Jonah: More Than a Fish Story

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to the book of Jonah.

And we're going to look at the book of Jonah this morning,

and I'm going to preach all four chapters this morning.

It's probably going to take two or three hours,

but I know that you don't mind and you don't have anywhere to go.

No, I'm teasing.

I'm going to do it in about 30, 35 minutes.

And there's a reason, because some books of the Bible you need to dissect

and look at verse by verse by verse.

And some books of the Bible, to be honest with you,

you need to start in chapter 1 and read them all the way to the end

and then step back and ask yourself, what is God saying?

And this is one of those kind of books.

You're actually better off, you'll understand the book better

if you read it as a whole than if you dissect it into many, many different parts.

How many of you remember the movie Forrest Gump?

How many of you actually saw that movie?

Raise your hand real high, Forrest Gump.

That's great.

All God's people saw that movie, right?

It's a great, great movie.

I think it's probably my favorite movie of all time.

I got a lot of favorites, but I really think that's right there near the top.

It's probably the most quoted movie I can ever remember seeing in my lifetime,

and I don't think I ever laughed harder or experienced a wealth of emotions more

in any other picture than that.

There were times I'd just laugh myself silly,

and other times, I mean, tears would be streaming down my face.

It was just a heart-touching movie.

Let me just test your memory on something, prove what I saw about her.

See if you can remember some of these quotes.

Forrest used to say, my mama always said what?

Anybody remember?

Now, you're going to read it.

You're going to get the clue, right?

Well, go ahead and say it with me.

Life is like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you're going to get.

Mama was a wise gal.

She said, life is like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you're going to get.

She also said, stupid is as stupid does.

Remember that?

And then he said of Jenny, me and Jenny go together like peas and carrots.

And then in the end of the movie, when she's trying to convince him that she's not right for him,

remember what Forrest says?

He says, I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.

That was a great statement, wasn't it?

I remember so many things about that movie.

Here are a few of my favorite things that occurred in that movie.

You remember when he's on the park bench and people would come up and they'd sit down beside him

and have those little conversations?

Wasn't that a great, great part of the movie?

And remember when he went to play football at Alabama and he played for Bear Bryant

and they gave him the ball and, boy, he was fast, greased, lightning.

He goes around the end.

He runs down the sideline, scores the touchdown.

They just forgot to tell him to stop.

And he keeps running right out of the stadium.

Remember that?

And then, of course, he ran and ran and ran all across the West.

And he comes to a place where he says, I think I'm tired.

I'm going to stop.

Love that part.

When he's on the bus with Bubba, his buddy who later, they started a shrimp business.

And he says, here are all the ways you can fix shrimp.

So many different things about that movie caught my attention.

One of the best things, the ping pong scene now that we're in the Olympics.

Remember when he plays ping pong and it's just incredible how fast he can play?

Here's my question to you.

Is that a movie about ping pong?

Is it a movie about football?

Is it a movie about shrimp?

Is it a movie about waiting on a bus or getting off a school bus or fleeing from bullies or standing at the Washington Mall?

It's not about any of those things.

That's just things that set up the telling of the story, right?

And here's what's at the heart of the movie, and you may have never thought about this movie that seriously before.

But if you really sat down and you gave it some thought, and I've had the opportunity to do that, you're kind of at a disadvantage springing this on you this morning.

But if you sat down and thought about it, I think you'd probably agree with this assessment.

This is a movie about how a simple man can love so profoundly, and his love impacts the people who he interacts with.

I mean, in a marvelous, profound way.

Remember Jenny?

Boy, how he loved Jenny.

And how he loved his mother.

And how he loved Captain Dan.

And how he loved Bubba.

And then ultimately, how he loved his little boy through Jenny, right?

It's a powerful, powerful movie.

But it's not about any of those other things.

They're just things we see as we watch the movie.

You say, why are you telling me this?

Because that's the way it is with the book of Jonah.

I want to tell you the story, and when I finish, I don't think anyone here will say,

you took a liberty with that, because I'm going to try to tell you as forthrightly the book of Jonah in just a few minutes as I possibly can.

Here goes, you ready?

Chapter 1, Jonah gets a call from God.

God says, Jonah, I want you to go to the north and to the east, to Assyria, and I want you to preach.

I'm going to destroy that city in 40 days unless they repent.

Go tell them to repent.

You know what Jonah does?

He heads west.

He goes to the coast.

He catches a ship.

He's headed toward Spain.

He's going to Tarsus.

They don't get too far offshore until a great storm begins to prevail.

And the scripture says that Jonah, while others are scurrying about experienced seamen knowing their lives on the line,

they're throwing cargo overboard.

They're trying to lighten the load so the ship will rise in the water.

They're fearful it's going to be swamped and they'll sink.

And they find Jonah asleep in the belly of the ship.

Jonah, how can you be asleep?

Man, we're about to die.

We're all calling out to our gods.

We worship an assortment of gods.

Why don't you call to your God?

Maybe he'll reveal who's at fault here.

Jonah turns to him and says, hey, I don't need to do that.

I know who's at fault.

It's me.

I'm fleeing from God.

I'm disobedient to God.

And so God has brought about this storm.

If you want the storm to end, you need to throw me overboard.

Well, they're reluctant to do that.

They continue to lighten the load of the ship.

Finally, there's no other alternative.

Reluctantly, they throw him overboard.

Immediately, the sea's calm.

He's drifting down through the waters to the very bottom, chapter 2 tells us,

when God rescues him through a fish that we read about in chapter 1.

He has prepared a great fish.

The fish swoops down and swallows Jonah whole.

Incredible.

You'd think he'd have been bitten by the fish, devoured by the fish.

He swallows Jonah whole.

Chapter 2, he's in the belly of the fish.

He's there three days, and he begins to pray, God, somehow rescue me.

Well, God does just that.

He spits him up through the whale or through the great fish on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

He immediately goes to Assyria as he was instructed to do the first time.

Chapter 3.

He gets to Assyria.

There are 120,000 people in this city.

Now, just think with me, using common sense.

No skyscrapers.

No apartment complexes.

So, to have 120,000 people, you know this is an expansive city.

He begins walking from one end of the city to the other, and as he walks, here's what he's saying and preaching.

40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.

40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.

Hey, 40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.

He gets to the end.

He's actually hopeful that no one is going to heed his message.

That's what he's hoping.

They won't listen.

God will rain down fire on them.

They'll be destroyed.

He goes to this mountaintop, chapter 4, and he's perched on the mountaintop, and he's looking at the city of Nineveh.

He's angry because he's already made up his mind what's going to happen.

In his mind, he's thinking, I know, I know, I know.

That's why I didn't want to come.

God is going to relent, and God is going to forgive these people.

And sure enough, that's what happened.

They adorn themselves with sackcloth and ashes, a means of showing repentance.

They call out to God, and God is merciful.

From the king down, everyone in Assyria, they repent of their sin, and God spares Nineveh.

So here's Jonah.

He's angry as an old, wet horn.

Let me ask you.

I want to ask you to raise your hand.

Have you ever been so angry you could just hardly spit?

I mean, you're just so mad.

The veins are protruding in your neck.

Your face, the countenance of your face is changed.

Your fists are clenched.

I mean, you're just angry.

And almost angry, can't even talk.

Any of you ever been that way?

Well, that's where Jonah is.

He's that mad.

God speaks to him, Jonah, why are you so mad?

He says, Lord, back in Exodus 34, it says,

You're compassionate and slow to anger and patient and long-suffering and forgiving,

and you forgave the Hebrews back at Mount Sinai,

and I knew this was going to happen.

That's why I didn't want to come here and preach.

Well, he refuses to really say any more to God.

And guess what God does?

He allows this vine to begin to grow,

and it grows up until it covers Jonah's head

and becomes a shelter for Jonah.

Jonah is now more pleased.

He's out of the hot sun, the baking sun of the Mideast.

He's shaded from the sun, a little more bearable now,

until the next morning when he awakens, guess what?

God has prepared a worm, and the worm comes,

and he eats this plant that's growing over Jonah's head.

He devours the root, and the plant withers and dies.

On top of that, God sends a scorching, the Bible says,

scorching east wind, and now he's miserable.

Any of you ever been out in the desert?

I lived in El Paso for about a year one time.

Boy, it can get so hot in the desert,

and when it's dry and the wind gets up and the sand starts blowing,

and you've seen pictures of that in the Middle East, right?

Our soldiers in Afghanistan and those different places,

Syria, different places.

He is miserable beyond belief,

and this time he just explodes,

and he really takes it to God.

I knew this would happen.

I knew this.

I wish I could die.

Boy, you better be glad I wouldn't, God,

because I said, okie dokie.

We'll just let you die right here.

But God doesn't.

He's patient with it.

And then God gives him this message.

He says, Jonah,

how is it that you're discomfortable

because this vine that was over your head

and sheltering you from the sun has withered and died,

and you didn't do anything to bring about its growth?

You didn't plant it.

You didn't cultivate it.

It just appeared.

And now that it's gone because of this worm

and there's a scorching wind,

you are just beside yourself and living,

and you'd rather die than continue living.

When down below,

there are 120,000 people.

Now listen to this.

This is a stinging indictment.

Down below, there are 120,000 people.

Can you imagine how many people that is?

You see Clemson Stadium on a Saturday,

and it's about 80,000 people?

You hack that again.

That's 120,000 people.

He says there are 120,000 people.

They're not uncomfortable.

They're not just hot.

There's not just a scorching east wind.

They don't know their left hand from their right hand,

and in 40 days,

they're all going to die unless I intervene and rescue them.

And all you can think about is your own discomfort.

Now that's the story of Jonah.

Here's the million-dollar question.

What's it about?

What do you think God wants us to take away from that?

I want to begin by telling you what the book is not about,

two things it's not about,

and I'm going to tell you one thing it is about.

And some of you may leave here a little shook

because you'll say, you know what?

I always thought it was about this,

but really true it's not.

Let me begin by telling you this is not a fish story.

All the part about the great fish is interesting,

and it's real,

and it's historically accurate,

and I think it really and truly happened,

but I want you to understand this.

This is not a fish story.

And sadly, sometimes when we hear people teach our children,

that's what they seemingly make this all about.

It's all about the great fish,

and it's not.

And sometimes in worship in certain places

where guys don't handle the passage right,

I've heard folks, even adults,

preachers stand in the pulpit

and talk about that great fish

more than they talk about anything else,

how God did it,

and try to convince people.

It's historically accurate.

It's historically accurate

because Jesus affirms it.

Jesus says in the New Testament,

even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days,

so the Son of Man will be in the grave three days.

That settles it.

It happened.

But I want to tell you something.

There's no way you're ever going to make sense of that someone

unless they see this as a miracle

because that's what it is.

You understand it?

It's a miracle.

A fish doesn't swallow a man

never had before that time,

never has after that time,

and the man not be devoured

and live even further in the belly of the fish

for three days.

That just doesn't happen unless,

why?

It's a miracle.

So you either got to accept it as a miracle

or you got to say,

that didn't happen.

I choose to believe

it happened exactly as the scripture said.

It's a miracle,

but here's the deal.

That's not why God did it.

He didn't give us this book

so you would say,

wow, how powerful God is

because he created this fish

in which a man could survive for three days.

Is it true?

It's true.

But don't miss what the book is about.

It's not a fish story.

And I'm going to prove it to you right now.

I'm going to show you something

you may have never seen before.

And I want you to look at the scripture

so if you got your Bible,

I don't care what translation you're using,

I want you to open your Bible

and look at Jonah chapter 1 and verse 17.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Now, as soon as you found it,

you got that?

Look up and look at me.

It's real important,

just for a second.

How many of you are using the King James Version?

Raise your hand if you're using it.

Anybody here?

One there in the balcony?

Anywhere else?

New King James Version.

Anybody?

One over here?

One here?

A couple back there?

How many are using the NAS?

One, two, three here?

Anybody else?

How about the Holman?

The ESV?

A bunch with ESV, I'm sure.

Okay.

I don't care what translation.

NIV.

Oh, a lot of you NIV people.

NLT.

Anybody else?

Okay.

Down here on the front,

a couple there in the back.

Now, listen to me carefully.

I don't care which translation you're using.

It's all going to be the same in this sense.

The writer of Hebrews,

or the writer of Jonah, rather,

in Hebrew,

is giving us chapter 1 and verse 17,

and he's going to use a word

that's going to be used repeatedly

here in the book of Jonah.

Look at 117.

I'm reading from the Holman,

and the ESV says the same thing.

The Lord appointed a great fish.

Now,

I'm talking about the word appointed.

Look at your translation

and see what it says.

You see what it says?

If you're reading from the King James Version,

prepared.

NAS,

designated.

NIV,

provided.

NLT,

arranged.

ASV,

prepared.

Anybody see anything different than that?

That's what they all say, right?

Now, let me show you something else.

Go with me to chapter 4

and look at verse 6.

It's where he describes

this plant

that grew over Jonah's head.

In my translation,

remember what I said?

It said in the Holman,

the ESV,

appointed.

Chapter 4,

verse 6,

the Lord appointed a plant.

Now,

look at your translation,

whatever it is.

Whatever it says in 4, 6,

that's what it's going to say in 117.

This is yes and no.

You got it?

Isn't that right?

Everybody agree with that?

Whatever word it used

in chapter 117,

he uses that same word

in chapter 4,

verse 6.

Now,

go to the next verse,

verse 7.

The Lord appointed a worm.

Again,

whatever word is used

of that worm

is used of the plant,

is used of the great fish.

Finally,

go to 4, 8.

God appointed

a scorching east wind.

Whatever word you use

in 4, 8,

it uses in 4, 7.

In 4, 6,

in 117.

Now,

look up and listen

and get this.

Stay on the page with me.

These are all

things that historically,

realistically,

authentically happened.

They are all miracles

and they are all props

of God

in the telling

of this story.

And that's all they are.

We get all

worked up

over the big fish,

but the big fish

is no more

a miracle

than the plant

or the worm

or the scorching wind.

Do you see that?

I want to show you

something you may

not have thought about.

How many of you

have always marveled

how fast kudzu grows?

Well,

I'm from Oconee County.

It'll just take over

the world sooner or later,

right?

Kudzu?

It'll cover every building

inside you get a chance.

It grows.

In the mountains,

I had a pastor one time,

he was from Bat Cave

and he told me

in the mountains,

we call it foot of day

because that's how much

it'll grow.

They come and they cut

along the highway,

it'll grow a foot

before you come back

the next day.

I don't know

if that's true or not.

My wife has a begonia

and you can take

a cutting of this begonia

and put it in water

and put it in dirt

and I want to tell you something,

you come back

three to four weeks later

and that begonia

will be this high.

We've got two

beside our front door.

They just grow,

you can't kill them.

They just grow like crazy.

Could a man hide

beneath that begonia

as fast as it grows

and get shelter?

I'm going to tell you something.

For a plant to come up

out of the ground

and to cover a man's head

and he can make a shelter

from it in a single day,

that's a miracle.

Would you agree with that?

That's nothing short

of a miracle.

A fish that can swallow

a man and him be unharmed

after living three days

in his belly,

that's a miracle.

Well, what about the worm?

The worm doesn't get

his just due, does he?

The worm comes along

and eats away at this plant

and within hours,

it dies.

That's a pretty powerful worm,

wouldn't you say?

God has given that worm

pretty special powers.

This scorching east wind,

I believe,

came absolutely out of nowhere.

If there had been

a meteorologist that morning,

he wouldn't have said,

hey, today there's going

to be a scorching east wind.

It's going to be tough

on us here in Nineveh.

God created that

and it came out

of absolutely nowhere.

But understand this,

each one of those

are props

in the telling of the story

and the worm is not the story

and the plant's not the story

and the scorching east wind

is not the story.

And the fish

is not the story.

Everybody with me?

I want to tell you

a second thing that's not.

And this second thing

is a mistake

that some preachers have made.

I probably made it

sometime in my life.

We look at chapter one

and see Jonah's

saying, yes, I'll go

and then his disobedience

and then he's swallowed

by the fish

and he repents

and he's thrown up

on the shore

and we say,

how important

our obedience

to God is

in accomplishing

what God

is wanting to do.

This is not a story

about how important

we are

in God's will

being accomplished.

We way,

way,

way

overemphasize

Jonah's importance

if you make that

the teaching

that comes

out of this passage.

I want to tell you

something.

God could have

resurrected

Balaam's donkey

from the dead

and send him

to Nineveh

and in my estimation

he'd have probably

done a better job

of preaching

than Jonah did.

If you think

that city

got saved

because of

Jonah's great

preaching,

you have missed

this story.

I want to tell you,

he reluctantly,

even after being

swallowed by the fish,

goes to Nineveh

and preaches

and I think

it was probably

as sorry a message

as anybody

has ever preached.

It's obvious

by how he reacts

in chapter four,

he doesn't want

these people

to respond

and so I can see

Jonah now

hands in his pocket

40 days

and God's going

to wipe you

off the face

of the earth

and under his breath

and I kind of

hope he does.

40 days

and Nineveh

is going to be

destroyed.

40 days

and Nineveh

is going to be

destroyed

and he does

that three days

and then he goes

off and he pouts

and he's hoping

that God is going

to bring judgment

on but instead

God shows

absolute

mercy.

I'm telling you

it is not about

how God needs us

for his will

to be accomplished.

I want to tell you

something.

You need to obey

God because if you

obey God

God will bless

in your life

and you will

live close to God

and know fellowship

and communion

with God

and he is God

and we need to

obey him

and bring him

glory.

But if you do

not obey him

I want to tell you

something.

You will never

keep God's will

from coming about.

He is sovereign

and God is going

to do what God

desires to do

and God desired

to save Nineveh

and Jonah was not

about to get in the

way of that

occurring.

So let's bring it

home.

What is this story

about?

One simple truth.

Please understand

this.

This is a story

about the incredible

mercy and grace

of God.

Did you get that?

Had you ever

thought that before?

I hope so.

This story is about

one thing.

The story of Jonah

is about the

matchless,

wonderful,

powerful love

of God

for humanity.

He loves

sinners.

He loves people

who are way,

way, way

away from him.

We may not

give a nickel

about them

but God

loves them.

It's about the

grace and the

mercy and the

depths of the

love of God.

Now listen to me

carefully.

If I want to

demonstrate how

white white is,

do you know how

I do that?

I put it against

a backdrop of

black.

There's no better

way to show the

whiteness of white

than against the

backdrop of black.

There's no better

way to show the

blackness of black

than to put it

against the

backdrop of white.

Nothing contrasts

black like white

or white like black.

And that's what God

does in this book.

God is bringing us

to chapter four so

he can say to

everyone in this

room and to

Jonah and to the

people of that day

and time,

I want to show you

how I love and

I want to show

you how you

love.

I want to show

you what concerns

me and I want to

show you what

concerns you.

Jonah, you're all

about your comfort.

Man, when that

vine grew over

your head and

there was shade

and it was

blistering hot and

you found comfort

and shade, you

were okay.

your temper began

to ease because

really and truly,

Jonah, you know

what you're all

about?

You are all

about you.

You are self

absorbed.

You're the picture

of what it is to

be self absorbed.

As long as things

are good in your

world, it's okay.

But Jonah, look

below you.

There are 120,000,

listen to this,

older men like here

this morning and

middle-aged men and

young men and

young women and

middle-aged women

and older women and

children and babies

just like they're in

Nineveh.

Not to even talk

about their livestock

and their animals.

And those people

are pitiful.

You know how God

describes them?

In chapter 4, just

turn with me and

look there.

Look in chapter 4

in verse 10.

This is what God

says.

So the Lord said,

you cared about the

plant which you did

not labor over and

did not grow.

It appeared in a

night and perished

in a night.

Should I not care

about the great city

of Nineveh, which

has more than 120,000

people who cannot

distinguish between

their right and

their left as well

as many animals?

Boy, what a

stinging indictment.

He says, you're so

concerned about that

vine.

Should I not be

concerned about that

120,000?

And this is what he

says, who can't

distinguish their

left from their

right.

You know what that

means?

They are spiritually

blind.

They don't have any

moral, spiritual

compass.

Can I just ask you

folk at First Baptist

Pigs, are you aware

how blessed you are?

Not all of you, but

many of you are like

myself.

You are raised in

Christians' homes.

You worshipped in a

beautiful facility like

this most all your

life.

You had copy after

copy of copy of the

word of God in your

home.

If you don't have a

sense of moral

direction, it's your

own fault.

But there are billions

of people out there in

our world, about a

billion Chinese.

They don't have a clue

who Jesus is.

They're about a billion

Indians.

They don't have a clue

who God is.

And we look at them

and we judge them and

we say, man, they do

such crazy things and

they're acting this way

and that way.

And even people in our

own culture who've never

been exposed to the

gospel, many of them.

People like LBGQT.

I mean, they do crazy

things and we look at

that and we say, my

goodness, how could they

be so perverted?

I'll tell you what, they

don't know their left

hand from their right

hand.

Do you understand that?

They don't have a moral

compass.

They don't have a

spiritual compass.

And so they're lost.

My friend, that's the

message of the book of

Jonah.

Can I make three or four

real, real quick?

I mean, just about a

minute, a point.

Three or four quick

observations.

Here's the first.

First and foremost, Jonah

is a picture.

You won't like this.

I don't like it.

Of us.

Jonah is a picture of

me.

It's a picture of you.

It's a picture of us.

And when I say us, I'm

getting personal.

I'm not talking about

people outside the faith.

I'm not talking about

humanity.

It's a picture of those

of us who claim to know

God.

Because I got news for you.

We're pretty self-absorbed.

We say, I'm not like

old Noah, man.

I'm concerned about lost

people.

We're concerned about

lost people in name.

I mean, if we see

pictures of people in

countries who don't know

God and they're

perishing, we go like

this.

Boy, that's bad.

That's terrible.

Sunsuit teacher really

did a good job bringing

that point home this

morning.

That mission speaker did

a good job.

Let's go get a

cheeseburger.

You want to?

What's for lunch today?

And we rush off to our

comfortable little homes.

Truth of the matter is,

we get way more worried

if the stock market

suddenly collapses.

If the housing market

suddenly collapses.

Oh, that's what gets us

upset.

If one of us gets sick

and has to go to the

hospital, now that'll get

our attention.

Because, you see, we're

pretty self-absorbed.

This is a book about us.

It's a book about us.

Secondly, people in our

world are exactly like

the people who live in

Syria.

They're as lost as they

can be.

Sorry, I'm having trouble

with this with my big old

ears.

They're just as lost as

they can be.

They don't know up from

down, right from left,

and they're just lost.

And that's the way it is

with those folk in

Assyria as well.

Look at a third point.

Like Jonah, we don't like

them very much.

If we're just really honest,

we don't like the lost people

of the world very much.

And we don't like them for

the same reasons that Jonah

didn't like them.

And you know why he didn't

like them?

Because they were a threat

to him.

He knew that.

In 722, Assyria is going to

forsake God, and they're

going to march south into

Jerusalem and into Israel.

And they're going to defeat

Israel.

And it's going to collapse

and be no more as a nation

until 1948.

I don't know if Jonah saw

that coming or not, but he

knew they were a real

serious threat.

And that's the reason he

didn't want to see them

saved.

He wanted them to perish

because he didn't like them.

And I'll tell you, they

earned their reputation.

They were a brutal bunch.

Man, they would scatter

people.

They weakened every culture,

every country, every society

they ever conquered.

So they had earned their

reputation.

And if we'll be real, real

honest, we don't like the

lost people of the world

today either, do we?

What we like to do is find

somebody who's kind of like

us and share the gospel

with him and see them be

saved.

But if they're really out

there on the edge and

they're way away from us

and they don't have a clue

about spiritual things,

eh, they're expendable.

They're disposable.

Fourthly and finally, and I

close, in spite of how we

feel, God loves them.

In spite of how we feel, boy,

God loves them.

And that's what the book of

Jonah is all about.

He's just wanting to pound

home to Jonah and pound home

to us how much he cares for

people who are sinners.

And you know what?

When his son comes on the

scene in the New Testament,

and we're going to get that in

a few weeks, you're going to

find the same thing is true

of Jesus.

He is a friend of sinners.

He is a friend of sinners.

They may not matter to us,

but they matter like

everything to God.

And because they matter to

him, they should matter to

us.

I want to tell you something.

The gospel is the gospel

and it's good news for us.

And it was good news for the

Hebrews.

And it was good news for the

Assyrians.

And I want to tell you something.

It's good news for our world.

When I was a young man getting

ready to go in the high school,

I was at Raines Heights Baptist

Church and in comparison to

this building, I was on the

next to the last row, about two

or three people over on that

next to the last row, sitting

in the back, my right arm around

the young lady, just trying to be

cool.

And somebody had said to me,

about two weeks earlier in a

locker room, he went on to become

a pastor.

He said, if you were to die today,

if we were to die today, I

actually said, do you think we'd go

to heaven?

We both had grown up in that

church or were going to that

church.

And I turned to him and I said,

Bruce, no way in the world I would.

I know I'm going to hell.

Because I'm not right with God.

I know I'm not.

And I'm sitting on that next to the

last pew and the pastors preached the

message.

And at some point, the Holy Spirit got a

hold of my heart.

And he convicted me.

He showed me just how messed up I was.

And boy, I was pretty messed up with

somebody that age.

I was just running from God.

Just crazy.

And I got up out of that pew, left that

young lady and came down that aisle and

came right here to the front where the

pastor was.

And I said, pastor, I need to be saved.

I was already a member.

The church had been baptized.

He says, Frankie boy, that's what they

call me.

Frankie boy, you don't need to be saved.

You just need to rededicate your life.

And thank God I had enough sense to know

he was wrong and I was right.

And I went over and I kneeled about where

that would be.

And I just talked to God.

I didn't know how to talk.

I just talked to God.

And I said, God, I desperately need you to

show me mercy and grace.

I believe you died for me.

And I'm asking you to forgive my sins.

And right there in the moment, he forget it

was the greatest moment of my life.

It changed everything about my life from

then to this very moment in time.

It changed everything.

I am so glad that God loved this sinner like

me.

And Jonah should have been so glad that God

loved this sinner like him.

And that he loved his Hebrew ancestors,

predecessors.

The gospel is good for everybody.

Amen?

It'll save everybody.

And it's good for you today.

If you're here in this room and you've never

received Christ, you may say, you know what?

I just don't get Christians.

I just don't understand why they live,

the way they live.

I just keep messing up.

And I just make a mess of my life.

I'm going to tell you something.

You need God in your life.

You need what those Ninevites needed.

You need what I needed.

You need the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.

And God loves you.

And that's why he gave us this book, to let you know how

much he loves you.

Would you come to him today?

Would you trust him today?

If you're here, maybe you're already a believer, but you're

just out there, man, as long as everything's good in my world,

I'm good.

Would you allow God to break your heart?

Would you allow him to give you a compassion for lost people

that maybe right now you just don't have, but you'd like to

have that?

Would you leave your seat this morning and consider coming here

and kneeling at the altar and doing business with God?

You don't need to talk to me necessarily.

You just need to do what I do, come talk to God and say, God,

here's what I need to get right in my life.

We're going to stand and the instrument is going to play.

And I'm wondering if the spirit of God is dealing with you and if

he is, would you come?

As we sing or as we're not going to sing, but as they play, you

come.

Let's stand.

Let's stand.

Let's play.

Let's stand.

Let's stand.

Let's stand.