Title: Greater Grace/Jon 3:1-2
Contents
Introduction
1. Modern people suffer from the disease of loneliness. Because there is no one to be with. Being away from family all day is no absolute comfort. Friends are always competitors.
2. Modern people need greater grace. We need greater grace. Because it is harder and more tiring than before. Because there are many failures. Because it needs more consolation.
3. The Lord did not turn away from Jonah. He did not discipline him. Rather, he bestowed unchanging grace upon him. What kind of grace have you bestowed?
.The grace of recovery has come (1).
A. The word of the Lord came a second time.
1. Jonah was a prophet of betrayal who deserved to be killed. But God added the grace of recovery to him. It's like when the lights come back on after a power outage, the room looks brighter than before.
2. Although Jonah was alive through the belly of the fish, the future must have been vague for him. It was because he had disobeyed God greatly. People who make mistakes should be held accountable. Just like last time, the mayor of Seoul resigned after less than two months.
3. But God generously forgave Jonah, who had abandoned him, and called him back.
B. God gives us the opportunity to try again.
1. If our salvation is decided by just one call, will any of us be saved? Jesus called Peter, whom he had abdicated three times because he did not know, and added the mission of shepherding to the man who repented.
2. When I repent, the Lord comes to me. However, the fact is that when the Lord comes, He does not just come, but comes with greater blessings and greater power of salvation. What on earth is the mother of Jonah, who was a prophet of God? What would it be like to be trapped in a stinky meat belly for three days?
3. We make mistakes. No matter how careful I am, mistakes never leave me. I never caught it though. Wouldn't it be futile if one mistake could end our lives? It is very dishonorable. But thankfully, God called Jonah back. added joy to him. And he gives us the same grace. He helps us keep our joy going. “Go to Nineveh and proclaim what I have commanded you.”
4. God entrusts us with work and gives us the opportunity to try again, but does not force us to do so. As if there is no one else in this world who can do it but me, he acknowledges me and comes to me from afar. Even the belly of the fish under the sea.
5. “The parable of the prodigal son” in Luke 15 and Jonah of the Old Testament have something similar. The prodigal son left his father, and Jonah left his master, God. The prodigal son ate pig food, and Jonah took the fishy smell of the meat. The prodigal son found his father, and Jonah sought God.
6. God gives us greater grace when we realize it. And it gives you more power. There was a great revival in Nineveh through the repentant Jonah.
.God does not give up (2).
A. He did not give up on Jonah.
1. “You get up---” he said. gave him a new name. He ordered an honorable reinstatement.
It is not a reinstatement given by force or reluctance. Didn't the Lord give Peter 3,000 converts at a time? It is a sign that I never condemned or gave up on you. Through Jonah, He allowed the entire Nineveh to repent.
2. God established Jonah as a tool for the salvation of Nineveh. That is why he trained Jonah in a special way. He was called to save Jonah's soul as well as the people of Nineveh.
3. Jonah had the greatest weakness. It was a habit of doing what I wanted. Obviously, even though God had spoken, he dealt with it at his own discretion. So God did not give up and commanded him again. “Declare to them what I have commanded you.”
B. He does not give up Nineveh.
1. The training of Jonah to the end shows how much he loves them.
2. He commanded stubborn Jonah to realize in detail.
C. God never gives up on us.
1. Do you feel that things are not going the way you want them to? You should know that it is God's powerful intervention. Remember Jonah. What would have been the outcome if he had been successful?
2. Give up your stubbornness. Find out what God's will is. Listen to what God is saying. The reason Jonah suffered until now was because he took the word of God lightly. God's command was not in line with his taste. Why do you trivialize God's commands?