The God of Second Chances

Transcript

Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. We hope this message inspires you, roots you down deep into the Lord, into His Word, and may His Spirit be your guide as you enjoy this teaching. Thanks for joining us. Here’s the message. Jonah chapter 3.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of

— Jonah 3

(ESV)

them. The word reached the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh. By decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it.

— Jonah 3

(ESV)

This is the word of the Lord.

The God of Second Chances

Thanks be to God. Well, last month, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled Dr. Seuss teaches the limits of cancel culture. What I found very interesting about this article is not so much what it had to say about Dr. Seuss, but really more about what it had to say concerning the toxicity of cancel culture. The author of the article, Luke Kennedy, makes some pretty pointed observations. He begins his article by stating that cancel culture thrives only in a society deprived of forgiveness. He also writes cancel culture succeeds because Americans have forgotten how to say, I forgive you. He rightly observes that reconciliation can take place only where there is a mutual understanding both of error and a path forward. If our society sought reconciliation and subdued our vengeful instincts, cancel culture wouldn’t survive. The author of the article is absolutely right. We live in a cancel culture that doesn’t really care about reconciliation or rehabilitation.

We live in a world where all you have to do is fail once and you will be permanently ruined. Now some think that cancel culture is exclusively reserved to celebrities, but that’s not at all the case. I mean, we’ve all experienced to some degree or some form this feeling of being canceled. Maybe you’ve been unfriended or unfollowed on social media because you posted something offensive. You didn’t think about it and in the moment you just threw it up on Facebook or Twitter and you didn’t really think it through and so you get canceled. Maybe you’ve been canceled at a job because you failed to do your work perfectly. Maybe you’ve been canceled by a close friend or a deep friendship was destroyed in a matter of moments because you weren’t the perfect friend. You didn’t say the right thing or do the right thing perfectly in the relationship and as

a result you were cut off. Never given a chance to work through those issues. Never given the opportunity to reconcile that friendship or even ask for forgiveness. I mean, we live in a cold and quick to cancel world where our mistakes have seemingly irredeemable repercussions. That’s one of the reasons why I think we’re such an anxious people today because we never know what mistake we’re going to do or what we’re going to say that’s going to get us canceled by the culture and even worse when we’re going to get canceled by the very people we love. The reason why it’s so anxiety producing is because we know intuitively that the moment we get canceled there’s very little hope for reconciliation. There’s almost no second chance to do things again. One of the greatest realities and one of the greatest hopes in this life for the Christian

is that we serve a God who is not like that. God is not like us. Not like our cancel culture constantly looking to cancel you for any and all your foolish mistakes. We serve a God who is a God of second chances. Even when we do things that actually deserve to get us permanently canceled. He is a forgiving God who continues to give us second chances and not just second chances but infinite chances to be reconciled and to be invited back into his ministry. That’s huge for us to hear because we’re so influenced by this cancel culture that we sometimes often cancel ourselves. We can often feel so guilty and feel so much shame over our sin that we actually believe that we have no business being forgiven or reconciled. We definitely don’t feel like we should be accepted back into God’s ministry but God

is not only a God who forgives. He’s a God who restores. He’s a God who recommissions over and over again and this is precisely what we see in the book of Jonah. Jonah’s consistent rebellion and disobedience against the God of creation deserve for him to be permanently canceled but instead God showed him mercy, restored him and recommissioned him back into ministry. In our text this morning, in this third chapter of Jonah, we get an up close and personal look at how our God is in the business of giving us second chances. I’ve divided our text up this morning, the whole chapter three into four sections and so we’ll look at the recommissioning of a rebellious runaway, the ridiculous rhetoric of a reluctant prophet, the radical repentance of a pagan culture and the righteous relenting of a merciful God. And so we’ll begin in verse one with the recommissioning of a rebellious runaway.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. The Lord again told Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now before we dive too deep into the text, would you quickly look at Jonah chapter one? It’s just one page over, for some of us it’s on the same page. And look at chapter one verses one through three. And while looking at chapter three verses one through three, you’ll see that it’s almost identical. It’s almost the exact same thing. And that’s not just a coincidence. That’s by design. The repetition in these first three verses is meant to teach you something about the God that we worship. So if you look at chapter one, verse one, it says, now the word of the Lord came to

Jonah. And if you look at chapter three, verse one, it says, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. That’s a slight difference, but the difference tells you this massive truth about God, that he is indeed the God of second chances, that God is willing to pick right back up where Jonah failed the first time. And so what we see right away is that Jonah has again been given this word of the Lord. Jonah has not been permanently canceled. Despite Jonah’s consistent disobedience, despite his blatant rebellion, all of his running, all of his severing of the conscience, all of his failures to obey the first time around, Jonah has now recognized his sin. God has granted him repentance. He stopped running. Jonah has indeed made a turn with his actions. And so God picks up right where he left off. So not only has God forgiven Jonah, but God has also recommissioned Jonah.

And we see that in verse two. And again, there’s more repetition. Jonah chapter one, verse two says, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. Jonah chapter three, verse two says, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. The message that I tell you. So you see, the commission starts almost exactly the same, but with this slight difference this time. You notice in chapter one, God told Jonah, call out against it, because their evil has come up before me. But in chapter three, the Lord told Jonah, call out against it, the message I tell you. Now Jonah didn’t know what exactly the message was going to be this time. Maybe it was going to be the same. Maybe not. The point is, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the message is, Jonah was going to obey this time.

Jonah response is largely different than the first time. You remember the first time Jonah received his instructions, Jonah got up. Instead of going to Nineveh, like God told him to do, he went to Joppa. He headed in the opposite direction towards Tarshish and disobedience. This time, Jonah gets right up again, we see, but this time he does the right thing. He obeys. Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Jonah’s response to the Lord’s call is with a universal obedience. This is how you know when someone has turned from disobedience, because they don’t ask questions anymore. They just do it. You see, Jonah has learned some things. In his previous disobedience, he tried to do things his own way, and that ended up getting him swallowed by a fish. Jonah through the providence of pain and through the Lord’s chastening has learned that God’s

plans are far better than Jonah’s plans, that they’re far better for Jonah personally. You see, disobedience against God always puts us in situations that go badly for us. What’s crazy is that the very reason we choose to disobey God in the first place is because deep down inside, we actually believe that our disobedience is going to play out better for us in the end, but it never does. Still, we rarely believe that God’s plans are better than our own plans. What happens? We make poor choices. We suffer the consequences of those poor choices, and then ultimately, we regret making those choices to begin with. Jonah has figured out it’s better to do things God’s way than his own way. The beauty in Jonah’s newfound appreciation for doing things God’s way is that Jonah actually gets a second chance to do God’s work God’s way. This is an experience that’s not exclusive to Jonah.

Throughout scripture, you see the same pattern of God giving people second chances to do God’s work God’s way. In Matthew’s gospel in chapter 16, you have this scene where the disciples are hanging out with Jesus, and they’re concerned about the identity of Jesus. They’re even a bit confused. Jesus asks his disciples, who do you say that I am? Finally, Simon Peter, the great disciple, responds, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Immediately after Peter said that, Jesus says something so very interesting to Peter. He says, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Did you catch what Jesus said here? He said, Simon Bar-Jonah, meaning son of Jonah, but Simon Peter’s father’s name was John. What’s happening here is Jesus is making a connection between Jonah, the runaway prophet,

and Peter, the runaway disciple. We all know the story in Matthew 26 where Jesus tells all of his disciples just before his crucifixion, you’re all going to run away, but Peter boldly professes, no, not me, Jesus. I’ll never run from you. Jesus looks at Peter and he says, Peter, you don’t get it. Before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times. That’s exactly what happens. Peter does eventually deny Jesus three times and then runs away. Just like Jonah, Peter ran from God, but just like Jonah, God recommissioned Peter back into ministry. In fact, in the Gospel of John, after Jesus has been resurrected, Jesus recommissions Peter to ministry by asking Peter the same question three times. Jesus says to Peter, do you love me? Three times and every time Peter responds, Lord, you know that I do. After each response, Jesus says to Peter, then feed my lambs.

You see, for every denial of Peter, the Lord Jesus gave Peter a second chance to confess his love and loyalty to Jesus. The Lord gave him another chance to participate in the Lord’s ministry. That’s why he says three times, feed my lambs, minister to my people. Jesus does this three times to rid Peter from the guilt and shame connected to his failure and his denial so that Peter can move back into ministry with confidence, knowing that he’s not been canceled by God so that he knows he’s not been held in contempt for this one bogus night. You see, it’s not just with Jonah. It’s not only Jonah that gets second chances. It’s Simon Peter, and it’s you, and it’s me. Our God is a God of second chances, and we see this so explicitly clear in these first three verses, the complete recommissioning of Jonah’s ministry work and the complete

Reluctant Obedience

reversal of Jonah’s previous actions. But listen, even though Jonah’s actions have reversed, Jonah’s heart has not followed the same pattern of his actions. And despite experiencing God’s mercy through this second chance, Jonah’s heart is still reluctant to bring this message of mercy to bear on these pagan Ninevites, which brings us to our next section, the ridiculous rhetoric of the reluctant prophet. Look at the second half of verse three. Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey, and he called out, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. What’s interesting here is that Jonah makes reference to the city being exceedingly great and is a three days journey in distance. Now, why does Jonah mention that? That seems like a rather insignificant detail for Jonah to reference at this point in the story. But you see, it’s in these details where you get a slight glimpse into the heart of Jonah

towards Nineveh. You see, the reference to a great city that is a three days journey for Jonah is recalling his experience in the belly of the great fish for three days. Though Jonah primarily experienced God’s mercy in the belly of the fish over the course of three days, Jonah’s experience, if you remember, was also judgment. So to put it simple, though God recommissioned Jonah to bring the message of mercy to the Ninevites, Jonah’s message is marked primarily by his experience of judgment. Though he experienced mercy and a second chance to turn from his rebellion, Jonah has no intention of extending that same mercy that he experienced to the Ninevites, nor does he care to give them a second chance to turn from their rebellion. And this is a sad reality that is very common to Christians. They experience God’s mercy when they should have experienced judgment.

They get a second chance from God. And after living a life in complete rebellion and disobedience, they become familiar with this mercy. The newness of mercy begins to fade. They begin looking at other rebellious and disobedient people around them with disdain. They begin to judge them for the very things that they once did before God showed them mercy. Even though God extended great mercy to them, they fail to bring the same message of mercy to the rebellious and disobedient people that they see walking around them. Brothers and sisters, this is the chief of hypocrisy. And we must be watchful that we don’t do that very same thing, that we don’t feel and act that way. So as Jonah, listen, obediently makes his way into the city to proclaim this message, he’s still reluctant, both with his passion and with his preaching. And you can see that based on his self-imposed limitation of travel.

He barely makes it into the city before he begins to preach. It’s almost as if he was going the minimum distance required to be obedient to the Lord. I mean, Jonah doesn’t even get to the epicenter of the city before he starts preaching his message. He doesn’t go to the elected officials of the city. He doesn’t go to the king. And we know this to be the case because in the next verse, it tells us that the message reached the king, meaning the king didn’t hear that from Jonah specifically. He only heard about it from other people. You see, if Jonah’s intentions were actually to help the people of Nineveh escape judgment and death, he would have traveled every inch of the city declaring this warning. Or he would have at least gone to the king who had the most influence in the culture. But he doesn’t do that.

He does the bare minimum to be obedient because at the end of the day, he didn’t really want to bring the message to these people anyway. And the reluctance of Jonah really begins to be revealed through his ridiculous sermon. I mentioned it last week. Jonah basically says to the Ninevites, you got 40 days and then you’ll be overthrown. What a bogus sermon he preaches. Listen, Jonah makes no reference to the God of heaven, to the God of creation. And it wasn’t like Jonah didn’t know anything about the God of heaven. You remember when Jonah was on the ship, what he said to the sailors? He gave the sailors this very informative and concise creed concerning the God of creation. Jonah was explicitly clear with his messaging, but here Jonah is mad vague with his message. Jonah mentions nothing concerning the mercy of God that he’s personally experienced.

He casually just leaves that part out and chooses only to emphasize judgment. Essentially, what you have is Jonah standing on some obscure street corner, yelling at random people to turn or burn. And this is not altogether uncommon from what we sometimes see in our culture. Maybe not in Portland, but in other parts of the country. We’ve all seen these kinds of so-called street preachers before. They’re usually a bit on the crazy side. They hold up strange signs about God’s coming judgment, yelling at people to turn or burn, and it’s rarely effective. Now listen, I’m all for street preaching. I think street preaching is a lost art in our world, and so I’m down for street preaching. So long as the street preacher preaches in a way that demonstrates the full spectrum of God’s gospel. If you preach condemnation, judgment, and hell only, then you have failed to preach a full gospel.

The gospel is by definition the good news. The gospel is love and hope for condemned sinners. I mean, John 3.16, the world’s most popular Bible verse, says it plainly. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. This verse expresses the fact that God’s love for the world was so deep that it prompted God to respond in an act of giving, sacrificing His only beloved Son. So it was love that drove Jesus to the cross to deal with God’s righteous judgment. The condemnation that we rightly deserve was poured out on Jesus so that we might be saved. God sent Jesus because of love, not to condemn the world, because the world was condemned already. In fact, you see that if you just keep reading John 3.16. You move into John 17.18, it says,

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. He came not to condemn, but to save us from condemnation. Love drove God to give so that we might believe and be saved from the condemnation that was already over our heads. So the condition for escaping the condemnation that was already over our head is belief. And so, brothers and sisters, we need to declare that part of the gospel in hopes that some people might believe. You see, the gospel is a message of hope and love. Hope from perishing by turning to the one who loved you enough to give His life to save you from perishing. But Jonah’s message was loveless and hopeless. It was only a message of judgment and death.

And the truth be told, I really don’t think Jonah believed that these pagans would actually turn. That’s why he’s preoccupied with declaring the impending doom part. But despite Jonah’s hopeless presentation, despite his loveless preaching, despite his ridiculous rhetoric, the Ninevites actually see the message of Jonah as a message of hope. Notice the specific content of Jonah’s message to the Ninevites. He says, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Think about this for a second. Jonah doesn’t actually say to the Ninevites, 40 days and you’ll be destroyed. That’s not the message that God gave to Jonah. It says that they shall be overthrown. That word overthrown is an interesting word. It actually means to be overturned, to be turned around. Now Jonah, based on the way he emphasized the word, it’s clear that he’s perceived that turning around as judgment. That the Ninevites are being turned over to judgment because of their sin.

But for the Ninevites, they perceive it as hopeful. That they might be turned over from judgment. The fact that God has given them 40 days is actually a sign of hope for them. That God might be giving them a second chance. So Jonah preaches doom, the Ninevites receive it as hope. And this should show you something about how God can use the message, even though the messenger is bogus. It shows you that he can use a message that is being declared, even if it’s being declared with indifference and evil intentions. God can still use it for good. In fact, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1, 15-18, that some preach Christ from envy and rivalry. They proclaim it from selfish ambition. But it doesn’t matter to Paul. He’s like, whatever, as long as the truth is proclaimed, I rejoice in that. Jonah’s posture in preaching makes it clear that Jonah really doesn’t care about these people.

His preaching is not an act of love and mercy. His preaching is an act of heartless obedience. And that is a sad reality. It’s clear that Jonah has yet to experience a genuine heart change about the people of Nineveh. Jonah has either failed to recognize or he has quickly forgotten his own rebellion and disobedience. He has either failed to recognize or quickly forgotten the mercy of God. Either way, Jonah is still not willing to extend mercy to these Ninevites because he just sees them as God-hating pagans. They’re God-haters. Why would he care about extending mercy to them? Jonah just straight up doesn’t believe that they deserve mercy. So he’s simply going through the motions with his message. Can I ask you this morning? What is your message to the God-hating pagans of Portland? And more than that, what is your heart towards God-hating pagans in the city of Portland?

Is your heart so far from these people that you really don’t care to say anything at all? And listen, to be clear, to be indifferent, to not care, and to not bring the message of Jesus to bear on the God-hating people of Portland is to have a heart of Jonah. It’s to fail to see your own need of a savior. It’s to reveal that you have forgotten the mercy that God has extended to you. But as Christians, we need to have a heart of Jesus. And to have the heart of Jesus is to preach a better message than Jonah. To preach a message that is both truthful and sober to the realities of coming judgment. But it’s also to give a message that is fueled by deep compassion and love for those who are far from God. Jonah’s message was a heartless message of judgment and death.

Radical Repentance

But Jesus’ message is a message of deep love. It’s a message that shows that God laid down His life to free you from the judgment and death that you deserve because of your sins. But even though Jonah’s message is heartless and hopeless, the God-hating pagan Ninevites repent. They repent. And we see that in verses 5 through 9 with the radical repentance of a pagan culture. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast nor herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water.

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands. Brothers and sisters, this is the climax of the book of Jonah. This is what we’ve been waiting for. The dramatic crescendo. This here is the thrust of the book of Jonah. That the evil God-hating Ninevites actually take heed to Jonah’s warning and repent. The people of Nineveh have trusted in what the Lord has said through the voice of a reluctant prophet. And have turned. They have trusted and they have turned. Despite Jonah’s attitude towards the Ninevites and despite his ridiculous message, they repented. And what this is really showing you is that God has been supernaturally working on the Ninevites this whole time. He’s been working on these Assyrian people to bring about repentance.

What seemed impossible in Jonah’s mind because they’re God-hating pagans actually becomes possible. What seemed impossible because of their hostility towards God and God’s people. God was faithful to bring about through the prophet’s reluctant mouth. And the response of repentance was far-reaching. It was far-reaching from the greatest to the least of people. They all repented. And word even got to the king. And he responded in repentance. The king responds in repentance. The king goes so far as to lead the whole culture into repentance by issuing a decree. Let everybody outwardly demonstrate their repentance. And it shows you the efficacy of God’s work. Jonah did the least with his words. But the power behind Jonah’s words spread like a forest fire and caught the whole city ablaze in repentance. And what’s interesting is that the Ninevites didn’t really have a framework for how God’s people are supposed to repent.

They didn’t necessarily have a blueprint for what repentance looks like. So they just start doing things. They start doing these outward expressions of turning from their former ways. I mean, you have all these people putting on sackcloth, fasting. They even go so far as to make the animals fast. I don’t even know what that’s about. But they’re serious about their repentance. They don’t know how to do it properly or perfectly, but they’re serious about it. And listen, before we continue, I want to be clear. There’s a huge difference between the appearance of repentance and actual repentance. You see, to simply fast and dress in sackcloth would not be sufficient. If the Ninevites only had an outward expression of repentance, but not actual repentance, it would mean nothing. To repent is to actually turn in the opposite direction of your disobedience. And this is exactly what we see with this pagan culture.

They turn. Though they have not received specific instructions from Jonah on how to actually repent, they instinctively know that trusting in God’s Word and turning from their former ways is an essential part of repentance. And that’s exactly what they do. And that’s exactly what God said would happen in this message that God told Jonah to give to them. Nineveh was turned over from their sin and judgment. They called out to God and turned over from their evil ways and from their violence. And here’s what’s crazy. These pagans have no assurance. That what they’re trusting in, that what Jonah told them is actually going to be sufficient to persuade God to relent. But they do it anyway. This is why it says in verse nine, who knows? They have no confidence. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish.

They understand. They deserve judgment. There’s no certainty. But there’s still a bit of hope. Maybe God will relent from his righteous anger. If they relent from their evil ways, then maybe God will relent from his anger. And here’s the thing. This is our God. He does relent. And you see that in verse 10 with the righteous relenting of a merciful God. When God saw what they did. How they turned from their evil ways. God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them. God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them. And he did not do it. Jonah told them 40 days and Nineveh will be turned over. They didn’t know much. But God supernaturally worked to cause them to trust the words that Jonah said as true. God supernaturally did the work to cause them to turn from their sin and rebellion.

And brothers and sisters, this is exactly what happened to us. We heard God’s word to turn from our sin and to trust in God. And God supernaturally enabled us to turn from our sin and trust in God. We didn’t do anything to deserve this kind of radical mercy. We simply turned and trusted. And even that was not our own doing. You see, what seemed impossible, God made possible. In fact, without God supernaturally intervening, it wasn’t possible for us. Because we were dead in our sins. Condemned already because of our sins. But God intervened. The question is, how did he intervene? How did he intervene? You see, because God is a righteous God who judges sin perfectly, God cannot allow sinful people to go unpunished. That would be unjust. We want perfect judge. We want a perfect judge. We want perfect judgments. He cannot allow for sinful people to go unpunished.

That’s what it means to be a perfect judge. To rightly call those who are guilty, guilty. To perfectly render a guilty verdict to guilty people for crimes they commit. And when we see sin against God, when we commit sin against God, we commit the highest act of sin we could possibly do. The Bible tells us that the consequences of sin is death.

Divine Intervention

But this is how God intervened. By giving his son. You see, it was God’s love that caused for him to send his only beloved son. Jesus. The greater Jonah. The one who perfectly obeyed the Father. Who laid down his life to pay for the judgment and death that we deserve because of our sins. God can relent from his righteous anger towards sin because he poured it out on Jesus. In fact, at the cross of Jesus is where justice is perfectly satisfied and mercy is made available.

If you are here this morning and you’re not a Christian, this radical mercy can be yours. Listen, this message of mercy and love, if it’s resonating with you this morning, it is because God has already begun to do the supernatural work in your heart to turn you towards him. You could become a Christian this morning. You could be forgiven for your sins. You can become a child of God by simply turning and trusting. By turning from your sins and trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior. God is a relenting God who is merciful to sinners like you and me. He is a God of second chances and all you need to do is simply turn to him and trust in him and you will be saved. You could be freed from your guilt and shame and you can experience deep mercy this morning. And you could do that right where you are.

Ask God to enable you to turn and trust in him and he will do it. And dear Christian, are you here this morning overwhelmed by guilt and shame? Do you feel canceled by God? Because you’ve done things that you feel deserve to be permanently canceled. Can I remind you of God’s mercy this morning? He is a God of second chances and he freely distributes that to you this morning. You’ve not run too far from God to experience this kind of mercy. Come to him this morning. Ask him to forgive you for your sins and he will extend mercy to you. And brothers and sisters, through God’s word this morning, I hope you have seen God’s heart towards pagans. And I hope that has caused for you to be zealous about proclaiming this message to the pagan people of Portland. They are not too far gone to receive mercy.

If you feel in your heart this disdain for these people, then I would encourage you to ask God to rekindle the mercy that you’ve once experienced from him. Ask God to reinvigorate your heart towards lost people so that they might hear the message of mercy. Turn from their sins, trust in Jesus and be saved. Don’t forget the mercy that you’ve received from God. It is his loving kindness towards sinners that has saved you. And my heart for Trinity Church is that we would take that same mercy and push it in to the pagan city of Portland. Let’s pray. Father, in every way this book has been a mirror.

Exposing those things that are forgotten. Exposing those things that we fail to see. For many of us this morning, we have failed to understand that you are a loving and compassionate God. That you are the God of not only second chances but infinite chances. When we sin against you, when we repent and turn from our sins, you are gracious to forgive us and you forget our sin. But we forget that you forget our sin. And so we hold it in and we experience shame and guilt. And we experience shame and guilt. And we fail to recognize the freedom that we have because of the forgiveness that we have. And Father, we see so clearly that your message of the gospel has far reaching effects. That the truth of your gospel is powerful enough to flip this city upside down. To turn this city in repentance.

And I pray oh Lord and God that you would make us bold enough to declare that message to our city. That people from the greatest to the least would experience mercy. Turn from their sin and trust in Jesus. You’ve done it before God. And you could do it again. And we pray oh Lord and God that your word would expose our self-righteousness, our lack of compassion, our lack of motivation to reach this dying world. Set our hearts on fire for you and for your gospel. We pray all these things in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus who was the same yesterday, today, and forever. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com