One of these communion elements tell us about the nature of God. You say, well, first and foremost aren't they? Tell us that the God from whom they originally come is a God of great love. And of course, friends, you are precisely right at that point. They recall for us the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ and his substitutionary death on the cross, the ultimate expression of the great love of God. In this is love, the Apostle John says, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The elements of the Lord suffer them, the bread and the wine, serve as graphic reminders of God's great love evidenced in its most definitive display, the sacrificial slaughter of his perfect and righteous son, who was a man, died a representative death in our place. But there is, friends, another dimension of the nature of God communicated to us in these elements. To be sure they tell us about the great love of God, but they also speak volumes to us about the great anger of God. They tell us about the God who is angry. You say, but God is an angry. Oh yes he is. Angry with sinners every moment of every day. The Bible tells us. Now most certainly, friends, God's anger is not the revengeful reaction of a bruised ego. Nor is it the involuntary reaction of a wounded, offended pride. Nor is it the rage of a hot tempered tyrant with whom someone has dared to differ. These are the kinds of anger with which we are all too familiar. But God's anger, you see, is nothing like this. It is to be sure an emotional response in keeping with the totality of who he is as God. It is a righteous anger, the positive outgoing of his divine displeasure against anything contrary to his holiness. Now admittedly, friends, we don't understand it. But of course that's more revealing about us than it is about God. We have such little appreciation for God's anger because quite frankly we have such little acquaintance with God's holiness. Were you as holy as God? You can be certain that you would find yourself as angry against sin as he is. It is the righteous response to anything that contradicts God's blazing and burning the holiness. It's the very words of David you see as he speaks them in the seventh Psalm. He says, God is a God who feels indignation every day. The target of his anger, if a man does not repent, God will wet his sword. He has bent and readied his bow. He has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. God, you see, is not merely angry at sin, but is angry at sinners. You say that I've always regarded love and anger as being mutually exclusive, that the presence of one always eradicates the other. Love and anger have always seemed to be contradictory emotions to my way of thinking. But brothers and sisters, what do we discover when we open up our Bibles to the book of Genesis? And we begin to read the chronological unfolding of God's progressive revelation. When we move from Genesis to Exodus to Leviticus to Numbers to Deuteronomy, Joshua judges Ruth and on it goes, what do we discover that with each passing page we see the intensity of the love of God revealing itself in greater and more significant ways? What else do we see, however, simultaneously, a corresponding increase in the revelation of the anger of God so that as God's record progressively unfolds, we're brought to see more love, more love, more love, more anger, more anger, more anger until we arrive at the climax of God's self-disgosure, the cross of Jesus Christ, that place where the counterpoint melodies of God's love and anger find their resolution. For the last two years, our family has spent the better part of our summer vacation at Lake Tahoe. And of course, as you know, whenever you stand at the foot of that lake, you're taken back by how large it is. But this summer in particular, our perspective became much more pronounced. We went parasailing. That is, Catherine and Jonathan and I went parasailing. And in fact, from the highest point, Catherine and I were over the lake 850 feet. From that elevation, the magnificence of the lake became even more obvious. And in the same way, beloved, when you were at the highest point of biblical revelation, the cross of Jesus Christ, you can then see the landscape of the entire Bible in its full magnificence. From that elevation, you can understand things that you will never be able to appreciate from any other vantage point. It is the cross that we see the climactic resolution of the apparent contradiction that exists between the great love and anger of God. The communion elements remind us of that resolution, a resolution that is now clearly anticipated in what is said before us at the end of Jonah chapter 3. Now, we have already seen it. You know the flow of this story. When Jonah comes to town, his message is simple. God is angry. And the target of his anger, not merely Ninevites in, but the Ninevites themselves. In 40 days, Nineveh will be overthrown. Remember that word, the very same word used the speak of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In 40 days, Nineveh will be obliterated. God is angry. And of course, the Nineveh King reads this business perfectly, doesn't it? He says as much in his decree, remember verse 9? Who knows? God may turn in relent and turn from his fierce anger, his violent anger, literally in the Hebrew, from the burning of his nostrils. In other words, he is saying, our sin has aroused within God an anger of the most violent and most intense kind. So how does the King respond? How does the people of Nineveh respond? As we have seen, they respond in a wholehearted repentant. They break with their sin and they turn to God in a desperate dependence upon his mercy. And we have taken the time to consider this repentance in some detail. What I anticipated to be one Sunday has now ended up being four. I would remind you of our friends, Eric and Natasha Cobb, do you remember them? They attended here for some while while Eric was a veterinary student at UC Davis. They now live in the San Diego area where Eric practices and each week Betty males them a tape of our service. This past Wednesday, Eric sent me an email and it said this. Maybe the whole reason for studying the book of Jonah was to get you to speak about repentance. I don't doubt that he's exactly right. Without repentance, there was no authentic Christianity. It's where the Christian life begins and it's how the Christian life continues. No repentance, no Christianity. It's just that simple. And so we have been asking ourselves what then does real repentance look like? Given the fact as we discovered last Lord's day, that the Bible records instances of curious repentance, phony repentance, counterfeit repentance, fake repentance, how can we know when repentance is real? Given our own proneness to self-deception and given our lack of objectivity when dealing with people we love, like our children, how can we detect when we're looking at the real thing? Do you recall some of you who are old enough might? The journalistic phrase that was made famous by the Watergate investigators Woodward and Bernstein? They would telephone a suspected conspirator and say, someone so has accused you of direct participation in the Watergate cover-up. Do you confirm or deny to which they often received a response like this? I've always been a loyal American and I love the Constitution of the United States with all of my heart. They refer to such responses as undeniable denials. A denial which in reality was no denial at all. And the very same thing is true for much of what is passed off today in the name of repentance. It's an unrepenting repentance. A repentance which in reality then is no repentance at all. Given the fact my friends that our eternal standing is at stake, given the fact that real repentance is the precondition to the experience of salvation, how can we know when repentance is real? For features of real repentance emerge from this narrative. First of all, we discovered that real repentance is aroused by a confrontation that is devastated. The repentance of the Ninevites begin when the Word of God and the mouth of the man of God collides with their sin. It was a confrontation that proved devastating, decimating, and it still does. To this very day, beloved, the very instrument that God uses to give birth to real repentance unto salvation is His own holy Word. It touched the heart of this King. It was embraced by the people themselves. It subsequently drove all of them to repentance. That's how it's aroused. That's how it's given birth. Secondly, we learned that real repentance is displayed in a Reformation that is thorough going. And it became so evident to us here, didn't it? It affected the heart and it altered the behavior. It reminds us friends that you will always ultimately be able to distinguish real repentance. You won't scratch your head and wonder, am I looking at the real thing or is this a counterfeit? It is obvious, it is comprehensive, it is thorough going. When repentance, when the repentance of a person is real, that repentance will become as notorious as his sin once was. The attitude is made right. The appropriate actions verify the integrity of that attitude. It affects the heart, it alters the behavior, it manifests itself in a Reformation that is thorough going, that is universal, that is comprehensive. There are no excuses, no justifications, no I'm sorry, but no stone left unturned, it is thorough going. That's when it's real. Thirdly, we saw that real repentance is evidenced by a disposition that is dependent, dependent upon what? Perhaps the better question is dependent upon whom? Repentance is real. When a sinner realizes that the turning away of God's anger is all together dependent upon God himself for the free exercise of his mercy.
We read of the sackcloth, we read of the ashes, we read of the loud praying, we read of the turning away from sin generally and specifically, and yet in the end the king says in verse 9, who knows? God may turn and relent from his fierce anger.
And you know what dawned on my mind this week as I was meditating about this again? Let's not forget that the person speaking these words is a king. We don't know much about monarchy today. We don't know what it feels like to live under a real genuine monarchy. This was a king who, as a king, understood the concept very well of sovereign autonomy. You don't expect from a king. You don't assume from a king. You don't demand from a king. As a subject, you were altogether unworthy of such privileges. And you see beloved in a far more pronounced sense, the same thing is true of a sinner before the living God. You can't obligate God. And this is so you see not simply because we are a subject, but more emphatically because we are a sinner. How is it that Jesus puts it in Luke chapter 17? Even were we to do everything that had ever been commanded of us? We could still only say we are unworthy servants. You think about that beloved the next time that you expect something from God or from people because of some service that you've rendered on their behalf. When you think about the sacrifices that you've made and the services that you've rendered and the gifts that you've given. I want to tell you something friends, when a person takes that tone around me, it makes my blood run cold because of what it reveals. A person who as yet has failed to appreciate the fact that everything in his life is an undeserved mercy, including whatever ability he has to serve God. You don't see that when repentance is real, not the slightest inkling of entitlement or obligation. I am unworthy, O Lord, and therefore in every way dependent upon the free exercise of your mercy, the disposition of entitlement presupposes worthiness, what is owed, what is due. None of that here, so let me ask you. Before we make a b-line for the end, let me pause right here and ask you, has this been your experience, this kind of repentance? It has, if you are a Christian. And I can say that this morning without the slightest bit of qualification because it's this kind of repentance that always issues forth from the experience of the new birth. It's what you can expect when God has been the author of repentance. And that you see is what leads us to the fourth and final feature of the repentance that is said before us in this story, with the greatest delight and encouragement. Let me state it to you like this, real repentance is answered with a response that is merciful. After all the strong things that we have said about repentance, that the Bible and that our Lord Jesus says about repentance, it's this beloved that ought to fill you with hope. Real repentance is answered with a response that is merciful. Look at verse 10 again. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, the verb there to turn is that Hebrew word, shoe, to repent. God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them and he did not do it. Let me ask you. Do you have a vision of God that's big enough to include such overwhelming expressions of mercy? The King repents, the people repent, God repents. Is that too much for you to choke down? I'll tell you, beloved, is a Christian who still sins? It's the only thing that gives me hope. Some of us here I fear have reacted too hard against the modern distortions that portray God as a God of love. Now to be sure we have seen the abuses in our day, haven't we? The almost wholesale neglect of the talk of God's holiness and God's righteousness and God's anger, I fear friends that we may have swung the pendulum too far in the opposite direction so that at the very moment we get the slightest sniff of anything of mercy we tend to react with suspicion, assuming that some kind of compromise must be at work. Our God is all love. What we need to react against is the assertion that God is only love. But our God is a God of love through and through and friends without the slightest bit of compromise with regard to everything I've said so far about God's free and sovereign extension of mercy. What you need to know is what our friend Tom Smith is so fond of saying that God is so much more ready to forgive than we are to repent. This is why Luther said that judgment is God's strange work that mercy is his common work. Our God is immeasurably merciful, boundlessly gracious and because of that beloved he responds favorably and unless I overstated he responds eagerly to repentance.
It's Luke 15, isn't it? It's the father and the story of the prodigal son who sees his son coming on the distant horizon and runs to his son and showers his son with kisses and with tears and with hugs. And before his son is able to get his repentant speech off of his mouth his father says close him with the best robe, put sandals on his feet, put a ring on his finger, slaughter the fatted calf and let's have a celebration because my son who has been dead is now alive. He who was once lost has now been found. This is the portrait of the God of the Bible beloved. What does Jeremiah say? Outquoted in his prayer this morning the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. I find that amazing the frequency with which the mercy of God comes corresponding with the frequency with which we sinned. What does God say through the prophet Ezekiel? If a wicked person turns there's that word. From all his sins that he is committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him for the righteousness he has done he shall live. Listen to the heart of God here. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked declares the Lord God and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? It's Peter telling us as we saw a couple of months ago. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. Does your vision of God include a heart like that? If it doesn't then your vision of God is more rational than biblical. You see the word that's used here the verb to express the action of God that God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them? It means a revoking watch now out of compassion a change aroused by pity. That's what you need. That's what I need. It's a word if you can imagine it that speaks of God's feeling of emotions that give way to a corresponding action in this case a change in God's intention. When the Bible speaks about God in ways that employ the language of emotions emotions that find their counterparts within our experience as human beings. We need to be very careful to walk a narrow path between two pitfalls into which we can easily fall. On the one hand there was the danger of over interpreting this language. So that we assign to God perhaps unknowingly, unconsciously, all of the quirks, failures, distortions, perversions, weaknesses, but attend our emotions. But God you see is not arbitrary. God is not whimsical, God is not vindictive, God is not capricious, God is not erratic, God is not fickle in one mood today and another tomorrow. He is all together consistent with himself at all times so that his emotions are always in keeping with the totality of who he is as God. Thus God's emotions are always perfect, righteous and holy. We made this case a few moments ago as we spoke about God's anger. The other danger however is in under interpreting this language, a very common mistake among some reformed people who tend to be more rational than scriptural in their theology of God. Our God is a person, I would remind you, not a machine, not a computer. Moreover our God is an emotional person. When God revealed himself most fully in the person of his son Jesus Christ, he revealed himself as an emotional person. Jesus was not some kind of flagmatic, sterile, monotone life form. He had a personality that evidenced itself emotionally. You can't honestly read the Bible my friends without seeing that God's exalted state includes a variety of emotions. The point is those emotions bear none of the limitations and weaknesses and distortions that are so often associated with ours. And right here from our human vantage point we have a change on the part of God motivated by his compassion. It may surprise you friends to find out that this word relent is used several times in the Old Testament to speak about God and in contexts identical to this one. God declares his intention to judge, repentance takes place and God moved by pity, relent. Here he sees the sack cloth, he sees the ashes, he sees the fasting. He hears the violent praying, he sees the forsaking of all sin generally and the one sin specifically moved with compassion. Our God extends mercy. Beloved, that is his answer to real repentant.
What's your sin this morning? Is it scandalous? Is it severe? Are you holding your breath hoping beyond hope that it will remain a secret? Is it a problem with alcohol? Is it a problem with drugs? Is it a problem with sex? Is it a problem with materialism? Is it a problem with pride? Your ego, your arrogance, your temper, children, stealing money out of your mother's purse, cheating at school, disrespectful to your parents? Those sins damn too, whoever you are, God has made it clear that he will judge you for your sin and that he will send you to hell and that all of his redeemed people throughout all of the ages along with all of the angels in heaven will rejoice at that expression of his justice. But if you repent of your sin, like the Ninevites repented of theirs, if with both attitude and action you turn away from that sin and stake your dependence totally upon God's mercy through his son, Jesus Christ, he will meet you with mercy. Guilt is not a cul-de-sac, he will relent concerning you. He will show you compassion and I know this not simply because he displayed it to the Ninevites, but because he's displayed it to me. What kind of God is this? Jonah tells us in the next chapter a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abounding instead fast love, relenting from disaster. You say, okay, art, I, I concede. God displays mercy. It's all good and fine, but it leaves me with two lingering questions. I hope you have two lingering questions in your mind. Here's the first. Does this change on the part of God undermine his integrity? I mean, after all, we speak a lot around here about God being immutable. We speak often about God being unchanging and unchangeable. We sing songs about that aspect of God's character. Do we have a conflict here? And the answer is no. The character of God never changes. The secret and eternal purpose of God never changes. It is unchangeable. But what we almost, what also must appreciate friends, is that when the Bible says that God is immutable, we are not to take that a step further and to deduce from that that our God is frozen in immobility. When we say that God is immutable, we mean that God is altogether consistent with His being, character and purpose, and He can be no other way, which means practically speaking, God will respond differently to different situations and different circumstances, and that is very much the case right here. To be sure, God has announced His intention to destroy the Ninevites with respect to the situation as it existed at that moment. But please don't forget when I told you last Lord's day, God's prophetic judgments are conditional. That's the nature of prophetic literature, the nature of prophetic judgmental words. They are conditional. The thread of doom is never the final word as I told you. If in the secret purpose of God, He had intended to destroy the Ninevites friends, He never would have sent Jonah there, why declare the word that arouses repentance and leads to life if forgiveness is never to be granted. Now to be sure when Jonah shows up, God is angry. His angry is not a fictional anger. It is not a facade or illusion. God is wrathful when Jonah shows up. But what you must appreciate is that divine anger is never anger for anger's sake. It is not mean-spirited vindictiveness. The anger of the Lord in the mouth of a prophet is instrumental in its purpose. It is designed to accomplish something its intention is to motivate to repentance. In other words, the purpose for such anger ultimately is its own disappearance. The call of anger is the call to cancel anger. Listen to how God interprets Himself. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. You see, that's the very thing that has happened here. The circumstances in Nineveh have changed. Things are not what they once were. What had God threatened to destroy? Wicked, violent, unrighteous, arrogant, idolatrous Nineveh. What does God now see? A city sitting in sackcloth and ashes, humbled in the depth of self-abacement, turned from sin, crying out to the one true God for mercy. This is not now the Nineveh that God once threatened to destroy. For God not to change would mean that He was no longer true to His nature and thus mutable. One writer has said it this way. If God had willed to treat the Nineveh's after their repentance, as he had threatened to treat them before their repentance, this would have proved him mutable, changeable. It would have revealed him as displeased at one time with impenetence and at another time with penance. This alteration in the intention of God does not undermine His integrity beloved to the contrary, it establishes it. And what's more, in the event that you have any lingering doubt that this represents a shift in the eternal purpose of God, I would remind you of something very important that we learn from many other places throughout the word of God. The ability to repent like this does not exist within the natural abilities of a fallen human being, it is rather the gift of God himself.
Over and over and over in both Old Testament and New, we read that repentance is something God grant. God was behind it all. We'll find out next week that Jonah knew all along that this is what God intended to do. This is the kind of God He is. You say, okay, so there's no shift in the character and purpose of God. They change, so God alters His intention. Fine. That still leaves me with one nagging question. This repentance, it's all well and good, wonderful to be sure, but frankly art, it seems to me that there is one remaining piece of unfinished business. I mean, after all, you said at the outset this morning that God was angry with an invite. You said that God was angry with an invite because their sin contradicted his holiness. Okay, they've repented. But repentance is not atonement. What about their sin? What about their guilt? What about their offenses to God's holiness? What about that righteous anger? Has it been so conveniently swept under the carpet? Has God simply cooled off? Has God really changed the answer, beloved? Is that God's holy and righteous anger toward the Ninevites was redirected and ultimately vented upon His Son? Mercy in either testament is not earned by repentance. It was earned by Jesus Christ who on the cross absorbed all of God's anger on behalf of every person from all of time who would repent of their sin and trust in Him. He would suffer so that these Ninevites might know mercy. He took upon Himself the unimaginable anger of God that was due the wage of our sin. Come up here and breathe the air of the cross. Come up here and see everything from the elevation of the cross. Come up here and begin to read your Bible from the vantage point of the cross. Come up here and begin to understand your salvation from the lofty perspective of the cross. It is never mercy without justice, my friends. Lest you think that God excused the Ninevites in too easily, it wasn't excused at all nor was yours. It's never mercy without justice and you must remember that as you come to the table this morning. The elements speak to us of love but they also cry out to us of anger and they remind us that those two great and powerful and glorious dispositions in the heart of God kissed at the cross. With what result, God gives mercy to repenters so you come and repent. Boys and girls, you come and repent right now. Men and women, you come and went, if God is the one who enables you to do that, you can be certain that in Him you will find mercy. Would you bow your heads with me, please?