The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: New Direction

Episode Date: February 16, 2020

REPENTANCE is God’s graced-filled invitation to RETHINK the direction of our lives. Do you need to change direction?

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? Looking great. If you got your Bible's hope so, go to Jonah. You've had three weeks to find it, okay? So if you hadn't found it yet, keep looking because we've got one more week. We're in week three. We're doing a chapter a week essentially. In chapter one, which was week one for us, God speaks to Jonah. He says, arise and go to Nineveh. And Jonah responds by arising and going to Tarshish.

And so we talked about God's called in our life. And that no matter how far you think you've gone, and no matter what direction you're heading, they're never too far gone and it's never too late to return to what God has called you to do. And then in week two, Jonah speaks to God. And in the belly of a whale, in utter desperation, he cries out to God and thank God that God does not respond to Jonah the way Jonah responded to God. But God answers Jonah in his distress. And then this week, God's going to speak to Jonah again. You see, how many of you are so glad and gracious to him that he's not a one and done God?

that he gives us chance after a chance after a chance, amen? This is why he can't be a Kentucky basketball fan, okay? Because they're all one and done, and that's not God's way. Do it like Georgia. Just get some average people, let them stick around forever and they're last. Whatever, all right. So, Jonah chapter 3, verse 1, we'll pick it up there. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.

Right after he gets puked up on dry land, which I'm not prepared to talk about today because that's a little too close to my own life. Sorry I wasn't here last week, but I had the Jonah virus, all right? That's what was going on. In last week's sermon, I said the only thing worse than puking is being puked, and then I puked all weekend. It was awful. And then that's why we had a video last week. And Pastor Britt, in his love and care for me, he texted me during the nine o'clock service on Sunday, you said, the only thing worse than puking is, or the worst than puking

is puking, you're a prophet. And so I cast a curse on him, and I hope it lands on his head. All right. So, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the same. second time. God is so patient with us. God is so merciful to us. How many of you are glad that God shares his word with you over and over and over. How many of you have had God share a word with you over and over and over, right? Now, you may have heard this. Sometimes you'll hear God is a God of second chances. No, he's not. You don't want a second chance. Because guess what happened if you have a second chance? You don't need a second chance. You need a second chance. You need a new life, okay? Because the second chance at life, you'll just fail over and over and over.

Like if I gave my daughter, Reagan Capri, who was 10 years old in the fourth grade, if I gave her a calculus exam, how do you think she would do? Not good. Why? Because she's a Martin, and she's in the fourth grade. So if she failed the exam, and then I just said, you know what, in my grace, mercy, I'm the dad of second chances. I'm going to give you a second chance. All it would do is delay her failure. What I need is somebody else to take the exam for her, not me, like, like Paul Williams or CFO, somebody's more like that, and then tell her, I'm going to use his grade on your account. That is what the gospel is, not just a second chance, but a new life, but God comes to Jonah a second time. And as I was reading that, it made me look at my own life

and leadership, especially in my home, and wonder, if God's word comes to Jonah a second time, why is it such a big deal that me and my people and especially my kids do what I say on the first time? I mean like in my house I say this a lot don't make me say that again in fact yesterday flag football I'm coaching JP is the quarterback he's pretty good and on the first play second play he gets trucked by this guy no flag I had to remind a guy again the referee you have one job and he wasn't doing his job and then when he comes over to the sideline his ankle kind of hurts because he got run over in flag football again it's not even like a sport all right it's like soccer, but you can use your hands, okay? And so, and then I look at it. I mean, he's our quarterback. He's got to important. He's got to, like, run around, throw the ball, all that stuff. And I'm

like, bro, is it okay? And he's like, it's fine. And I go, okay, well, if it's fine, then run to the end of the field and back. And he said, it's fine. And I grabbed him by the arm, and he went, if you're listening by podcast, he shrugged his arm away from my grip. And the moment he did this, this thing in me rose up, and I didn't think, I should tell him a second time. That's not what happened in my heart. And literally in that moment, I knew today I would be in this moment. That's what happened in my head. And so, I did not kill him. That's what happened yet. And as I'm driving home, I honestly thought about this. I thought about the number of times the Spirit of God reaches out and grabs my arm and I go, get off of me, I got this. And thankfully, thankfully,

we serve the kind of God that is right and righteous and yet so merciful and so kind that he would come to Jonah a second time. And he says, arise and go to Nineveh. Now, you'll remember on week one, we talked about who Nineveh is. Nineveh is not just a lost people, not just kind of a bad people. It is a group of like terrorizing people that they would take over other countries. and they would not just slaughter them all, but they would chop off body parts, leave them half alive with one arm so they could shake their hands as they die.

That they would stretch out men and women, and they would peel the skin off their body and make a tapestry of skin and lay it over their walls as intimidation to other nations. That they would gather the babies, the children of their captives, and burn them and make the parents watch. This is the group of people that God is calling Jonah to.

And you may ask, why? Why in the world would God send Jonah to a people like this to Nineveh? And here's why. Because God deserves to be worshipped by every tribe, every tongue, and every nation on the cosmos. That God's love reaches out to every person, no matter how good or bad you think they are. And every single human being on the planet owes God his worship. And God is a jealous king. We just sang that song at all of our locations.

We just sang jealousy. And when you hear those words about God, there's a lot of us as Americans, and we get all like, I don't know, what does that mean? Well, here's the thing. God is not jealous of us. That would be silly. God doesn't look at you and be like, oh, he has such great hair. I wish he had his hair.

No. He doesn't look at your car and be like, I wish I could have that car. What's God going to do with a car? Or your pants or your abs or your money or your bank account? Whatever you think you have, that's awesome. God is not jealous of that thing as if he wants. wants more of what you have. God is jealous for you because he loves you and what he wants you to have is more of him. This analogy is going to break down, but it's kind of like when a mom is

breastfeeding their child. They're jealous for the child. They look at this child and they know if you want to live, you got to have me. Anything other than me ain't going to make you live. You can crawl around on the floor and try to eat every little thing that you want to eat, but that ain't going to do it for you. I need you to want me because I'm the only thing that's going to satisfy and give you life. And that's how God feels toward his people, not because he wants you to want him, because he knows that he is the best thing for you and the only thing that will give you life. That's the kind of jealousy that God has, okay? It's why we sang it. Look, Shane and Our People wrote this song.

here's what it says, jealousy, and you're justified to be. You're holy, you're set apart from me. You deserve what you demand. And what he deserves and demands is holiness, is perfection, but there's a problem. We can't even offer that to him. So the song goes on.

What you require no one can give, so you sent him who knew no sin to be condemned that I might live. And that counts for the people of Nineveh. It counts for you, and it counts for me, that he is the just and the justifier. And so God says to Jonah arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. And so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Underline that in your Bible, according to the word of the Lord.

If you don't have a Bible with you, get the one in front of you and open it to Jonah three and underline it. even if you don't take that Bible home with you, so the next person that opens their Bible to Jonah chapter 3 understands what a big deal this is. Obedience is not about doing what you feel like doing. Thought maybe that get an amen. Thanks, Frank. Okay, a little late, but I need you on that one.

Because in our context, in this culture, the great idol in our world is our own feelings. that everybody tells us that the world spends billions of dollars a day to get us to believe you do you, boo? The problem is that oftentimes what the Word of God says does not line up with what I feel like doing. And obedience is not about what you feel like doing. Every single one of us, our lives, are heading in one of two directions.

We are either walking according to the Word of the Lord or we are walking according to the will of me. And those things rarely line up. They rarely line up. And listen, Jonah's got legit reasons to not want to go to Nineveh. First of all, as we've previously discussed, they may kill him. Like, if he rolls in there, Jewish boy with the Torah talking about, you guys are all evil, turned to the one true God.

Historically, they have not received such message with great hospitality. They have cut your head off and shook your hand right before they did it. The other reason is because Jonah does not like these people. Jonah believes that there is a group of people that ought to go to hell. And these are those people. Nineveh will be the capital city of Assyria, which is the sworn enemy of Israel. And he does not want them to turn. In fact, we'll talk about this next week.

He's dealing with some serious bitterness in his heart. So next week, if you happen to know anybody that's got to be able to be, some bitterness in here, you might want to invite him. I know it's not you, not you people. So he's got legit reasons why he doesn't want to go, but instead what he does, he goes according to the Word of the Lord. Listen, righteousness is hard. Restoration is harder. It just is. And so is your life, are you living your life in obedience to the Word of the Lord? Are you marching according to the will of you? I'm talking about like the way you do money.

The way you do money. See, there's going to be a bunch of stuff in this book. Think about it. If God is the author, the almighty creator of the universe, of course there's going to be stuff in this book that you don't like. Of course there's going to be verses you read. And you're like, well, I don't think I like that. I don't want to do that.

Of course. But when we decide to walk in our own will and stand in judgment on God, think about how crazy it is. It took you two tries to get through the eighth grade. And we think we can tell the creator. of everything. No, no, no, no, no. That's not how money works. That's not how sex works. That's not how marriage works. You see, when we do money our own way, and we say, no, no, no, this is mine. This is mine. And if I make more, that's more for me. You see, God's way of doing money is very simple.

The first goes to him. It is the Lord's. And the moment you begin to go, see, that's why I don't go to church. They just want your money. It's not saying you want your money. And God doesn't want your money. God wants your heart. And Jesus says, where your treasury is there, your heart will be also. And what we do with our money first, it shows what we trust most. And when we bring God our leftovers, it shows where he is. And again, he's a jealous king. He doesn't do leftovers. And you could do it your way or you can do it his way. When you do sex and you're like, what does this book have to say about sex? Are you kidding me? This old antiquated book. You see, the Bible is very, very clear that sex is for married people. And marriage is one man,

one woman, one lifetime. And you're like, well, yeah, but see, but we're married in our heart. there's no such things married in your heart. There's obedience. I know why you would want to say that because you want to walk according to your will, as opposed to walk according to the Word of God. When you do forgiveness, your way, you see, there's a way to do forgiveness. And the Bible says that forgiving people forgive people. And that Jesus on the cross forgave you of all of your sin for all of your life at one moment.

And yet we think that when somebody, sins against us, I know Jesus forgave me all, but I'm not forgiving you of that. And I'm not saying you weren't sinned against. The sin against you was so atrocious that Jesus had to die on the cross for it to be paid for. I'm just telling you to walk according to the Word of God says that forgiven people, forgive people. And if you ain't given it, maybe you ain't got it. You can say out of your amen. It's just true. You see, every single one of us is living our life in such a way that we're walking according to the will of me or according to the word of God. And to change that direction and say, okay, I'm not going to do it my way, God, I'm going to do it your way.

Whether it's your salvation for the very first time you make that turn or the way you do money or the way you do relationships or the way you do entertainment or whatever it is, that turning from my will to his word, that's called repentance. It's the theme of all of Jonah chapter 3. And you see, let's review. Remember week one where I yelled at you for like an hour about God's call in your life? That God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and he got on a boat and he head to Tarshish. And when God calls you to go somewhere, there's always a boat that's going to take you somewhere else. And I said, some of you have, God has got a call on your life, called you back in college to go after ministry, but you went after money.

Or he called you to pick up the phone and begin the hard steps of reconciliation. Or he called you to set the appointment with somebody and sit down and share the gospel and you've got to, all stirred up. Remember that? You're all ready to do it. What have you done about it? Here we are on week three. Have you done anything about that thing you were so stirred to do two weeks ago? Which is, by the way, I've been told by some people, they tell me, they go, I go to 11-22, but I only try to go, like, once a month. Because I don't want, it kind of gets on me. Like, I come in and Madeline sings, and I start crying, and you're yelling at me, and I'm like, I need to change. And then you get in the car, and be like, ooh, I ain't going back. So some of you weren't even here last week.

Welcome back, okay? Kind of on a rotation basis, all right? Maybe that thing that he called you to do two weeks ago in week one of Jonah this week and week three, he's coming to you a second time. And again, I know righteousness is hard, but restoration is harder. Do that thing that God has called you to do. And so it says now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. day's journey in breadth, Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey, and he called out.

Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. This is crazy. His sermon is, in Hebrew, his sermon is five words. He walks in, he just drops five words. He just drops five words, turn or burn Nineveh, mic drop. That's all he does. That's the whole sermon. And revival breaks out from the very greatest to the very least in the entire nation. Do you know how much I could accomplish if I could just do five-word sermons and you people would listen? Okay? Don't even think about it. All right. But it's all, and I've told you this a million times that when I preach, it's moderately delivered and exceptionally received, okay?

But this isn't even moderately delivered. This is very poor, I'm a pro at this. This is a very poor sermon. There's no intro. There's no like cultural relevance to let everybody know, you know what's going on in the world. There's no application steps. He doesn't even unpack one Bible verse.

He just comes in and drops the hammer, and all he says is 40 days from now, Nineveh, you're toast. Peace. and the whole nation, glory to God. It's crazy. Because you know what happens? Here's what we know that God's word powered by the Holy Spirit

is the only thing that changes lives. Here at the Church of 1122 in any church, there is only one real preacher. And he is the Holy Spirit. You should pay attention to him that my words can't change anything. I can't even convince the people. three other people that share my last name and address to do what I want to do. You understand

what I'm saying? How in the world can I convince you to change your eternity? I can't do any of that. But it is the Word of God powered by the Holy Spirit. And you see, this is why, by the way, you don't get a lot of sermons of like, hey, here's 10 things I think about relationships. Number one, I don't do that because I'm not that smart and you shouldn't listen to that stuff. all we do is unpack the Word of God because the Word of God powered by the Holy Spirit that's where real change comes from and by the way

don't email me I made it very clear last week I don't read or return emails last week y'all email me three times as much you people aren't listening okay and don't email me and be like did my wife tell you I was coming that sermon was for me bro I don't know her I don't know you she ain't telling me about your life

If you ever think that a sermon is just for you, it's because the real preacher is preaching to your soul. You see, there's a real thing that's going on here. And there are multiple responsibilities when it comes to the sermon, by the way. I have a part, for sure. I take it very, very seriously. It is one of God's great graces in my life that I live in the kind of time period in church where for full time, this is what I get to do all week. The thing I spend more time on than anything else is preparing to do the thing. that I'm doing right now. And I study very hard and I spend many hours, 16 to 20 hours a week.

I spend on doing the thing I'm doing right now. I take it very, very seriously. And I listen to a bunch of other really talented people. I travel all over the world to do this thing. Okay? So I take it very, very seriously. And yet that's only like half of the equation. I know it kind of just feels like a speech, but it's a two-way street here. You have a very significant responsibility when it comes to the sermon. Now, I don't want to call it like a conversation because it's me talking and you're not going to talk back. Sometimes you're learning to help me out

and say an amen or I preach it, brother, or a... Okay, I need it. I appreciate it. But the real conversation is when the Spirit of God is speaking to your soul. So I have my part, and I will do my best, and any person I put up here, I promise you we will hold

with very, very, very high priority handling the Word of God. really big deal. But you have a role in this too. You see, it's not just the scattering of the seed that matters. It's the condition of the soil on which it lands that matters too. And so are you doing your part every week to show up? You see, because some of you have a hard heart. Think I'm talking to somebody else and you got a hard heart and before you make it to the car, the enemy comes by and it steals away the seed that God wanted to plant. And some of you have a shallow heart and the roots don't go deep down into the scriptures.

And so as soon as the sun comes and scorches you, you face a little bit of pain, then all that faith that God was putting in you this week, it just kind of goes away. And some of you have a crowded heart, and you're so concerned with all the stuff going on in this world, and the thorns and the thistles choke it out. And then some of you come in here with a tilled up ready to listen to heart. And y'all are the ones that think I'm a good preacher. I'm not. You're just a good hearer.

And I'm telling you, I get to do this all over. There is no place I'd rather be on this planet than sharing God's Word with 1122. There's a whole bunch of you that come in eager and ready to receive God's word. And I want to say thank you for that. But if you've been, yeah, give yourself a hand. That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, we do, don't we? We are so humble.

We are humble. But on the other hand, if you keep going to church and keep going to church and keep going to church, I don't get much out of it. It might not be the church, darling. It might be because you're not ready to receive. And so, only the Spirit of God can change your heart. 1st Corinthians 12.3 says, no man can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

And so he preaches a five-sentence sermon. They receive it, and they are changed. They are changed. I get the opportunity sometimes to teach pastors. Our church trains a bunch of pastors. a school of ministry, and we're in this Act 29 network of church planning churches. So we get a bunch of, especially young pastors that come here and people that want to teach and preach the Bible.

And so often they'll ask me to be in charge of teaching these men and women. And so one of my favorite things to do, if I have time, I don't take them to my library, I don't take them to my study. I like to take them to the cemetery. Pack them up in the church van, and we drive to the cemetery. It's right across from Angie's, and we walk in and used to see their faces. They're like, I knew this was a cult. What are we doing at the cemetery?

And I'm like, look here, boys and girls. When you stand in front of people and open God's word and begin to share it, the goal is not to make bad people better. It's not. But it's that dead things would come to life. So what would your strategy be to bring these men and women to life? A funny story? A good band? A fog machine?

That'll do it. No. The only thing you could do is preach the Word of God and hope that the power of the Holy Spirit changes lives. is what our job is. That's what happens here in Nineveh. He preaches, they repent. They believe and repent. In the Bible, you can never divorce those two things. You can never divorce faith in God with changing the way you live. That happens here. It says, in the Word of God reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, he removed his robe, and he covered himself with sack cloth and he sat in ashes.

So sack cloth in ashes, it was a picture of repentance. That's what it was. It was kind of like the New Testament baptism. When you get baptized, it's an outward and visible symbol of an inward working grace. And so God has done a thing in the

heart of the king and now he is going to repent. He is going to dress himself, he's going to show the world, he's going to sit in pain to show the world that he is dead to himself and he is turning to the Lord. You see, that's what repentance is. This is why Jesus in the beatitude says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. That means blessed are you when you realize, uh-oh, I got nothing to

bring the Lord because I am a sinner. And then he goes on to say, blessed are those who mourn. And what you are mourning is your life of sin. And then he says, blessed are the meek. In Greek, that word for meek, it described the bit that you would put in the mouth of a horse. and blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are those who are mourned, and blessed are those who hand over the reins of their life to God so that he can turn you so that you would repent and turn away from your way and turn to his.

This is what the king of Nineveh and everyone is doing. They are repenting. And there's a big old difference between repentance and remorse and resolution. Remorse and resolution is, I am very sorry for my sin, mostly that I got caught or that it has consequences, and I am so sorry. And so I will resolve, I'm going to do better. See, remorse and resolution, it's really all about me, what I have done and what I will do differently.

Repentance is all about Jesus and what he has done for us. These things are fundamentally different, and I grew up in the remorse and resolution world. We call it Baptist Summer Camp. Remember that? Last night at camp, you know, they deprived you asleep for like four days, hop you up on Kool-Aid, play some Jesus songs, and you're like, oh, I'm so sorry. And you'd be down there crying and true love waiting, and I nailed stuff to crosses

and threw stuff in lakes, and I've burned confessions. And I mean, you name it, I've done it. And I was thoroughly convinced that when I got home, I'd do better. And it worked for many days. sometimes. Because I was sorry and I was going to do better and I could only take that as far as I could take that. Repentance is different. Repentance is running to the loving and merciful God through the cross of Jesus Christ. Repentance is understanding that at the moment that you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow when he says it is finished, Tettlis die paid in full,

when he said that, that counted for me. And he fully paid my sin debt. And day, daily repentance is understanding from that moment on as I grow deeper and deeper and deeper in my relationship with Jesus Christ, I have a deeper and deeper and deeper understanding of my own depravity and my own sinfulness. I used to think before I got safe, I'm a pretty good guy. And now that I've been walking with Jesus for 30-something years, I realize, oh, I don't just tell lies, I'm a liar. I don't just struggle with sin. I'm a sinner. That the heart of the problem is actually my heart. And I'm like the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7. What a wretched man am I. The things I want to do I can't do and the things I don't want to do and I promise I would never do. These things I can't

stop doing. What is wrong with me? Who would save my sinful soul? And I realize that I am much, much, much, much more depraved than I ever imagined. Who would save my soul? And simultaneously from that moment, you understand when Christ died on the cross, that counted for you, then your understanding of the holiness and the majesty and the glory and the perfection of God gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. God doesn't get bigger, just your understanding of how perfect and how holy and how just he is. And those things grow farther and farther and farther apart from you, from each other. And the chasm between the perfection and the holiness, the requirement of God, and the chasm between that and who I am as a human being gets bigger and bigger and bigger. and the only thing that can fill that chasm is the ever-growing gospel of Jesus Christ

who lived and died for you and me. And anyone who would trust in him, that chasm is covered by the blood of Jesus. That is what daily repentance is. When Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me daily, that is a daily return to the cross. That we are far worse sinners than we ever imagine, and yet we are much more deeply loved than we could ever understand. That's repentance. That's what they do.

And the king issued a proclamation, and he published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water. He caused the whole nation to a fast. Fasting is simply telling your flesh no,

so you can make room to tell Jesus yes. Tuesday, we're going to have elder-led prayer which leads us into a church-wide season of fasting to prepare us for resurrection weekend, for Easter weekend. And now, I know some of you have never fasted. You're up Southern Baptist, and you fasted from Budweiser and rated our movies for like 30 years, okay? Glory to God.

But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about you deprive yourself of physical needs so that when your body tells you that you need to eat, then you remind yourself of greater spiritual needs than what you really need is Jesus. That's what fasting is. And if you fast with us, especially if you fast like with a family at home, you were going to learn more about the people you live with than you ever have before. Nothing reveals personalities like board games and fasting.

That's how you learn who is a rule breaker, a rule bender, and a rule follower in fasting and in board games. Now, the king doesn't even let the animals eat. You know why? You know what happens when you don't feed cows? They moo. And so an entire nation for like a month, it's just, you know, that's just, you know. the soundtrack of this nation turning to God. And it says,

But let man and beasts be covered with sackcloth. They're repenting. Let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way. Again, this is what repentance is. And you can't turn from something unless you turn to something else. They are turning from my way of doing life and turning to the one true God. let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

This next verse is so important. Underline this one. And who knows, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. And who knows? When I read this, this is the way my mind works. I know this isn't how it really works, but in my mind, when the king of Nineveh says, And who knows? Who knows?

If we confess our sin and we repent and we mourn our sinfulness and we cry out mightily to the one true God, who knows? He may save us. And I want to say, if I could go back in time to that very moment where the King of Nineveh asked this question, who knows if I can hop in the Delorion and fix the flux capacitor and go all the way back to this very moment? I could go, I know. I know the answer to your question, Nineveh? You see, I know because, you see, you don't know yet because you're still on this side of the blank page in our Bible called the Old Covenant. And so what you are doing is you were hoping by faith that God will send a Savior.

But as a post-resurrection Christian, I am on this side of the empty tune. And what you are looking forward to in hope, I am looking back on in history. You see, what you are hoping for by faith, I know my name. His name is Jesus. I know. I know that if you put your faith in him, that you will be saved. I mentioned this before, but it's like watching the sixth sense for a second time. Remember the first time you saw it?

You're like, I don't get it. I see dead people. Well, this is crazy. Then at the end, you realize he's dead. And then if you watch it again, you see his deadness all the way through. Like, oh, now that makes sense. And that makes sense. And that makes sense.

By the way, I hate that movie. I've never seen it the second time. You know why? When Gretchen I got married, any engaged people in the house, if anybody engaged, come on, anybody? What are you people doing? All right. All together. Oh, great.

Y'all should be into the cyber group. Good. All right. So we get ready. We're going to get married. We bought a house. Closed on it the week. We were going to get married.

We did this youth event called Moobie stuff into his new house because I was a youth pastor. see it and and uh and we were going to go on a honeymoon to jamaica right like the day we got married but then gretchen shows up to our what was going to be our new house at like two o'clock in the morning on the day we were getting married she opens the door i'm asleep on the couch i'm like what i don't think we're supposed to see each other she's like i don't feel good i'm like you're probably just nervous she goes in the bathroom she wasn't nervous she's she had the jonavirus back in the day boosh over and over and over and over and i'm like oh no so we call the doctor we get there at about eight o'clock in the morning. I think her wedding was supposed to be at like two o'clock. And the doctor was like,

you can just kind of wait it out or I can give you this shot. And they gave her the shot and she's out. I mean out, out, right? She's unconscious out. At two o'clock that day, I was a youth pastor at this church. About 700 people showed up for us to watch us get married. Because everybody was thinking, this is a miracle. Who's going to marry that freak? All right? I think that's what they were thinking. At the day, the time we're supposed to get married, Gretchen still, she had passed out at her house trying to get ready. So they bring her in and it was like a NASCAR pit crew goes to work in the church library, getting it all together. And I had to go with my pastor and stand in front of the whole church and say, good news, bad news, good news, there is going to be a wedding day. Bad news, we

ain't quite ready. So luckily we were too broke to have a real reception. We were going to eat beanie wienies in the cafeteria gymnasium fellowship hall. And so we all walked over there and ate our beanie wienies and then gave Greshed long enough to get ready. And then they'd got her together and they didn't know if she could walk down the aisle. They thought they were going to have to put her in a wheelchair and wheel her just like you all have dreamed of, right? But luckily she was able to walk, but her mom and dad walked her down the aisle and they both just held an arm and like carried her. She gets down to the front. We had seats in case we needed to sit down.

We shrunk the whole wedding down to like a couple of songs. And do you? Uh-huh. Do you? Sure do. That was it. That was the whole ceremony. Which, by the way, let me just point out.

in two weeks, it'll be 20 years, and we still do. Amen? All right. So, hey, all you engaged people, there's the wedding, and then there's the marriage. Spend all your time on the marriage. Don't worry about the wedding. Okay, anyway. So we post on the honeymoon. We go back to the little house. We had just purchased, and the stuff's everywhere. I had to move stuff over so I could lay, just mattresses on the floor. We lay down and just take a nap. I'm bored to death. I got no cable. We didn't have, like, internet. And, you know, Al Gore has. hadn't invented that for us quite yet. And so it hadn't made it all. They didn't get the cord all the way to that part of Virginia yet. And so I called Hotel Roanoke. I booked a room.

I said, hey, we're going to go to the hotel. We get to the hotel. And I'm just looking to be able to love my wife like Christ loved the church. I've been in this about two and a half hours. What can I do for you, baby? Here's some toast. You want to eat some toast? I was trying to hydrate her and get it ready. She's just, amen. The Bible says love is paid. That's hilarious. She don't feel good. She lays down. She goes to sleep.

I turned the TV on in the hotel. Guess what movie's on? The six sense. I hate that movie. I hate that movie. I've always hated that movie. So I watched it that one time, and I thought, that it doesn't make sense.

But if you watch it again, then you know that you know that you know, that if you know what's happening, well, see, here's the thing. When the King of Nineveh goes, who knows? I go, I know. I've seen the whole movie, King of Nineveh.

You see, again, what you were hoping for by faith, I know by name. What you were looking forward to in hope, we can look back in history and the tomb is empty. You see, because King of Nineveh, God didn't just send to Jonah to tell you. He sent his son Jesus to make a way for you. That Jesus is the greater Jonah. You see, God told Jonah to arise and go, and he went the wrong way,

and yet God so loved the world that he told his son to arise and go, and he gladly said, not my will, but your will be done. that like Jonah was thrown off of the boat into the stormy sea to calm God's anger. Jesus was thrown onto an empty cross to endure the full wrath of God. Like Jonah lived in the belly of a big fish for three days and three nights. Jesus went into the belly of the earth for three days. And at the end of this, like Jonah was puked up on dry ground, Jesus rolled the stone away and he walked out in victory over sin and death.

So King of Nineveh, I know. I know. You see, John says it this way, in 1 John. He says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Not hope that when you get there that the scales work out and you're on the good side. He says, I write these things to you that you may, that you who believe in the name of the Son of God. Here's what this means.

When you believe, when you trust that when Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and he says, it is finished. To tell us that, it means paid in full. When he said that, And if you believe that, that it counts for you. Even if you don't know all the theological intricacies of penal substitutionary atonement, it's okay. You don't have to fully understand to fully believe. That I know.

And the kind of things he wrote or things like this, in this is love. Not that we have loved God, but God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation means the payment that satisfies. And if you would put your faith in Christ, he would turn his justice, he would turn his wrath, he would turn his anger towards sin at the cross of Jesus Christ, and he would turn his face of love toward you. King of Nineveh, I know. Every single one of us here at 1122, I know that if you will believe in Jesus, then you would receive eternal life. We know this to be true because if the tomb is empty, then anything is possible, even you having your sins forgiven and knowing God.

And when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, again, do you see the repentance there? Then God relented, not repented, but relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them and he did not do it. You see, this word relent does not mean like change your mind or change direction. You see, because God doesn't change direction. How can you change direction if you're already everywhere already? He doesn't change his mind. He already knows. This word relent, what it really means, it means like to be overcome with compassion,

to be full of empathy, that he understood that the Ninevites were heading in a direction that led towards destruction, but because by faith they would change direction and trust God instead of trusting their own way, then their eternal trajectory was totally different. And in that, God relented of his anger. Why? Because what we find out in the new covenant in the New Testament is this, that God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. The most famous verse in the Bible probably is John 316. You know this verse, right? Tebow wrote it back in the 2000s. It's a very famous verse. You should love this verse. It's like the whole Bible in a verse. It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him,

trust in him, would not perish but would have everlasting life. This is a directional change. Very few people keep going to verse 17, which is also an awesome verse. You should know this one too. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Like God didn't bring you to church today to condemn you to tell you how bad. you are, he came to let you know that Jesus came on a rescue mission for you. And nobody keeps going to verse 18. Verse 18 says, and whoever believes in him is not condemned. The reason is because

if you believe in him, if you put your faith in him, if you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me. That means that Jesus pays the full price for your sin. Therefore, you are not condemned because Jesus took that condemnation for you. This is why Romans 8.1 will say, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And listen, if the Bible was made up by people, they would put a period here. They would just stop. Let's go into the next chapter. But it keeps going.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. Because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God. You see, Jesus is talking to a religious leader here. And what the religious leader, Nicodemus thought, he thought, because I am so religious, because I do so many good things, then God one day is going to owe me heaven. And Jesus is like, nope, that's not how it works. He is saying every single one of us are on one of two trajectories. We're either walking according to the word of the Lord

or we're walking in accordance with our own will. And whatever C.S. Lewis says, whatever we decide here on earth, God will give us in eternity. So if you want to reject God, whether it's through rebellion, like forget you, God, don't tell me what to do. I do what I want with who I want when I want. Or you want to reject God with religion. Like, God, I don't need you. I got Sunday school attendance, okay? Then when we reject God in this life, then God will give us in eternity what we ask for here.

And what that would be would be a Christless eternity. God is the source of all things lovely and all things merciful and all things holy and all things holy. and all things beautiful. And to move in eternity away from that, that we would live a Christless existence, ever dying, but never dead. We would call that hell. The other option is to say,

I don't want to do this life according to my own will. I want to do this according to your word, Lord. And it's repentance. How do you do that? You say, I believe that when you died on the cross, that counted for me. And if that happens for you, then you receive eternal life. You see, here's the point.

That repentance is God's grace-filled invitation to rethink the direction of our lives. So let me ask you, do you need to repent? In Jonah chapter 3, there's actually three turnings. There's Jonah's turning. Jonah turns. Jonah was headed to Tarshish, now he's headed to Nineveh. Let me ask you, Christian. I'm not talking about your salvation

because that's forever done if you put your faith in Jesus. But are there some areas in your life where God said arise and go this way and you arise and went the other way? Like the way you're parenting, the way you're loving your husband or wife in regards to sex and morality

and entertainment or the way you spend your money or the way you're doing forgiveness or there's some areas of your life and God said arise and go this way, be faithful in this and you're like, I ain't going this way, I'm going over here. Do you need to repent? Martin Luther says, when Jesus called us to repent,

he meant that the life of the Christian would be that of daily repentance, daily running back towards the cross in the direction of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Do you have any idea what hangs in the balance when it comes to your obedience and your repentance? Do you think when Jonah got sped up, puked up on dry ground, do you think that he had any idea that God would use him, a reluctant missionary, didn't even want to go, that God might use him to save an entire nation? Do you have any idea what hangs in the balance for you? You have no idea.

You have no idea the way you do marriage from this day forward could affect your great, great, great, grandchildren that will bear your name that you'll never meet. And their whole lives could be different because of the decisions you make to walk in accordance with the Lord right now. You see, Jonah turns, and Nineveh turns. And Nineveh turns from their evil ways and they cry out mightily to the Lord. They believe and they repent and their eternal trajectory is changed forever. And it seems that God relents. The God turns from his fierce anger because he has poured it out at the cross of Jesus Christ.

And he turns his face of love to a people that did not deserve it. So, church, let me ask you. Do you need to repent? Are there areas in your life? Money and finances, the way you're treating your body. You see, here's my hope that somehow in this past 55 minutes that the real preacher, the spirit of God, has gotten down in some area of your life that you don't like to talk about.

Isn't it crazy? That's the thing he wants to talk to you about the most all the time. As you are like a little kid like crawling around on the floor, just trying to put the trash off the ground into your mouth to feed yourself. And our jealous God goes, no, no, no, no, no, what you need for life is me. Won't you come here? And would you reject those things, the trash off the floor?

And would you come to your heavenly father? That's what repentance is. For some of you, it'll be for the very first time. It'll be for the very first time. And you're sitting here thinking right now, who knows? Who knows? if I surrender my life, would God take me? And I would say, I know, I know.

In this moment right now, if you would admit it, admit it, hey, I'm not just a struggleer that needs to do better, but I'm a sinner that needs a savior. And in this moment, if you believed when he died on the cross somehow, that counted for me. And in this moment, I'm ready to confess. All right, I'm not the boss of me. I give up.

You're my Lord. The Bible assures us that that is our arrangement. response. If that's how we respond to the gospel, then you will be saved, redeemed, forgiven, adopted into the family of God, and everything from now on is different for you. Do you need to repent? Would you bow your head, close your eyes? And if you were here for the very first time and you would say, yeah, that's me, that's me, that's, I didn't know what was that. I thought I had to get my acts together to earn my way to God. But today, for the very first time, you understand that Jesus came after you on a rescue mission at the cross.

And for the very first time, you were ready to admit your sin, believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And in this moment, you were ready to declare him, Lord and Savior. Then right now, lift your hand in the air. Say, Father, here I am. Save me. Lift your hand high and say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

There are hands up all over the place. And I just want to remind you, it's not your hand in the air that saves you. It's you believing in what Christ did for you on the cross. Amen. Put your hands down, keep your head bowed, your eyes closed. Christian. Those of us, whether you've been following them for two weeks or a few decades now. I'm not talking about your salvation.

I know you've trusted Christ for your salvation. But are there areas in your life, in your marriage, in your finances, in your entertainment? Are there areas in your life in regards to self-medicating? Are there areas in your life in regards to morality or forgiveness or reconciliation? And if you're honest, you would say, I have been walking according to my will and I need to turn to the Lord, run to the cross, and walk in accordance with His Word. If there's an area in your life that you need to repent, Christian, would you raise your hand with me? Would you raise your hand and say, Father, here I am.

our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I thank you, and I praise you like a good, good dad, Lord, you see us coming to our senses, returning to you, and you come and chase us down for a long ways off. You wrap your robe of righteousness around us. You reclaim us as your very own. God, I thank you that Jesus did not come primarily as a teacher to just tell us how to do life better. But he came on a rescue mission, and we never graduate from the cross. God, would we, by the power of your Word, fueled by your Holy Spirit, God, will we offer our lives as living sacrifices by not conforming to the pattern of this world, but by transforming our mind? God, would you give us a new strategy for living? Would we repent of the ways of this world? And when we do things by the way of your word, that we might have that abundant life that you have invited us into.

God, I thank you, and I praise you, and I celebrate with the angels. for all of those today that you saved. And God, I thank you, and I praise you, and I celebrate with the angels, for all of us who you continue to sanctify. And would you continuously call us back to you and your cross? We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please stand?

We respond to the gospel. We respond by bringing our first and our best, saying, God, I'm going to do money your way. What I do with this money is an indicator of what's first in my heart. I'm bringing you first and best. And we respond by praying. I imagine the real preacher here has done a pretty decent job of getting down into the deepest parts of our soul. And for sure you can do work with him right where you're seated.

But it's something about stepping out. And I get it, man. If you sit in the middle, you've got 19 people to get by. That's all right. Just work them out. They probably need to go to. Just drag them with you. And come on down and do some work.

And then we sing. We're going to sing a song that was written right here, that when he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet, that it counted for me. And let me just tell you, okay, especially you in the back. When we get to the accounting for me part, if you believe that, want you to put your hand up and claim it, declare it. So that this week, when the enemy tries to whisper those lies of condemnation, then you can remind him, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ's your head. You can raise your hand and go, no, no, it counted for me, it counted for me, it counted for me. All right, let's respond. I don't know.