You're Not Too Far Gone: God's Mercy Outshines Sin

``If you're ever curious about what the mercy of God for you looks like, it is the savior of the world nailed to a tree. And if he had any right to say burn it to the ground, he did, but he did not. He said, father, forgive them. And eventually he said, it is finished. God has made up his mind about what he thinks about you. And it's that you're adopted, that you're loved, that you're brought into the family, that you're brought into the fold, that you are more than conquerors, that you will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony. God has made up his mind about you. And his mind is that you are not too far gone because his mercy will always outshine your mistakes. Praise be to God. [00:31:20] (47 seconds)  #MercyOnTheCross

In the family of God, no one is too far gone because your greatest mistakes cannot even begin to outshine the greatness of God's mercy. I don't know everything you've done. You don't know everything I've done. He doesn't know everything she's done. She doesn't know everything he's done. God knows it all. And you know what he says? Come back home. Turn around. Can you see this is hurting yourself and it's hurting others? And would you come back home? Find your rest. Find your hope. Find your heart in me because you're not too far gone. Because it is not the relentlessness of our own sin that determines where we go. It is the relentlessness of God's mercy and love chasing after us. And I believe that is a big important part of Jonah chapter three. [00:24:49] (55 seconds)  #ComeHomeToGod

If anyone was too far gone. If anybody by most decent standards seemed like they were past the point of no return, would it not have been Nineveh? Would it not have been this place that took joy and pride and murder and pillage and evil? Yet their hearts are transformed. Yet they repent. Yet they turn around. And you know what it says? It says, God in his mercy holds back disaster. God in his mercy accepts them when they say, can we come home? We heard the GPS sign and we're turning around and God welcomes them back. If God in his goodness and in his mercy and in his love will welcome back the greatest worst sinners of the Ninevites, why would he not welcome you back or me back or you back or you back? [00:23:09] (58 seconds)  #MercyForNineveh

there's other chances because he is not a God of lightning bolts like Zeus. He is a god of grace and mercy, and he is a god who is always wanting his kids to come back home. The word of the lord came to Jonah a second time, and it comes to you and to you and to you and to you and to you and to you, seconds and thirds and fourths and fifths and sixths times. We could close the Bible and call it good there, folks. The God of the universe calls you much more than once. [00:07:32] (38 seconds)  #SecondChancesFromGod

Someone gave the worst sermon of all time and the whole country converts. Not just where like the president puts a little bible pin on his suit and pretends to be Christian, like there's some deep heart change happening. Jonah in the belly of the fish turned back to God and God in his mercy had him spit out of the fish and gave him a second chance. Jonah is walking in some obedience but his heart is as bitter and as grumpy and as not listening to God as ever. Yet these people, these evil people, these people who are still being written about as one of the most savage cultures ever to live in the history of the world, they hear this terrible sermon and God uses it to transform their hearts. [00:20:52] (49 seconds)  #GraceTransformsHearts

But you know what Jesus did? Jesus didn't say, burn it to the ground. If any if anybody had like the option to just literally burn it to the ground right there, Jesus had his finger on the button. You know? He could have activated it and had that place in flames. But you know what Jesus did? Jesus says, Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, did you not know that I would come to you like a mother hen and take you under my wings? Though Jonah preaches a message of condemnation, Jesus shows up to his enemies, the very people who are going to kill him and he offers them mercy. And he doesn't preach fire and brimstone. No. What did what did he say when he's up on that cross dying for the sins of humanity? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. [00:30:30] (50 seconds)  #JesusChoosesMercy

Scripture is filled with people who were down and out and didn't have any reason being in the family of God. And you know what God says? I want them. I'm coming down for them. I'm going to bring them into my family. I'm going to take care of them. Yes. They got off track. Come back. Yes. You got off track again. Come back. Because in the kingdom of God, it is not some elite clique that is just for the best looking, or the smartest, or the talented, or the people who have it most together. In the family of God, his very enemies have a seat at the table. You look at Jesus sitting with friends and traders, all invited to be a part of the family. [00:24:07] (43 seconds)  #GodWelcomesTheOutcast

I believe there's a couple of questions that we can reflect on to see how God wants this to land in our lives today. I think the first is, do you think you're too far gone to be saved? Do you find yourself in that category where you just think, I mean, God, I know you love me, but really? Do you know? Do you know me? Do you do you know this mess that I see in the mirror every day? Do you think you're too far gone? Message of Jonah is you are not too far gone because God's great mercy will always outshine your greatest mistakes. But maybe you have a tendency to be a Jonah. And the question that you need to wrestle with today is, do you think there are others who are too far gone to be saved? [00:27:02] (44 seconds)  #YouAreNotTooFarGone