The Death of False Hope.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] But let’s talk about the Bible for a while. [0:02] Open your Bibles of Jonah chapter 2.

[0:06] Last week we started a series where we’re going through the book of Jonah. [0:11] And we’re talking about what it looks like to live a life in which you are running from the very thing that you were created to live for. [0:19] Because this necessarily is how all of us are preconditioned to live our lives. [0:26] And in Jonah chapter 1 we see the story of a prophet in Israel named Jonah. [0:31] Who is a prophet to the people. [0:33] And God comes to him and God says, I want you to go to the city of Nineveh.

[0:37] Nineveh of course if you were here last week, it’s a city in the empire of Assyria. [0:41] And the people are wicked in Nineveh. [0:44] They are not the same as the people that Jonah is talking to. [0:49] The people that Jonah talks to in Israel aren’t really much better than the Ninevites. [0:53] They’re just religious. [0:54] And the Ninevites aren’t.

[0:56] We know that the period of time that Jonah lived in was not a time where Israel were a good and holy and upright people. [1:02] But actually the scripture tells us that the king at that time did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. [1:07] And he led the people in Israel, the northern kingdom at that point, to do which was evil in the sight of the Lord as well. [1:14] So Jonah gets this revelation from God that he’s to go to Nineveh. [1:18] And tell them that the sin in their city has reached God and that God is going to judge them.

[1:26] And Jonah basically just says no. [1:28] And he goes and he gets on a ship going in the exact opposite direction. [1:33] And he goes going to a city called Tarshish. [1:35] And while he’s on this ship heading to Tarshish, there’s too many shushes in what I’m saying right now. [1:42] And I’m very uncomfortable with that. [1:44] But he’s on this boat and he’s headed there.

[1:48] And the scriptures tell us in chapter one that God sends a great wind. [1:53] Basically a hurricane hits the boat and the boat is being torn apart. [1:57] And they’re throwing their supplies overboard in order to lighten the load. [2:01] So they can hopefully make it to some land. [2:04] And the ship is falling to pieces. [2:05] And then they go down and where do they find Jonah?

[2:08] Jonah’s sleeping below deck.

[2:13] And the captain’s like, what are you doing? Wake up. [2:16] So they wake Jonah up and through a series of events Jonah confesses his sin. [2:21] And they find that the only way that they could possibly have a hope is to throw Jonah overboard. [2:28] And so we know from chapter one they throw Jonah overboard. [2:31] And we’re going to pick up right there. [2:33] Alright in the story.

[2:34] So join me in Jonah chapter one verse 17. [2:37] And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. [2:44] And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. [2:49] And I want to pause there. [2:50] There are two verses in the book of Jonah that talk about a great fish. [2:55] Alright there’s four chapters.

[2:58] And we hear about a fish in two of the verses in those four chapters. [3:02] Yet for many of you if you’ve had any time in church basically you hear about the book of Jonah. [3:09] What do you think about? [3:10] You think about a story that involves a guy being swallowed by a fish. [3:15] Alright and I realize that in those four chapters we have two verses that talk about a fish. [3:19] Yet throughout our lives we have boiled the story down to God making a fish swallow a guy.

[3:27] Alright the fish is not the main character of the story. [3:31] But before we start I just want to tell you. [3:34] Did a fish swallow Jonah? [3:37] And if so what type of fish was it? [3:39] A fish did swallow Jonah. [3:41] I believe the scriptures.

[3:42] This is not, I don’t believe this is just an allegory. [3:45] I don’t believe this is just a fable or a myth that God is giving us. [3:49] A fish did swallow Jonah. [3:52] Alright Jesus believed a fish swallowed Jonah. [3:54] In Matthew chapter 12 Jesus says. [3:56] Just as Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights.

[4:00] So the son of man will be in the heart of earth for three days and three nights. [4:05] And some of you are just probably sitting here thinking it’s preposterous. [4:08] To think that a man could survive in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights. [4:15] It’s also preposterous to believe that a man could rise from the dead. [4:20] But when Jesus is telling them what he’s about to do. [4:23] He takes them back to Jonah and says I’m going to experience pretty much what Jonah experienced.

[4:29] We’re going to see that as Jonah towards the end of chapter 2 is vomited out of the mouth of the fish. [4:36] So Jesus comes up out of the grave.

[4:41] So we see all of these different stories in scripture are not just by themselves. [4:47] Sitting as a story in an end unto themselves. [4:50] In the story of Jonah I believe we have amazing allegorical prophecy.

[4:56] Of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. [5:00] Especially when we get into chapter 2. [5:02] Remember last week we talked about the arc of scripture. [5:07] Alright that it begins with creation and then we see man’s great sin. [5:11] Then we see God working redemption and then now we’re living in a period in which we’re going to begin seeing God restoring his creation. [5:20] Through the redemptive power that’s found in the gospel of Jesus.

[5:27] This story shows that arc very well. [5:32] Where we have a man whom God reveals himself to and speaks a revelation to go and live for him. [5:39] Then he sins and falls from God. [5:41] Then he is redeemed by God through this fish. [5:47] Then we’re going to see in chapters 3 and 4 a bit of restoration by God.

[5:55] A fish did swallow Jonah but what I don’t want to happen this morning. [6:00] Is I don’t want you to miss the main character of the story. [6:03] Because you’re trying to wrap your mind around a fish. [6:06] I don’t want you to check your brain at the door. [6:07] But it takes faith to believe that a fish could swallow a man and then the man could sit in the belly for 3 days and 3 nights.

[6:17] But I don’t want you to miss the story of our great God while you’re focusing on the fish. [6:23] Because the main character of the story is God. [6:26] And you’re going to see that very well in chapter 2.

[6:30] So God appoints a fish and then in chapter 2 verse 1. [6:34] Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish saying. [6:40] I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol. [6:46] I cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas. [6:51] And the flood surrounded me all your waves and your bellows passed over me. [6:56] Then I said I am driven away from your sight.

[7:02] Okay so we very quickly in this story we see Jonah. [7:08] He is basically calling us back to before the fish had swallowed him. [7:14] And we see that Jonah has been thrown overboard into a tumultuous sea. [7:19] We see that the wind is still driving and the people throw Jonah into it. [7:24] And Jonah is not trying to swim to safety. [7:27] But in this story we see this great penance that Jonah feels that he’s paying.

[7:33] He says I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol. [7:37] I cried for you cast me into the depths into the heart of the sea. [7:41] And then we’re going to see as we go through this story. [7:44] That Jonah has actually reconciled in his mind I am going to die. [7:51] He says in here I called out from the belly of Sheol. [7:56] When you see that word Sheol right here what he is doing in the Hebrew is he is saying the depths of death is where I was.

[8:05] I was dying.

[8:09] Jonah does not get thrown into the sea and then think in his mind okay everything’s fine now. [8:16] I’m going to swim to safety everything’s alright. [8:18] Jonah gives us a different story. [8:20] He says he cried out to God as he was plummeting into what he thought was going to be a watery grave.

[8:31] And notice who he gives credit for this watery grave to.

[8:39] In verse 3 he says you cast me into the deep into the heart of the sea and the flood surrounded me. [8:45] Your waves and your billows passed over me.

[8:51] Jonah says I am falling into your hand and you are bringing great judgment against me for my sin.

[9:02] Jonah as he is sinking into this water he says the wrath of God is being laid firmly on top of me.

[9:12] Because Jonah has now come to a realization he is on this ship and we talked last week about how he just has this inner peace about his sin. [9:20] And he is laying below the deck and he is sleeping everything is fine in his mind. [9:24] Because as long as he can ignore God maybe God will just ignore him. [9:29] And so now he realizes God is not ignoring him. [9:33] He is going to have to pay for his sin and as he is thrown overboard we see Jonah accepting his fate and saying God is killing me.

[9:44] And when we read this story as a child or maybe you have just thought about this story in a way. [9:49] You think that God is bringing great judgment to Jonah when he puts him into the belly of a fish. [9:55] Nothing worse could possibly happen than being in the belly of a fish for three days. [10:01] Something worse could happen. You could die.

[10:07] Especially drowning in a hurricane.

[10:11] So what we see in the fish actually coming and swallowing Jonah we see God’s mercy. [10:19] We see a very important key to unlocking the truth of this story that God is merciful.

[10:27] God’s wrath is not found in the fish. God’s mercy is found in the fish. [10:35] Jonah has accepted a fate, a fate of death where he just looks at the sailors and he says throw me overboard. [10:42] I am the reason all of this is happening. My sin has brought this great judgment on to you guys. [10:47] Even though last week we saw that God’s mercy is often seen in calamity. [10:51] Where God was not bringing judgment but rather he was just bringing a redemptive force of suffering into the life of Jonah. [10:59] So that Jonah could have the best that God had to offer him.

[11:02] And that is a life of mission where God is actually saving him by creating this storm. [11:07] And then he is also bringing about what Jonah thinks is judgment. [11:11] Oh God you are killing me. And God is basically saying no I am just saving you through this.

[11:18] And a fish comes and saves Jonah from death. Now he is in the belly of a fish and he looks at where he is. [11:26] And he does not say oh my goodness it stinks in here. This is the worst situation I could possibly be in. [11:31] No it says Jonah is in the belly of a fish and he starts singing this praise to God.

[11:38] Because he realizes this could be far worse.

[11:43] He could have been totally separated from God. [11:45] Notice down in verse 4 he says then I said I am driven away from your sight.

[11:53] Yet I shall look upon your holy temple.

[12:03] Notice the hope in this verse. [12:06] Notice the realization of God’s mercy in this verse. [12:10] He says I have been driven from your sight because of my sin.

[12:17] Yet I will look at your temple again. [12:20] Jonah is sitting in the belly of this fish and he realizes God is pouring his mercy on me through this situation. [12:28] And God is redeeming me to where I can be restored through God’s hand of mercy in this fish.

[12:38] But notice in this story what has Jonah done to bring himself back to where he can look upon God’s holy temple. [12:45] He has done absolutely nothing.

[12:49] He realizes he has run from God and then he says I am going to die for my sin. [12:54] And he is drowning in the water and then he looks and a fish comes. [12:58] Can you imagine being in a situation where you are drowning and all of a sudden a fish starts coming at you. [13:03] I went scuba diving one time when I was on my honeymoon. [13:07] I was snorkeling. I am not man enough to scuba dive. That frightens me. [13:11] So we are snorkeling down in Mexico.

[13:14] I am snorkeling and it is quite frightening because when you jump out of the boat, just to give you a tip, [13:19] don’t have the snorkel in your mouth already because when you jump out of the boat your head tends to go under water. [13:25] And then you are going to try to breathe and then your snorkel is also under the water. [13:29] So you are just going to suck in a lot of water. [13:32] But I am snorkeling and all of a sudden I see this fish and I am not familiar. [13:39] I am not Jacque Cousteau. I have no idea what any fish on earth actually looks like.

[13:43] You can take me fishing and say Steve you caught a bass. Oh great. It looks like a fish. [13:49] So this fish is pretty big. It just starts swimming right at me. [13:54] Now I am a little bit over 6 feet tall. I am a pretty big guy. The fish was probably 2 feet long. [14:02] I was looking in the face of death.

[14:05] Death was headed right at me. [14:07] So I do what any self-respecting man would do. [14:11] And I don’t know what I was thinking. I clench my fists and I start swinging.

[14:18] I am going to take this fish out. It is me or him. I am facing sure death. [14:24] And I didn’t hit the fish because I think the fish was probably 20 feet away from me. [14:30] But the fish did give me a…I have never seen fish have expression on their face. [14:35] But I saw this fish and he kind of gave me a weird look. [14:37] As if what are you doing? And then he just swam the other way. [14:40] So I won that fight. Just sheer intimidation.

[14:44] So I have had a tiny fish coming towards me. [14:47] Much less I couldn’t imagine where you are sinking to your death. [14:51] And then all of a sudden you see a fish big enough for you to live in for 3 days coming at you. [14:58] And in your mind your peace pr…Jonah is probably thinking, oh good. It is getting worse.

[15:05] And so the fish comes and the fish swallows Jonah whole. [15:09] And then all of a sudden…you know scripture doesn’t reveal to us. [15:12] I have no idea how much room he had. Whether or not he is like this for 3 days. [15:17] I don’t know if he had room to walk around. I don’t know. [15:20] The story doesn’t tell us. [15:21] But I know that at some point while he is in the fish he comes to this amazing realization.

[15:28] That he was falling away in his rebellion against God. [15:32] In his sin against God. He was going to experience God’s great wrath. [15:37] And then suddenly he comes to another realization. [15:42] God saved me.

[15:47] What looked like judgment was not judgment on me. [15:51] Rather it was God bringing a great mercy into my life. [15:56] And his perspective is changed. [15:58] And instead of seeing God’s wrath suddenly he sees God’s great mercy.

[16:07] We have in this story an amazing picture of the gospel.

[16:17] Where what looks like the ugliest moment in history. [16:22] Where the son of God is receiving the penalty for my sin.

[16:30] Is God bringing salvation into our lives.

[16:34] God redeeming us.

[16:38] Through pouring his wrath on his son. [16:41] Rather than us.

[16:43] And in this story we see God’s amazing wrath for sin. [16:47] Shown in this great storm. [16:50] And in a ship falling apart. [16:51] And in death right in front of us. [16:53] And God says but I am going to save you through it.

[16:59] And quite often when we are looking at our life. [17:01] And we see the face of destruction coming right at us. [17:07] We see suffering coming right at us. [17:09] We are experiencing it. [17:10] We look at it and we say I am currently experiencing it. [17:12] I am not facing it.

[17:13] I am going through it. [17:14] This is the worst my life could ever be. [17:18] But what if what you are going through right now. [17:21] Is the mercy of God at work in your life. [17:24] And he is simply bringing this tough time. [17:27] This perilous occasion into your life.

[17:29] So that he can reveal to you his mercy. [17:31] By the way he is going to bring you out of it. [17:34] Through the gospel.

[17:39] See sometimes we have a very self-centered way of looking at the things that we think are bad. [17:45] When God says but I am going to make it really good.

[17:50] Sometimes the most uncomfortable things we go through in our lives. [17:53] Are the things that God is going to use to drive his gospel into the lives of others. [17:57] And you say but I would rather not go through it. [18:00] I would rather not.

[18:04] Maybe that is because you are trying to define your life.

[18:08] Rather than letting God define it.

[18:12] Because what we do is when these bad things come into our lives. [18:16] When this terrible suffering. [18:18] And what we see as God’s wrath being poured on us through discomfort. [18:22] Those times are usually the times. [18:24] When we are trying to find this middle ground in our lives. [18:29] Between following God with all of our hearts.

[18:33] And sin.

[18:36] And I tell you that is where Jonah thought he had found. [18:40] When he was on this ship. [18:42] Jonah had been given a mission by God. [18:44] In which God was going to use him to redeem the people of Nineveh. [18:49] And he actually says in chapter 4 verse 2. [18:51] He says God the reason I didn’t want to go here is because I knew that you were merciful.

[18:55] I knew that you were a gracious God. [18:57] And I knew that you were going to save the Ninevites. [18:59] And I didn’t want you to.

[19:03] So we have this place where we see. [19:07] The great mission. [19:08] The great mercy. [19:09] This great gospel by which God wants to draw people to himself. [19:16] And Jonah saw that. [19:17] And then he saw sin.

[19:20] From his perspective.

[19:23] Because often we have a perspective of sin. [19:25] And Jonah clearly knew that the Ninevites were sinful. [19:28] These were wicked and moral people. [19:29] The Assyrian Empire was not an empire that was bent on taking the glory of God to the nations. [19:35] Rather it was an empire that was based on the destruction of everyone else. [19:39] For their own good.

[19:40] They were an immoral and wicked people. [19:42] And Jonah looks at them and says but they are wicked. [19:45] I’m not. [19:46] I don’t do the things the Ninevites do.

[19:49] The Ninevites represented sin. [19:53] To Jonah. [19:53] But the mission was something that Jonah did not want to be in. [19:56] So Jonah wanted a middle ground.

[20:00] And he said if I just run from the mission. [20:03] I won’t be living like the Ninevites. [20:05] I’ll just be apathetic. [20:08] I’ll just run from God. [20:09] I’ll just base life on what I want to live for. [20:12] What makes me comfortable.

[20:13] I’ll just take a nap below deck in this ship. [20:17] Because I have so much peace. [20:18] That I’m doing life the way I want to do it. [20:23] But what you have to understand about the place that Jonah was in. [20:28] Is that there is no middle ground. [20:32] We either live a life of mission.

[20:34] Or we live a life bent in sin.

[20:41] There is no middle ground between mission and sin. [20:44] There is just mission. [20:46] Or you’re running from God.

[20:49] You can’t have it both ways.

[20:54] And in this story we’re going to see.

[20:57] Look in verse 4. [21:00] I’m driven free from your sight. [21:01] Yet I will look again upon your holy temple. [21:04] In this verse we see. [21:06] Jonah’s great realisation.

[21:11] Of his great sin. [21:15] He says God I am driven from your sight. [21:18] He says God you’ll redeem me. [21:20] Then in verse 5 he says. [21:22] The waters closed in over me to take my life. [21:24] The deep surrounded me.

[21:26] Weeds were wrapped around my head. [21:29] At the roots of the mountains. [21:30] I went down to the land. [21:32] Whose bars closed upon me forever. [21:36] Yet you brought me down. [21:37] I brought my life up from the pit.

[21:44] The great lie.

[21:47] That we believe in our lives.

[21:51] Is this lie. [21:53] That we can be the people of God.

[21:57] Where everything is okay. [21:59] Where we have hope.

[22:04] Yet we can live life. [22:06] Based on our wants.

[22:11] Based on the direction that we choose. [22:15] Because here’s what happens with us.

[22:18] We hear the gospel. [22:19] And we hear that Jesus paid it all. [22:21] And we hear that the wrath of God was poured on Jesus. [22:24] We hear that Jesus paid our penalty. [22:27] And he raises from the dead. [22:29] And salvation is free.

[22:31] It is free. [22:31] [22:31] [22:31] [22:31] It takes no work on our part. [22:33] But then we totally ignore the transformation.

[22:37] That the gospel brings into our lives. [22:40] Because what we want is, [22:41] We want hope. [22:43] But we don’t want a different life. [22:47] We want hope. [22:48] But we don’t want to change anything.

[22:54] Jonah has hope. [22:56] And he wants it for himself. [22:58] But if he is asked to be the purveyor of that hope to another people. [23:05] He says that’s just too much.

[23:11] And even in his sin. [23:13] Rather than make the decision to turn from that sin. [23:18] And go towards the mission of Jesus. [23:20] What does he do? [23:21] He just says, I guess I’ll die. [23:25] The weeds, he says, were wrapped around my head.

[23:29] I was at the base of the mountains. [23:32] At the beginning I’m at the belly of Sheol.

[23:36] Most of us would rather die in our sinful rebellion against God. [23:42] Than look to God for what life should look like. [23:46] And a lot of us are those who would say, I believe the gospel.

[23:52] And when we talk about things like the people of China. [23:56] When we talk about things like living a life of sacrifice. [24:00] Where we are repenting of our sins. [24:02] What we hear is, someone else needs to do that.

[24:11] I don’t have the ability. [24:13] I don’t have the lifestyle that lends to that. [24:16] I don’t have the means that will give me an opportunity. [24:18] An opportunity for that. [24:20] You don’t know my life. [24:22] Well you don’t know my life.

[24:28] But God does.

[24:31] And in the scriptures he fulfills all that is required of us. [24:38] And he pours it onto his son. [24:40] Who meets all of the demands that are for us to follow in the Old Testament. [24:45] Jesus meets every demand that we could ever need to meet.

[24:54] And then he dies because we couldn’t meet those demands. [24:57] And he dies for those demands. [25:00] And even in the face of that. [25:03] We still look to God and say, God I still don’t have any ability that you can use.

[25:10] I don’t believe it’s that you don’t have any ability. [25:12] Because I believe that you don’t have any ability because neither do I.

[25:18] God’s not holding tryouts.

[25:24] His son met the standard.

[25:31] Yet we spend our lives complaining about how it’s not realistic for us to actually live for the gospel. [25:37] But we want the hope that’s found in the gospel.

[25:42] You see. [25:44] The mission that God has called us towards demands repentance.

[25:51] Alright. [25:52] Jonah is quickly dying in his sins here. [25:55] And he says in verse 7, When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord.

[26:03] My prayer came to you in your holy temple. [26:07] You see Jonah is quickly falling in his sin and then suddenly.

[26:15] God’s brought back to his mind. [26:17] He says, I remembered the Lord. [26:20] I called out to you. [26:22] And what does God do? [26:24] God saves him. [26:26] God brings salvation towards him.

[26:29] We see time and time again where Jonah says, I was here but then I came here. [26:36] I am dying in my sins but I will look into the holy temple again. [26:41] I was drowning yet you brought me out of this.

[26:49] And he says, I remembered the Lord.

[26:53] What does he remember about God? [26:54] I believe he remembers his great mercy. [26:56] I believe he remembers all the promises that God makes. [26:59] But I believe more than that. [27:00] He remembers the mission that he was called to.

[27:07] And suddenly God brings this vessel of mercy into Jonah’s life. [27:12] That brings him out of the water and I guess gives him oxygen to breathe. [27:17] And while he is in the belly of death. [27:21] God says, I am still God there and I will give you life.

[27:26] You see Jonah was full of sin. [27:29] But he did not think that he was full of sin. [27:32] And I say to you that we are exactly the same way. [27:36] If you are honest with yourself you will realize that I am exactly the same way as you are. [27:41] And we are full of sin because what we do is we proclaim Jesus. [27:47] And we worship Jesus.

[27:49] And we raise our hands to Jesus. [27:51] And we try to pray for Jesus. [27:53] But what are our lives full of?

[27:59] Do you live a life in which you are constantly remembering the Lord? [28:05] Or do you like Jonah wait until everything looks like it is falling in upon you. [28:10] And it is not going to work out. [28:13] And pain is headed right towards you. [28:14] And then suddenly, well I remember the Lord.

[28:24] What is your life motivated by?

[28:30] Is it motivated by your selfish ambition of building a kingdom for yourself? [28:36] Or is it motivated by repentance? [28:39] And by the mission? [28:40] And by the fact that God has already dealt with your sin on the cross? [28:45] Is that what motivates you? [28:48] Or is that something that you just put as a little blip on your radar?

[28:53] So that you are comfortable in the life that you are going to choose apart from Him.

[29:02] The mission demands repentance. [29:04] Here is what John Owen said as a Puritan theologian. [29:07] He said be killing sin or sin will be killing you. [29:13] You say well if Jesus paid the penalty for my sins on the cross then what are you talking about? [29:19] Why should I be killing sin? [29:22] Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.

[29:25] Yet we are the people who are willfully doing this sin. [29:29] We have clear commands from God. [29:33] Where He says go make disciples of all nations. [29:36] Take my gospel. [29:37] This is something that I have completed. [29:40] And take it into the ends of the earth to all the people that you can possibly take it to in your lifetime.

[29:48] And what do you do with that?

[29:57] Do you seek in your life to simply earn a larger paycheck? [30:03] Do you seek in your life to simply have a bigger house? [30:06] Do you seek in your life just to have a pretty and attractive spouse that you can ogle and all over and then portray in front of other people? [30:18] Do you live your life just so that your kids will grow up and be good moral people so that they won’t look bad on you?

[30:28] Do you base the decisions in your life on that which is comfortable? [30:32] Do you base the way that you live your life on getting more leisure time so that nothing will be expected of you? [30:39] So that your work won’t stress you out? [30:42] And because if your work stresses you out, well you certainly don’t want the gospel to stress you out. [30:46] So you just sit back and you take a nap below deck. [30:50] Because if you ignore God, God will then ignore you.

[30:55] But in the end He owes me salvation because He said I would be.

[31:06] J.I. Packer is a great theologian.

[31:12] He said this, repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. [31:25] And as our knowledge grows at these three points, so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.

[31:37] One thing that we think is that we repent once.

[31:43] And that’s it.

[31:47] The gospel brings us into this relationship with God the Father. [31:54] The gospel brings us and reconciles us to Him where He is not wrathful towards us any longer because He’s poured it all on His own Son.

[32:09] But what begins there is a journey.

[32:13] Where we realize throughout the days of our lives more and more and more. [32:20] Just how powerful that gospel is.

[32:28] Because our knowledge of God grows because we saturate ourselves with scripture. [32:33] And when our knowledge of God grows we see more of who we really are. [32:37] We see more of our ugliness. [32:39] We see more of our distrust. [32:40] We see more areas in which we live for ourselves rather than we live for God. [32:45] And then we grow and we see more of God.

[32:47] And then we grow and we say I need to repent more. [32:50] Because what is repentance? [32:51] Repentance is simply a change of mind.

[32:55] Where you turn away from sin and you turn towards God. [32:59] And my submission to you right now is that most of us do not live lives of continual repentance. [33:07] Because we don’t grow more in our knowledge of God. [33:10] Because it’s not as entertaining as other things that this world has to offer to us.

[33:16] So what we do is we grow in our sin. [33:19] And we grow in our apathy. [33:21] And we grow in our dormancy. [33:24] And then what we end up living. [33:26] It’s like the video said earlier. [33:28] A Christianized version of the American dream.

[33:31] Where as long as everything is okay in our lives then God must be okay. [33:35] Because if things weren’t okay he would bring some kind of sickness or something bad into my life.

[33:42] That’s not the gospel.

[33:45] The gospel says he poured every negative thing life has to offer on his son. [33:50] So that he wouldn’t have to pour it on us.

[34:01] The fact is that in our lives our mission reveals our God.

[34:09] Everyone has a mission in our lives. [34:11] Everyone has a purpose that they live for. [34:13] And that purpose is our God. [34:16] Look down in verse 8. [34:21] Those who pay regard to vain idols. [34:28] Forsake their hope of steadfast love.

[34:33] But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you.

[34:41] Here’s how Jonah puts it into our lives.

[34:46] When we don’t live lives where we’re practicing this repentance that J.I. Packer was talking about in that quote. [34:53] When we don’t live lives where we’re looking towards God. [34:56] Where we’re worshiping God. [34:57] Where we’re learning more about God. [34:59] When we’re growing in just our understanding of just how huge and ferocious the God of the universe is. [35:07] When we don’t practice that type of life.

[35:11] When we don’t live what the gospel gives. [35:15] What happens is instead of repenting towards God. [35:20] We repent away from God. [35:23] And we begin to fashion idols who take the place of God. [35:28] Tim Keller puts it this way. [35:30] He says that we are all worshipers.

[35:32] Worshipping one way or the other. [35:34] And he says the human heart is an idol factory.

[35:39] What brings you the most satisfaction in your life? [35:44] Is it paychecks?

[35:47] Is it a significant other? [35:49] Is it sin? [35:52] Is it your children? [35:54] Is it the fact that you are feeling unable and incapable of doing anything for God? [36:02] Is it the fact that you think that you are better than the things that God calls you to do for the gospel? [36:09] Whatever it is, and it could be a number of things.

[36:12] That is the thing that you worship. [36:14] That is your God. [36:16] Tim Keller says elsewhere that we as human beings take good things. [36:23] And we make them ultimate things. [36:26] And then they become God to us.

[36:32] Is there anything wrong with having a job? [36:35] No. [36:36] There is everything great about having a job.

[36:39] You get food. [36:41] You get to eat. [36:42] You get to live. [36:43] You get to buy clothes and not look terrible.

[36:48] But if you are pouring your life into that job, and if the inkling comes into your mind, [36:53] I can’t live the mission of Jesus because of this job.

[37:03] It has then become an ultimate thing in your life. [37:08] And that is your idol.

[37:11] You can fill in the blank with a dozen other things. [37:14] That’s just one. [37:16] Because that’s something that’s very tempting to many of us.

[37:21] Some of us even bring our idols into church. [37:24] And in order to not be honest with our sin, we perform for others and attempt to look godly for others [37:33] when inside all we have is a religious and hard heart. [37:37] And our practices and activities in the church just serve as a distraction [37:41] from the fact that we really need to live a life of repentance.

[37:50] Whatever it is that’s ultimate in your life, that is your god.

[37:57] What is your practice of repentance look like?

[38:03] What is your life looking like right now? [38:06] If we took a moment and we stepped back and we said, where is my life right now? [38:11] What are the ultimate things in our lives? [38:13] And I have to do this too because I’m no better than you.

[38:19] I could make preaching the ultimate thing in my life.

[38:26] We step back and we say, what is in my life that I could not live without?

[38:37] If it’s not the gospel, then what are you living for? [38:44] What is your god? [38:47] The gospel is not simply just some get out of jail free card. [38:51] Rather, it is a reconciliation with God the Father so that he could restore us back [38:57] to the life that we were meant to live from the beginning of creation with him [39:01] and perfect unity with the Trinity.

[39:09] Are you experiencing that? [39:11] Or are you experiencing an apathetic and idolatrous life? [39:19] Where there are things in your life that quite frankly, practically matter more to you than the gospel.

[39:28] How would you respond if God brought a great storm about that thing into your life? [39:33] Would you see the mercy of God in it? [39:35] Or would you see the terrible wrath of God towards it where when he strips it away from you, [39:42] you feel like death is next door?

[39:48] Even your own life is not meant to be more precious than the gospel.

[39:59] Verse 9, But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you [40:03] what I vowed I will pay. [40:09] Verse 9, Salvation belongs to the Lord.

[40:16] Verse 10, And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

[40:27] It’s interesting often when we look at repentance and we look at idolatry [40:32] and we look and kind of take a peek in the mirror at who we really are, [40:36] it can be quite depressing.

[40:40] Alright, I mean there are many moments when I’m writing sermons like this [40:44] or I just kind of, I don’t know why I do this, I’m kind of a weird guy, [40:47] I just go in the bathroom and I literally look in the mirror at my face

[40:52] and you just have this moment of despair where it’s like I’m not good enough.

[41:01] I don’t know what’s wrong with me, why do I say I believe the gospel [41:07] and then I live the life that I live? [41:11] And if you’re honest, you’ve been there, if you’ve never been there, [41:14] the gospel is not working in your life.

[41:18] Maybe some of you are there right now.

[41:24] But notice at where Jonah finds his hope.

[41:30] He looks at his life and he sees the great sin, he sees death coming [41:34] and Jonah does not say, if I will just try harder,

[41:40] if I would have just been more obedient,

[41:48] no, Jonah says, God is our hope.

[41:57] Jonah does not look within himself to find the salvation that he needs [42:02] and I’m telling you this morning, if you’re at a point of despair [42:05] where the gospel is concerned, do not look within yourself for hope. [42:10] Look outside of yourself. Where did Jonah’s hope come from? [42:14] It came from a fish that he did not necessarily see [42:18] and he did not really ask for.

[42:23] And at the end of his prayer, he says, salvation belongs to our God. [42:28] The point of repentance is not to try harder. [42:33] The point of repentance is to trust God more [42:36] and realize that the actions in your life represent your trust for God. [42:43] This is not about sweat equity, where we are building a house [42:48] with all of our might and that house will become our repentance.

[42:53] This is a place where we look to God and we say, God, hope is only found in you [42:58] and because of the great work that you’re bringing into my life [43:03] through the gospel of your Son who loved me and gave himself for me [43:07] and became sin even though he did not know sin, [43:10] because of that God I trust and I take life from you [43:15] and my life is dependent on you and because of that I can walk in obedience.

[43:25] And when we come to that place in our lives where all that we can cling to [43:31] because we realize it’s all we really have [43:34] is the hope that is found in God through Christ Jesus.

[43:40] Notice what happens.

[43:44] The fish vomited Jonah onto dry land.

[43:52] Because God says, your sins dealt with.

[43:59] In chapter 3 verse 1 he’s going to say, alright, I dealt with your sin, go to Nineveh.

[44:08] This isn’t about second chances.

[44:12] God gave Jonah a second chance, he’d probably blow that one too.

[44:17] This is about new life. [44:20] This is about transformation. [44:22] This is about believing and trusting in God as our only hope. [44:27] This is about believing the gospel so much so that we look at the 4.5 billion people [44:34] in this world who do not know the gospel [44:38] and we say, yes God, I will go, tell me how.

[44:46] Because God, you accept me and I want everyone else to know that you accept them through your son Jesus.

[44:56] If God is our hope, will we not live in that hope rather than live to spite that hope [45:07] through seeking a dream that does not give hope to anyone? [45:12] What greater dream and what greater vision could you have in your life [45:16] than taking the hope and redemption that God has brought to you and taking it to the world?

[45:25] David Platt, a pastor in Alabama, puts it this way. [45:31] He says, if we could get a hold of the clarity of the gospel, the work of Jesus,

[45:40] and if we could give our lives to the cause of the gospel,

[45:47] we could make a huge dent in the spread of the gospel.

[45:55] See, if you’re sitting here this morning and you’re saying, [45:59] if we could just get someone to take the gospel to all those people, even here in Midlothian, who do not have it. [46:07] Let me tell you, most people around here don’t understand the clarity of the gospel.

[46:16] If you’re saying, I wish someone would do it, I wish someone could do it, [46:19] understand that you are the answer to that problem.

[46:25] If you’re thinking that thought, realize that that is God speaking truth into your life, [46:30] that you are the vessel that’s going to take the hope to all the people [46:35] and all the nations.

[46:40] If we could just trust God,

[46:46] he will do mighty things.

[46:51] Let’s pray.

[46:55] Father, we come before you right now.

[47:04] God, we just ask that you would give us a vision for what you want to do through the gospel in our lives. [47:16] God, help us to grow in our faith, help us to grow in our repentance, [47:21] and help us to trust in you with our lives, [47:24] and help us to live that trust through the mission that you gave us through your son, Jesus.

[47:39] Lord, give us hope.

[47:42] Not so that we could sit and wallow in it, but rather so that we could take it and dispense it to the world.

[47:51] Amen.