Well, turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah is in the Old Testament. It's in a section of the Bible called The Minor Profits. And the only reason those 12 books are called The Minor Profits is because they are short. And Jonah certainly qualifies as short. It's only four chapters. It's one story and has four different episodes to this story. We're going to only look at the first chapter this morning, Jonah chapter one. The whole book is only 48 verses long. I encourage you at some point to read it through. It won't take you long at all. Because in order to understand chapter one, you have to read chapter four. The whole story doesn't make sense unless you put it all together. And so take some time at some point to do that. But we're going to look at Jonah first chapter this morning as we go through some of the great stories of the Bible. And here we are in the book of Jonah. Jonah chapter one, this is God's Word. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah. Excuse me, I'm going to pause because I forgot to say this. If you don't have a Bible, it's helpful to follow along. There are Bibles in the seats in front of you. And it's page 916. OK, there. Jonah chapter one, this is God's Word. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because it's wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshis. He went down to Japa where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshis to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to get him and said, how can you be asleep? Get up, call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish. Then the sailors said to each other, come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. This terrified them and they asked, what have you done? They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher so they asked him, what should we do to make the sea calm down for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea he replied and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, the men did their best to row back to land but they could not for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord, O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold this accountable for killing an innocent man. For you, O Lord, have done as you pleased. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. This is God's holy and inspired word. As we look at the story this morning, the first point we are going to see is really one of the major themes of the book and it is the problem of mercy. The problem of God's mercy, God's mercy is a problem. If you've never had a problem with God's mercy, then you've never really wanted justice. You've never been suffered from injustice. We want a God who is just and so when God is merciful, it's a problem for us. There are some events that are so big and so significant that you will remember where you were at the moment that event happened for the rest of your life. For some of you, you will remember where you were when Kennedy was shot, not many, but some. For everyone here just about, you will remember where you were on September 11th, 2001. I remember just crystal clear, very clear, I was in my office right in the building next door. When we got word that the first airplane crashed into the towers, the World Trade Center. We went into the area that is known as the Commons over there and we put it on the big screen and we watched CNN and we saw as the second airplane crashed into a tower, realizing that this was no accident. We saw as the buildings collapsed there into a pile of rubble, not knowing what was going on, hearing later on about the airplane crashing into the Pentagon, and then about the airplane crashing in Pennsylvania, not knowing who's responsible. Within a short time, we began to learn that there's this group that most of us had never heard of called Al Qaeda. It's leader Osama Bin Laden and they were bent on the destruction of our way of life, the destruction of our country. They laughed when they saw the video of the buildings collapsing. And as we saw all of this unfold right before our eyes, our hearts wept and then soon after we got over the grief or during our grief, we said something must be done. They can't get away with this. This is not right and our hearts began to long for justice. And that's not a bad thing. In fact, it's a good thing. As human beings made in the image of God, we long for justice because we want the injustice of the world to be corrected. We want something to be done to fix that which is broken. And so justice is a good longing. Now imagine how you would feel, now this is a pure fiction, but imagine how you'd feel if you heard that one day the President and the Congress conspired together with Osama Bin Laden and they said, look, we're trying to track you down to Afghanistan. We're tired of you blowing up our stuff and we've blown up your stuff. So I'll tell you what, you say you're sorry for 9-11 and we'll just call the whole thing off. Now, we'll just forgive you. Just say you're sorry and we won't blow you to smithereens. How's that for a deal? What would you feel about that? What would you think if they did that? I mean, you'd feel betrayed, wouldn't you? You'd feel like your leaders have let you down because here these people do something so atrocious and to simply say I'm sorry and get off the hook would be, would be scandalous. 220 miles north of Baghdad is the ancient city of Nineveh. The city of Nineveh was so violent and so wicked they would make a Osama Bin Laden look like Mother Teresa and Al-Qaeda looked like the Sisters of Charity. They were a violent people, one of the most violent people that the world has ever seen. The Nineveh was a city in the Assyrian Empire and later became the capital of the Assyrian Empire and the kings of Assyria were very, very proud of their cruelty. In fact, they took great pains to record for all posterity, how cruel and mean and vicious they were. They took such delight in it. In fact, one historian notes it's as gory and blood curgling a history as we know. One king, I'm going to say this once, Assyrian I said, don't make me say that again. He reigned before the time of Jonah, he wrote this about his exploits. By the way, this is PG-13, I know some of you aren't 13, I don't know what to do, here it is. I flayed the skin from as many nobles as had rebelled against me and draped their skin over the pile of corpses. I cut off the heads of their fighters and built with them a tower before their city. I burnt their adolescent boys and girls. I captured many troops alive. I cut off some of their arms and hands, I cut off others of their nose and ears and extremities. I gouged out the eyes and many troops, I made one pile of the living and one of the heads, I hung the heads on trees around the city and he goes on and on and on. Violent, cruel, wicked people. Not only they were violent and cruel, these people were enemies of Israel. At this time, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, don't have time to get into it, so there's a southern kingdom called Judah, the northern kingdom called Israel, the capital is in Samaria, and the Syrians were always threatening Samaria, the capital and the nation of Israel. Jonah was a prophet in that northern kingdom. In fact, the Assyrians later on would wipe out the nation of Israel and take the ten tribes into captivity. You've heard of the ten lost tribes, he's the one who lost them, the Assyrian Empire. They're the ones who wiped them out. And this probably happened sometime within 50 years of the time this story occurs. And so the Assyrians were hated by all loyal Israelites and of course Jonah would have hated them as well. And so when God comes to Jonah and he says, the wickedness of the Assyrians has come before me and he says, get up and go, Jonah gets up and goes. Assyria is, Nineveh is to the east, he goes down to Japa and begins to sail to Tarsius. Tarsius is in Spain, which is about the furthest known point to the west. He is going in exact opposite direction as far as he could go. If there had been a boat going further west, he would have gone further west because he wanted to go anywhere but Nineveh. Why did he do this? Well, you can think of a couple of reasons why. One, again, you've heard about the wickedness of Nineveh and the Assyrians. Imagine if someone were to come to you and say, I tell you what, I've got a job for you. Why don't you go to Tehran or why don't you go to North Korea and tell Kim Jong what a bad guy he is. Go there into the streets and tell them how wicked they are. How long do you think you would last? You let Las Bals long as a puppy in a gator pit. I mean, you know, you have no chance to survive. Well, they're going to kill you. They're going to filet you. That's what's going to happen. And so you wouldn't be anxious to go. But that's not why Jonah didn't go. Jonah didn't go because he was in a loose, loose situation. If they don't listen to him, they're going to kill him. If they do listen to him, then they're going to repent. And he knows that God's a God of mercy. And that's what bothers him. You get to chapter 4, verse 2. Jonah says, here's why I didn't want to go because I knew if they repented, you're a softy God. You're a pushover and you won't judge them. And they deserve to die. Here's Jonah's problem. He has a problem with God's mercy. And it's a theological problem because Jonah is looking at the situation and he's saying, God, these people have done bad. You have to punish them and it is unjust for you to let them off the hook. And so God, if you want to be unjust to the Ninevites, if you just want to let evil go unpunished, I write just Jonah and not going to participate in your unrighteous acts. I'm not going to join in what you're doing. You're going to have to do it without me because I will not do it. You see yourself righteousness? Yes, God, what you're doing is wrong. I'm not helping out. And so he leaves. He goes away. He runs away because he's not going to be part of God's ministry of reconciliation. By the way, that is exactly what we do. When we refuse to join in God's ministry, our reconciliation. When we, God says forgive and we don't want to forgive. We look at them and they say, this person has wronged me. This person has betrayed me. And it is unjust. They ought to be punished for this. I am not going to forgive them. Or when you harbor bitterness in your heart. When you, you know, here's how you know that you haven't forgiven someone. Think of them. Think of someone who's betrayed you. It could be spouse, ex-mouse, friend. Maybe it's an employer who did you wrong, a business associate who cheated you. Let's say you get word. There's something really bad happened to them. What's your reaction? Don't you just delight in it? I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, oh, you know, you know, I've forgiven them, but in that sweet. You take delight in it. And when you do that, when you're taking delight in someone else's suffering, then you know you have not forgiven. You're harboring bitterness in your heart. Now, when you're harboring bitterness in your heart, what you're saying is, that person does not deserve grace. That person does not deserve mercy. If there is a God of justice, they will suffer. And I am not going to participate in the injustice by forgiving them. And so you harbor the anger, you harbor the injustice, you refuse the grant forgiveness, and you know what it does? It does nothing to them, but it eats up your own soul. It rips you apart. Anger, bitterness, resentment, destroy you. They're poisoned to the soul. I heard one person describe bitterness as the poison you drink, hoping that the other person dies. It just doesn't work. You drink the poison, it corrupts you, and you're hoping the other person dies. That's what's happened with Jonah. Jonah in his self-righteousness is looking at them and saying, they deserve justice. They don't deserve mercy. I'm not going to give them mercy because they don't deserve it. Now, here's the irony. By the way, the book of Jonah is full of ironies. Here's one irony. One irony is the reason Jonah does not understand the mercy of God is because he really doesn't understand the justice of God. If Jonah understood the justice of God, if he truly knew what he was asking for, and he was saying, God, I want justice than he would be begging for mercy himself. Because if you understand the justice of God, then you understand your own need for mercy. And that's our second point. Our need for mercy, your need for mercy. Well, Jonah gets on a ship. He said it for Tarsha. He's traveling west when he should be headed east. And God literally hurls a storm at the ship. And the storm is so bad. Now, imagine this, these are experienced sailors. These are people used to the sea. They've made this journey before, presumably. And the storm is so bad that every sailor on the boat is crying out each to his own God. And his God isn't doing anything about it. And so now they're in a panic. And so they begin to cast the cargo over the ship. Now, think about this. How did these sailors make their living? hauling cargo. They were throwing out their livelihood. I mean, that's how bad it was. They're saying, I don't give up everything. Just save my life. They're throwing their cargo over the ship to try and lighten the boat. They are in panic because they're about to die. And they truly are about to die. Now, during all of this, where's Jonah? Where's Jonah? Jonah is in the boat sleeping. How he's sleeping, I have no idea. How you sleep in a boat that's about to sink in the storm? I don't know. But he is in a deep sleep. The sailors aren't a panic. His life is in danger. He's oblivious to their danger. He's oblivious that his own life is in danger. And that is a picture of Jonah all throughout. He is oblivious. He doesn't have a clue. He doesn't have a clue that his very life is hanging in the balance. The captain comes, wakes him up and says, how can you sleep? Get up and he gets up. And of course, they cast lots because the sailors realize this is no ordinary storm. They've correctly perceived that somebody has done something to bring this terrible thing upon them. They cast lots, which is sort of like drawing straws. The short straw falls to Jonah. And then they just begin firing questions at him. Who are you? What have you done? What people are you? Boom, boom, boom. And then Jonah. Now remember, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he did not want Nineveh to repent because these pagans did not deserve the forgiveness of God. And so here, the reluctant prophet prophesies. And he says, I am a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God who made the land and the sea. Now, he has this incredible theology. He says, my God is the God of heaven. He reigns over the land. He reigns over the sea. In other words, my God reigns over everything. And so then they look and they say, then what are you doing? They ask him a question. And it's really not a question. It's more of an exclamation. He goes, what have you done? He's told them because I'm run away from the Lord. They're saying, wait a second. Your God's the God of the heaven. He's the God of the dry land. He's the God of the sea. And you think you're going to run away from him? What have you done? I mean, are you crazy? What are you thinking? And that's the point. He doesn't get it. He's clueless about what's going on. Now, here's another irony in the book. Again, remember Jonah? He is self-righteous. He believes that the other people deserve the justice of God. He believes that he is safe from the justice of God. He is in the ship. The ship is about the sink. And so you have Jonah, the righteous prophet of Israel, the one who God's chosen people. On the other hand, you have the sailors who, worship idols who do not worship the true living God. Whose fault is it that the boat is about the sink? The righteous prophet or the pagan sailors? The righteous prophet. They're all about to die because of his sin. Not theirs. And this, they are innocent. And he is guilty. And so what God here is showing too. Jonah is coming face to face with the fact that he too is a sinner. If God is going to be a God, a pure justice without mercy, yes, he will judge Nineveh, but guess what, Jonah? Yes, he's going to judge you too. If God is going to bring about justice, the Nineveh is destroyed, but guess what, Jonah? You're destroyed too. And so Jonah comes face to face with the fact that he is the one who's guilty. It's because of him that judgment has come upon them. And so he goes to the sailors and he says to the sailors, here's how you escape. It's my fault. Sacrifice me. I'm the one who deserves to die. Let me die. And if I die, you will be saved. And so they throw him over into the water. Now what I think is interesting, verse 15 is the reaction of the sailors to this. First they try not to do it, but finally they say, God, you're in control. Obviously you want to kill this man here. They throw him over. And then notice what it says in verse 15. They took Jonah through him overboard and the raging seagroup calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Now, as you notice that here, now why were they terrified to begin with? Because there's a storm. They're about to die. The storm is about to kill them all. They throw Jonah over the steep seagroup calm. There is no more storm. And so you think they'd be going, oh, God, that's over with. But what's the reaction? They are more terrified now. Now why are they more terrified of a calm sea than of the storm? Because they realize there is something more frightening than the storm. There is something more terrifying than Hurricane Katrina. And it is the fall and the hands of the living God. They're saying, wow, he is a God of justice. He punishes those who do wrong. His wrath will be satisfied. They see when Jonah falls in, God's wrath subsides and they say, oh my goodness, if he's a God of justice, we don't need to be crying out for justice. We need to be crying out for mercy, mercy. We need mercy. And immediately, they begin to worship the Lord. They offer sacrifices to the Lord. They make vows to the Lord. Make vows. These people, they worship false gods before. They are converted. They believe now. They have seen. And what's remarkable about this is now they have seen that God is just and therefore they need mercy. Jonah, throughout the book, never gets it. Never gets it. These people who know nothing about the true living God other than the few words that Jonah has seen, understand more about the justice and mercy of God than the righteous prophet of Israel. What God does though, through this, is showing Jonah incredible mercy. He's showing him mercy because what God is doing is showing Jonah his own need for mercy. God's showing Jonah that he too is a sinner that is facing God's judgment. And what God does is he shows Jonah that you are, if you get what you deserve, you get judgment too. And therefore you're one who's in need of mercy. You're one who's in need of mercy just like everyone else. One of the most loving things, this does not feel like, you know, having the storm probably did not feel like the love of God and Jonah. I doubt he felt, wow, God loves me. He's sent a storm. I doubt that he felt that way. But one of the most loving things God can do for you is send a storm that exposes your sin because until you begin to see the true nature of your sin you cannot understand the true nature of God's mercy. You cannot understand the grace and the mercy and the love of God unless you first understand the justice of God and that you are deserving of it. And so Jonah gets a glimpse of that. He doesn't put it all together yet, but he gets a glimpse of it here. At one time I was meeting with a man who is a friend and he's just confessed to me some really bad stuff. I mean, bad, he does something bad, bad. And as one of these things, after you told me what he did, it's not what sometimes you want to make people feel better and say, oh, you know, I've done the same. Okay, don't worry about it. That's bad, but you'll get over it. I couldn't say that. It was bad. Bad, bad. And he confessed that to me and we're sitting there talking and he is just depressed because he's always been a church. He's a good person. I've always been a godly person. Never done anything like this in his whole life. And so suddenly he did this awful thing and he's just crushed because he said, I guess this has sent me back so far. He's just depressed and he just has done this terrible thing and he just felt worthless for what he'd done. He felt like a failure. He said, you know, I'm in the worst shape I've ever been in. And I remember saying this and it's a line I use a lot and I think it's true. Is, you know, I think you're in the best spiritual shape you've ever been in in your whole life. But before, you've always known that you're center in sort of theoretical sense. But you know you're a center but you're not a center with a capital letters, you know? You're a little bit of a center. And now listen, you realize, you know what? You're a real center. I mean, big, bold capital letters. Before you've always known you needed God's mercy but basically what you thought is you're pretty good and you've slipped up a little bit. You need God's mercy to kind of get you over the hump. Now you begin to see that you are really desperately in need of God's mercy that you can't do anything apart from the grace of God. You actually are in the best spiritual shape that you've ever been in in your life because God is rooting out all self-righteousness in you. It's something God does in His grace and His mercy. He shows us our sin so they can show us our need for Him and so that we can be dependent on Him and experiences grace and forgiveness. Now of course, it doesn't always work that way. It doesn't always work that way. Not every self-righteous person who has their sin exposed embraces the grace of God the way my friend did. They don't always do that. Oftentimes what we do when our sin is exposed is when we begin to say, well, I basically have been very good. I've got a great track record. It's just one little blip. I'm a good person. It's just a slip up but that's not really me or we'll say, well, you know, okay, you know, I it's really not my fault. I got in this situation. This other person tempted me and you know, if it hadn't been for them, I would still be cruising along, okay. Well, what happens is when you do that, what you're doing is you're defending your self-righteousness. You're putting a wall up saying, I want to maintain my sense of self-worth, a self-righteousness. And when you do that, you cut yourself off from the grace of God. And in a sense what you're doing is you're protecting yourself and you make your heart impervious to understand God's mercy and God's grace. And when you do that then, when you have to protect your self-righteousness, then you say, well, I don't really deserve God's justice. I really don't deserve judgment. And so then you can still look down your nose and other people and say, but they do. Yeah, I had to slip up, but they're bad to the bone. And you can look at other people and you can say, I'm not going to forgive them because they don't really deserve it. And you can be judgmental and you can be bitter and the judgmental spirit and the bitterness and the anger begin to overtake you. And the only antidote to those things, the only antidote is to see God's justice clearly so you can embrace God's mercy fully. So one of the things God does graciously to us is grant us the gift of repentance. And what repentance is is where we see our sin and what it truly is, so that we can embrace God's forgiveness for what it truly is. Now, if you only see your sin and don't embrace God's forgiveness, you're just going to end up depressed. If you only embrace God's forgiveness, but you don't see your sin, you're going to be self-righteous. You have to see your sin and embrace God's forgiveness. And when it does that, it breaks down your heart so that you can embrace fully God's mercy and then be free of bitterness and anger and judgmental spirit. Well, how do we do that? Let's look quickly at point three, the provision of God's mercy, the provision of God's mercy. God in His mercy sends Jonah a storm. And again, now, when Jonah is in the middle of the storm and when the sailors in the middle of the storm, I doubt anybody said, wow, isn't the grace of God amazing? Isn't it amazing he sends this storm because he loves me so? I mean, you don't feel loved when you're in the middle of a storm of life. You don't feel embraced when you're in the middle of the storm, but is exactly what it was. Because Jonah was headed west when he should have been heading east. And God sends the storm not his judgment. He doesn't kill Jonah. If Jonah wanted to kill, if God wanted to kill Jonah, Jonah would be dead. God sends the storm to get Jonah going the right direction. His life is of course and the storm is God's way of guiding him and getting him back on course. You know, sometimes God uses storms in our lives because like Jonah, we've sinned and we've chosen to go our own way and God will send storms into our life to get us to go back the right way. Sometimes he sends storms and it's not necessarily because of sin. Necessarily, we made foolish choices or just had been ignorant choices and sometimes through sending trials, God is simply leading us and guiding us to where he wants us to be. Here's something I think is this. It's such a comfort to you. If you're in the middle of a storm of life, it's to know that the storm that you're facing is not getting you off course. It's getting you off what you think your course may be. That may be true, but it's not getting you off the course where God wants you to be. God is directing the steps and the path of his children always. And sometimes he loves us so much that he'll send a hurricane our way to get us to go where we need to go. And this is what he does with Jonah. It's comforting to know that we have a father who doesn't abandon us even when we abandon him. I think one of the great lies, one of the great lies that Satan would have you believe is that you can mess things up so badly either through your sin or folly or just making bad decisions that you can get so off course that you can be forever relegated to God's plan B. Never once again to enjoy God's plan A. That, you know, you've messed it up. Now you're off course and basically, you know, you're on God's plan B for the rest of your life. That's just simply not true. That is not true. God does not abandon his children. He guides their steps. He directs their steps. He uses trials. He uses good things. He uses different things to direct us. But God is guiding the steps of his children. And he does that with Jonah. I was reading a book a few weeks ago. It's actually on worship, but it spoke to this point by a reggae kid who teaches up the road at the seminary. And he says this. He's writing about Psalm 2, which is a great song. And he says this. God scoffs at the demons who mark my redemption as though the besetting sins I have yet to shake in 30 years of following Christ can lessen my father's commitment to see my salvation through. Stop there. Do you ever feel like you messed up so bad and you've been doing this for so long that God's just about to write you off. He says, God laughs at that. He's not writing you off. This goes on. God chortles at the way those same voices trying to keep me looking back over my shoulder at the many places I could have should have zigged but zagged instead. As if anything to keep him from directing my steps despite whatever inanity goes into how I plan the way. So God is directing the steps of his children even in your folly, he's not abandoning you. Even through your sin, he directs your steps. Now does that mean we should sin so that God can direct our steps through our sin? No, Paul says that in Romans 6. May it never be, of course not. But he doesn't abandon you even in that. Even uses your sin, even uses your folly just like he uses it in the life of Jonah here as well. But that's not the only way that God shows Jonah mercy by correcting his course. He shows him mercy too in the way that he's showing him again his own need for justice. You know, notice what God does to Jonah. He doesn't give him what his sin deserves. Jonah says, you sailors are innocent. I am guilty. Kill me. You get to go free. They throw him in the water. What should have happened to Jonah? If God just gave Jonah justice, what would happen? He died. He drowned. But God in his mercy sends a big fish. We'll talk about next week. He swallows Jonah and spares it from death. He doesn't die. He doesn't get what his sins deserve. He gets mercy instead. And just as God provided a fish to deliver Jonah from death, God has provided a way for salvation for us as well. You may say, but what about injustice? How can God simply ignore sin? And how can he just say, let bygones be bygones? That's not right. It's not just what God doesn't simply ignore sin. His justice has to be satisfied. Someone must pay for the penalty of our sins. And just as Jonah was thrown into the water so that the sailors might live, Jesus Christ was thrown upon the cross so that we might live. The difference though is this. Jonah died a guilty man so that the innocent might go free. Jesus died an innocent man so that we, the guilty might go free. Jesus comes and he takes God's justice that is due to us. What we deserve and he takes it upon himself so that we, rather than receiving God's justice, can instead receive God's mercy. Because God and his justice has been satisfied through Jesus Christ on the cross. When you look at the cross and you begin to see the severity of God's justice, that this is what it took to pay for our sins. And you see the severity of God's mercy. The God loved us enough to do this to pay for our sins. Then you cannot still have a heart full of self-righteousness and pride because you cannot look at anyone and say, you denibites, you deserve to die without realizing, you too deserve the judgment of God. You can't look at the person who has wronged you and has offended you so greatly in your self-righteousness saying, I'm not going to forgive them. I'm going to keep the bitterness in my heart. They don't deserve my forgiveness. You can't do that and still embrace God's mercy and forgiveness for your sin. When you begin to see the justice of God poured out for your sin and the mercy of God that he gives you through Jesus Christ, then you have to grant forgiveness. Your heart can do nothing else but grant forgiveness. Because you can't be self-righteous and embrace the gospel at the same time. They're mutually exclusive. And so what we begin to see on these great twin truths of the gospel that we say all the time, that in Jonah and in Christ, you see that you really are more sinful than you ever dared to imagine. We're just as undeserving as Osama bin Laden. But in Christ, you're more loved than you ever dared to hope and God in His mercy does not let go as children. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You that You are God who gives us mercy, a God who loves us so richly and so deeply. Lord, we pray that out of Your mercy and kindness You would help us to see Your justice more clearly. Help us to see where we would be if it were not for the grace of God so that we would not be judgmental so that we would not be harsh so that we would be free to forgive so that we can be free of bitterness. And Lord, as we see that, don't let us stop merely as seeing Your justice, but Lord, may we flee to the cross of Christ and see not only the justice there, but the mercy that is there as well that He who knew no sin became sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God. Father, made that truth grip our hearts and when it does, may we have compassion on those around us. May we want to see the people know You here and around the world. May we want others to embrace Your forgiveness and may we rejoice in it as well. Lord, break down our self-righteous hearts. Wrap us up and soften us up with Your oil of mercy and grace. Father, we thank You. You love us far deeper than we've ever known. Help us as we continue to explore its depths. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.