lord's table. It's not this church's table.
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Speaker 1: He is the host. You're not coming to our table.
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Speaker 1: We're all coming to his table. But if you don't
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Speaker 1: know the Lord, you have no part in it. How
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Speaker 1: much better for you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ
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Speaker 1: right now? Just acknowledge your sinfulness, your selfishness, a lifestyle
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Speaker 1: of pleasing yourself, and accepting the fact that Jesus can
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Speaker 1: deliver you from that as you trust in him and
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Speaker 1: him alone for forgiveness, and then you'll be able to
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Speaker 1: eat the bread and drink from the cup with us.
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Speaker 1: If you're a believer, make sure that you are walking
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Speaker 1: in the light, even as our Savior is in the light,
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Speaker 1: before you partake of the bread and the cup. Search
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Speaker 1: your heart. See if you be in the faith. Dear Father,
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Speaker 1: we thank you for the reminder that we've had before
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Speaker 1: us during these weeks of study We've seen a man
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Speaker 1: whose life has revolved around himself and the experience from
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Speaker 1: one miserable event to another. Convince us, Lord, that that
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Speaker 1: is no way to live and release our grip on ourselves,
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Speaker 1: I pray. Break through and as we Taste this bread
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Speaker 1: and drink this juice. Remembering our Savior's body and blood,
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Speaker 1: may we deeply give thanks for all he has done
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Speaker 1: for us. Thank you for the cross where we first
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Speaker 1: saw the light and you delivered us from darkness. Our
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Speaker 1: worship is yours, and we pray that it will be meaningful.
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Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Ticked Off to the Bitter End, was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025, and the sound recording
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Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
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Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.