The Sign of Jonah
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Beloved, some of you may be familiar with filmmaker, actor, and comedian Woody Allen whose career spans more than six decades.
Although gifted in many ways, Allen has a strong aversion to religion and God...
To get a better sense of his attitude to the Lord, just take a look at what he once said:
“I never thought about [God] seriously until I was a teenager, and then all feelings were negative from the start.”
It is a shame that Allen has such a negative view of God...
In fact, he even claims to desire to witness a sign from God...
He said it like this in his own words:
“If only God would give me some clear sign!
Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.”
Often times, those who seek for a sign from God are not really looking for God...
They just want selfish desires fulfilled and to continue living their life uninterrupted and unaffected by God...
Now, this is not just the attitude of our current generation...
But this was the attitude in Jesus’ day too.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 11 and focus on verses 29 through 32.
Our message this morning is titled, “The Sign of Jonah”
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As you are turning to our passage...
Keep this in mind...
The message today will focus on Jesus’ strong rebuke of His generation...
Which is just as applicable to our current generation.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Sign of Jonah
2) The Queen of Sheba
And...
3) The Men of Nineveh
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are so patient with us...
Showering Your children mercy when we deserve Your wrath.
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Help us to be faithful in our daily walk...
Keeping our focus constantly on You
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Give us the boldness to share Your truth with others...
For we have the message that the world needs to hear.
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Thank You for allowing us to gather on this blessed Lord’s Day...
May this message communicate Your truth to Your saints.
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Sign of Jonah
1) The Sign of Jonah
Verses 29-30: When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
Beloved, Luke introduces the remarks that Jesus is about to give by first noting that the crowds were increasing at this point.
The reason for this is that Luke wants to make clear that the current attention that Jesus is getting is not going to last.
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Church, don’t expect to be a faithful follower of the Lord and expect to be popular with the world.
Jesus who was the perfect preacher without sin did not keep these large crowds...
They only increased due to the miracles that He performed but when Jesus got to the meat of the teaching He was proclaiming...
Many would run away...
I mean, look at what Jesus says in this passage...
Jesus actually starts off by calling this generation an evil generation...
And this was meant to be a very strong rebuke...
For Jesus is saying that this generation is not just misled...
This generation is not just ignorant...
But this generation is “ponēros”...
That is an intense Greek word denoting knowing and intentional wickedness...
In fact, if we are being honest, Jesus’ rebuke of His generation sure sounds a lot like our current generation!
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Now, it may seem like Jesus is just randomly making this comment but the reality of the situation is that Jesus is actually responding to the demand for a sign that first came up in Luke 11:16 which says:
16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
So, Jesus is responding to the crowds demand for a sign.
Now, such a request for a “sign from heaven” could only have been motivated by unbelief, especially in view of the many demonstrations of messianic power already performed by Jesus.
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Basically, the crowds as a whole where not satisfied with the miracles that Jesus performed even though they were incredible and amazed them...
They wanted more signs and more wonders...
For that was the reason that they started following Jesus in thew first place...
And now they want more signs...
Bigger and better in their eyes!
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Yet, Jesus is no entertainer putting on a show and always declined to give signs on demand...
Therefore, this speaks powerfully of the singular sufficiency of Scripture to overcome unbelief.
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It is not signs and wonders that we should seek...
But it is the Gospel itself which has the power of God unto salvation.
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This makes absolute sense since unbelief is at heart a moral, rather than an intellectual, problem...
And no amount of evidences will ever turn unbelief to faith...
For example, look at what Luke 16:31 says:
31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
Did you catch that, Beloved?
Even raising the dead will not be enough for some people...
In fact, that was the case for the religious elite...
Do you know how the religious elite acted when they saw the Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead?
Look with me at John 12:10-11 for the answer:
10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,
11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
If a person’s heart is not made brand new first...
Then they will never believed no matter the kind of miracle performed.
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So, it is the revealed Word of God, not signs, that has inherent power to convince others of the truth...
And that needs to be our foundation for sharing the Gospel message with the world...
For it is the power in the Word of God that can turn stone hearts into flesh!
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Yet despite this truth we find that the crowds are demanding signs just like the Pharisees and Sadducees did...
In Matthew 16:1-4 the Word of God says:
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
So, the term “adulterous generation” speaks of spiritual adultery which is unfaithfulness to God.
These are the words Jesus uses to show how unbelievers are unsatisfied with God’s truth...
They don’t want to come into a relationship with God...
They don’t want to leave their life of sin...
So, they accept all kinds of false teachings that will tickle their ears...
As the Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke says:
“The second century, Gnosticism promised a more ‘spiritual’ form of Christianity, as did heresies in succeeding centuries.
The longing for a more spiritual revelation is the mother of all heresies, the original temptation of the serpent no longer simply to know God, but to be god.”
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Next, Jesus says,“No sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
Now, “the sign of Jonah” points to both the resurrection of Jesus and His message of repentance.
Let’s focus first on the message which reveals the need of the evil generation of Jesus day to response to the need of repentance...
For that was the case of Nineveh in response to Jonah’s message...
Likewise, that needs to be the case for us in response to Jesus’ message today.
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Now, Jonah’s story starts in Jonah 1:1-17 which says:
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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Wow!
That is an incredible series of events...
So incredible that many doubt it authenticity.
Yet, God in His mercy, has allowed similar event s to transpire in our day in order to show that this account was no invention of man but truly happened in history.
Case in point, a man in 1926 who was swallowed by a fish and spent two days inside the fish and lived to tell the story.
He was displayed in London as “the Jonah of the twentieth century.”
When interviewed two years later, it was noted that this man didn’t have a hair on his body, and his skin was a yellowish-brown color.
You see, the gastric juices of the fish had reacted upon the individual as the fish had tried to digest him.
Those chemicals had an effect upon him.
So, it is reasonable to consider then that this happened to Jonah as well.
Can you imagine the color of Jonah’s skin and how he must have looked?
So, when Jonah preached, his entire face and body confirmed the remarkable story of him being swallowed by a huge sea creature.
The Ninevites would have clear proof that the God was the one who sent Jonah to proclaim a message of repentance.
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Second, as we mentioned before, “the sign of Jonah” points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Matthew’s account of our passage even shared this key point as stated in Matthew 12:40 which says:
40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So, just as Jonah’s spending three days inside the fish was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so Jesus’ resurrection after three days in the tomb will be a sign to the Jews of His day and all of us today.
Therefore we can rightly conclude that the ultimate sign given that validates Jesus would be His triumph over death...
And that truth is found in Word of God.
So again, it is the Scriptures that are our source of ultimate authority and what we need to use to build our foundation for delivering the Good News to those in need of true hope.
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Yet, let us not forget, even the greatest sign, the Resurrection, will not produce faith in an unwilling heart...
Even if someone has memorized the Scriptures, it will not produce faith in an unwilling heart...
We need to believe and have genuine faith...
We need to believe that the Word of God is truly God’s Word...
And the truths in it like the Resurrection are true historical events...
For without the Resurrection, we have no Good News...
As 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 says:
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
So, Luke’s readers are to understand that the Scriptures and Luke’s orderly account of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension are sufficient for faith.
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Next, Jesus presents some powerful Christological statements by comparing Himself with two important Old Testament figures...
And this takes us to our second point.
2) The Queen of Sheba
2) The Queen of Sheba
Verse 31: The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
So, the “Queen of the South” is the Queen of Sheba which is in southern Arabia and present-day Yemen...
She made a long and difficult journey to witness Solomon’s great wisdom and see if God really did give him profound wisdom.
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Beloved, take a look with me at 1 Kings 4:29-34 so we can get a better idea of what that wisdom looked like:
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore,
30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
31 For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
32 He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.
33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.
34 And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
As the previous verse said, many people from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and that included the Queen of Sheba.
In fact, a little further into 1 Kings we find this account in 1 Kings 10:1–10:
1 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.
2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.
3 And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.
6 And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,
7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.
8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
9 Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
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Wow!
Solomon had amazing wisdom that was undeniable...
Even the Queen of Sheba traveled herself on a long journey just to see his wisdom in action...
And as great as Solomon’s wisdom was...
Something far greater than Solomon has come...
And that is the Son of God and His superior and perfect wisdom.
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You see Beloved, the use of the word “something” instead of “someone” in the phrase“something greater than Solomon is here” indicates that the comparison that Jesus was making was more than just between Solomon and Himself...
Jesus was in addition comparing Solomon and his wisdom with Himself and His wisdom.
So, our takeaway from this declaration is that Jesus is the ultimate “wise man,” and His wisdom has no equal.
Furthermore, if the Queen of Sheba, a gentile, was willing to travel a great distance and present Solomon with great gifts due to the wisdom he had...
How much more should the Israelite, God’s chosen people, recognize Jesus’ superiority to Solomon in His person and in His wisdom...
Yet, instead of praising the Lord...
Instead of rejoicing over the arrival of the long-promised Messiah...
They foolishly just asked for more signs that wouldn’t have changed their minds anyways.
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Now, in order to ready drive home this truth...
Jesus looks to another important Old Testament individual that He is far superior to...
And this takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Men of Nineveh
3) The Men of Nineveh
Verse 33: The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Now, to clarify, the term “men” is meant to represent all the Ninevites...
Men, women, and children...
And this statement by Jesus is in reference specifically to all who genuinely repented and believed in the life saving message that Jonah preached to them.
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Just like our previous point...
We have another case of from the lesser to the greater...
This time the comparison is between Jonah and Jesus...
And between the faithful Ninevites and the unfaithful Israelites...
As the ESV Study Bible says:
“In both cases, the argument is from the lesser to the greater.
Gentiles responded positively to Solomon and to Jonah, but ‘this generation’ of Israelites refuses to respond to ‘something greater’ than Solomon and Jonah:
The Son of God.
As in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus contrasts Gentiles in the Old Testament who had received God’s favor by faith to the unbelief among God’s covenant people Israel.”
So, even though the Ninevites were wicked as first, they ultimately repented at the preaching of Jonah...
And even though the Queen of Sheba was a gentile and held to pagan beliefs, she ultimately came to test Solomon and found that out that he was indeed an agent of God, having been placed on the throne by Him...
You see Beloved, Jesus was pointing out just how evil and hard-hearted the Jews of His day where...
For they where unable to recognize Jesus while the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites would have recognized Jesus since they had recognized the servants of God who are not as superior as Christ.
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Just image the how great of a judgement the Israelites must have been brought upon themselves...
For they refuse to repent at the teaching of Jonah’s Lord, who is greater than Jonah and is the ultimate prophet...
For they refuse to repent at the teaching of Jesus who is not only the ultimate prophet but He is the Lord of the all prophets.
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Just look at how the Ninevites, as wicked as they were, repented at the teaching of Jonah, as flawed as he was...
Jonah 3:1–10 says:
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”
3 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.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5 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.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
8 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.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 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.
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Although God spoke to Isreal through many prophets like Jonah...
Now God the Father sent His Son to share the Good News...
As Hebrews 1:1–2 says:
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Yet, Jesus was rejected and mocked instead of honored and praised.
Instead of humbly repenting as Jesus shared the Gosepl...
His evil and adulterous generation demanded more and more signs...
Yet, as John 3:18 says:
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
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Beloved, our only hope is if we repent and believe in the only name that saves...
Jesus who is the Christ!
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
In 2001, Tim Goeglein started running the White House Office of Public Liaison, providing him almost daily access to then President George W. Bush for seven years.
Then it all ended abruptly on February 29, 2008.
A well-known blogger revealed the startling fact that 27 out of 39 of Goeglein's published articles had been plagiarized.
By mid-afternoon the next day, Goeglein's career in the White House was over.
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Goeglein, who admitted his guilt, said that this began “a personal crisis unequaled in my life, bringing great humiliation on my wife and children, my family, and my closest friends, including the President of the United States.”
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Goeglein was summoned to the White House to face the President.
Once inside the Oval Office, Goeglein shut the door, turned to the President and said, “I owe you an...”
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President Bush simply said:
“Tim, you are forgiven.”
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Tim was speechless.
He tried again: “But sir...”
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The President interrupted him again, with a firm “Stop.”
Then President Bush added, “I have known grace and mercy in my life, and you are forgiven.”
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After a long talk, a healing process was launched for Goeglein, which included repentance, reflection, and spiritual growth.
“Political power can lead to pride,” Goeglein later reflected.
“That was my sin.
One hundred percent pride.
But offering and receiving forgiveness is a different kind of strength.
That's the kind of strength I want to develop now.”
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Today, Tim Goeglein is Vice President of External and Government Relations for Focus on the Family.
Beloved, I can’t stress the important of repentance...
This is more than just confessing ones sins...
This is a change in ones life...
This is a complete 180 degree turn...
A U-turn in ones life.
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Without true and genuine repentance there is no eternal salvation...
Without true and genuine repentance there is no saving faith...
Without true and genuine repentance there is no hope...
That is why the Gospel message that saves always calls for repentance...
As Jesus Himself said in Luke 13:5:
5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
So, if today you have come to the realization that you have never repented...
It is time!
It is time to surrender!
It is time to humble oneself and trust in Jesus for salvation!
It is time to repent and believe!
It...is...time!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Remove those biding scales from their eyes...
And show them the truth!
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Remind us of how You saved us...
And impress on us an urgency to share Your truth with others!
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
