Forgiveness

“FORGIVENESS”

I. BOOK OF JONAH!

A. Jonah lived in Gath Hepher, next to Nazareth

1. He’s called to travel to Nineveh

2. “Nineveh” - Capital of the Assyrian Empire...modern-day Northern Iraq.

3. ASSYRIAN EMPIRE – Huge influence at this time!!

B. 2 Kings 14:25- Jonah known prophet during Jeroboam’s rule (793-753 B.C.)

C. Jonah 1:2 God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh

1. BIG PROBLEM!! Jonah...and the rest of the Israelites HATED the Assyrians!!

2. They worshipped Dagon...PRACTICED – Child sacrifice, priesthood rape of the children “purification”

D. AND THE NINEVITES TOOK THAT TO A WHOLE NOTHA LEVEL!!

1. Removed noses and ears of prisoners to mark them for life!

2. Temple prostitution, abortion, and “infanticide”...the genocide of BABIES attempt to get rid of a certain race or types of people within their city!

3. Dragged prisoners through streets by their noses using something like a “bulldog”, like you see in a bull’s nose.

4. Paintings/historical writings about their brutality...Painting of King Shalmaneser wearing human skulls around his neck offer gifts to his soldiers standing over dead bodies

E. SO...WHY WOULD GOD CHOOSE NINEVEH!!??

1. Plagues hit Assyria around 759-756 B.C. ...THEY see this as “divine judgment”!!

2. They were READY to hear a message of repentance.

3. THIS is why God calls Jonah at this time to preach to them!!

a. Acts 17 sound familiar? Right place, right time...God's always been doing that!!

4. Nineveh was RIPE for the message from God!!!

II. So God calls on Jonah one of his prophets to give them a message of repentance!!

A. Jonah bails! PEACE OUT...HE RUNS in the opposite direction!!

1. Hops on a ship headed for Tarshish

2. God brings a storm, Jonah tries to escape his calling even willing to be killed at sea!!

3. BUT, God sends a great fish/whale

4. THREE DAYS LATER...Jonah finally humbles out and prays to God and finally says, “I’ll do it...I’ll tell your message!”

5. Fish spits him out onto the land and right back where it started, with the exception of the fish smell, right?

B. Jonah 3:4 Jonah goes to Nineveh and tells his message!

1. Remember, their hearts are READY, God was already working on them!!

2. And they BELIEVE the message!!

3. They RADICALLY REPENT!!

C. AND GOD FORGIVES THEM!! Jonah 3:10

1. BUT Jonah is ticked!!

2. He’s hoping that God would rock their world...Israelites would see fire and brimstone...JUSTICE!!

3. “Saddam and Gomorrah...The Sequel!!”

D. NOPE!! God has compassion on them and lets them off the hook!

1. So, Jonah becomes ANGRY with God because he felt this was wrong!!

2. THEN, he’s like, “I KNEW you’d do this, THAT’S why I didn't wanna go in the FIRST place!!

3. I KNEW something like this would happen...and I will take NO PART IN IT!”

E. God asks Jonah a question...

1. Do you have the RIGHT to be angry?

2. How dare you NOT forgive them, when I’ve treated you and Israel with the same compassion and forgiveness?

F. THEN...God gives Jonah a real-life in-real-time illustration of a plant covering him from the hot sun, then takes the plant away, and helps him to see that the Ninevites were “victims of circumstance”

1. They didn't know what they were doing

2. And once they REALIZED IT, they REPENTED!

G. God is calling Jonah to have this same forgiving heart...almost saying, “hate the sin, but love the sinner”

1. If you were in the same circumstances, you’d be no different!

a. Same upbringing, you’d come out the same way

b. Abused, poor, certain type of parents, bullied, no friends, stuttering problem, certain race, certain age...

2. I think of the world’s most badest people...

• Hitler

• Stalin

• Mid-1400’s Vlad the Impaler “Vlad Dracula” (killed 20% population of Wallachia, Romania)

• Pol Pot

• Saddam Hussein

b. These “top evil men in modern history”...

• I go FAR ENOUGH BACK into their childhood...I would find a victim of circumstance!!

• Someone who was at one time a little boy, innocent, and led the wrong way, or hurt, or brainwashed

3. That’s a HIGH CALLING!!

a. I am being called to have the heart of God!!

b. “Hate the sin, but love the sinner”

H. NOW, maybe we understand the gravity of lesson of forgiveness delivered to us through the Book of Jonah!

I. HONEST!!

1. If I were to play a video of ALL MY SIN, all MY negative feelings, and THOUGHTS!!

2. GRAPHICALLY illustrated, with volume and in HD, you’d probably feel about ME the same way that Jonah felt about the NINEVITES!!

3. And WE feel about these “Top Five” Evil Guys in Modern History!!

III. NOW TO JESUS

A. Lk. 23:34

B. The heart of forgiveness was the same for the Ninevites...the same for those IN THE ACT of crucifying Jesus...and the same for us today

C. Eph. 4:32

D. Matt. 5:43