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Jonah pt. 2 (6. Application.. (Sin - Confess now, kill it off, radical…

- - - - We have to go head to head with it!
        
        Paul says: “do not let sin reign in your mortal body!”
        
        Sin will not just evaporate or decide to leave by itself - we have to crucify it, nail it to the cross!
      - We can’t be passive & we can’t always be the victim.
      - The Bible talks of us being dead to sin, but alive in Christ!
      - Pride can keep us from repentance
        
        Either by generally being unwilling to admit mistakes & repent
        
        Or by assuming your sin is bigger and more difficult to conquer than other normal sin "you don't know how difficult this is.."
        
        Cut off your arm / gouge your eye out!
        
        But if you really want something to change it's not always so difficult to organise!
        
        It takes courage and willful conviction..
        
        This sort of action is not easy to do, but neither do we need to be Einstein to figure it out!
        
        Don’t go out with those work colleagues if you get drunk every time..
        
        Ask your friend to not let you gossip or complain..
        
        Get rid of the credit card
        
        Cancel your internet subscription (porn / Facebook - criticism..)
        
        NO! Do not let sin reign in your mortal body!
        
        Or God know this is too hard, so he lets me get on with it...
        
        I would you know, but you don’t know what it’s like for me..
        
        He knows I have this vice, but I can enjoy grace anyway - no need to be too hard on myself..
        
        It's been crushed, But we can be the ones who keep it as the king on the throne of our lives! The boss - Sin is not the boss of your life! do you know that?
        
        We're dead to sin! But we can still keep feeding it and tending to it like we need to keep it alive
        
        It's pridefulness - I can manage, I'm OK, I can keep this thing under wraps, my sin is in a different category to everyone else...
        
        Even now, is the penny dropping? I expect everyone else to... But I let myself off!
    - - As Jonah reaches an end in himself & throws himself into Gods mercy, we have to throw our lives onto Jesus
      - No sin is beyond his mercy and compassion
      - No sin is to deep for him to reach in & pull us up from the depths of!
        
        Think on that!
        
        Do you believe it?
      - Throw your life onto him now = the only way!
      - You loose a life of the pleasures of sin & you gain everything!
      - 1 John 1:9
        If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
      - God forgives a whole city of total wickedness!
- - - - = asleep in peace of being in the Fathers will
      - Promise perspective - not afraid of bad news
      - = at total peace
      - Secure in His Total Obedience to Fathers will - peace/wholeness, not anxiety.
    - - = asleep and dulled in his rebelion against God!
      - Not at peace in obedience, but dull and switched off to will of God
      - ...He's a bit like us sometimes:
        
        We can be thinking we're invisibly resting in the grace of God...
        
        But actually dulled & lacking the zeal & conviction to get up and change!
        
        Peace or dullness in sin & dissatisfaction, can masquerade as peace of God - living by grace
        
        ...Peace & dullness, They're not the same thing!
        
        The other is self-management / pain-management / tolerance
        
        One is complete reliance on God: that in Him is found the only way (so would do well to accept that invitation)
        
        One = a desire for true peace by casting you anxiety/sin/life fully onto Him.
        
        The other is 'Grace-grace-grace' but no will or ambition to change
        
        Can fool us into a dulled acceptance of where we’re at.
        
        Brothers and sisters - grace isn't there for us to feel ok to self-manage!
        
        If it's not grace to invoke true, deep change in the deepest, most impossible places, then it's no grace at all, it's just a sort of self-management!
        
        We need to wage war on sin by awakening ourselves out of sleepy self-management.
- - - - Some here will find it troubling..
      - But it's worth knowing that there isn't agreement on this..
      - I'm not clever enough to know for myself!
    - - If it really happened - brilliant!
      - If it didn't - communicates a vital story of God's heart to us.
      - Either way, Facts are exaggerated and embellished upon as we discover (not talking about the fish here!) it's all in scripture for a reason!
- - - - Dull to himself & his own life - doesn't care even if he lives, given up trying, thrown towel in..
      - Dull to relationships - Doesn't care about those around him - ship is a lot like the church.. don’t imagine that you’re stuff doesn’t affect others...
      - Dull to God - just wants away from His presence, no attractional spark, no first love!
    - - We can so easily become drowsy + despondent!
      - "She used to be so on fire, hearing from God.. But something happened - she's not like that any more"
      - "He used to be like this.. But now look at him drowsy in his sin"
      - Life can evolve, we can wonder - how did I get here?
      - I thought I was on that path, but now look..!
      - Sin (engrained, not just a one off mistake) can been all sorts of things... attitudes/resistance/rebellion/disobedience...
        
        Some of us right now have areas of life that are in disobedience...?
      - (But Jonah has arrived at a place where his heart is not right) = not close to the Lord
      - The colour is lost, the vibrancy of an amazing mission is lost, relationship with God is suffering, switched off to other people, no compassion/mercy, caught up in himself
    - - While he's sleeping, the pain = felt by everyone else.
      - It's destructive for everyone else in this part of the story (sailors, owners of the property thrown overboard...
      - It's a spoiler of:
        
        Marriages
        
        Your relationships
        
        You and God..
        
        Your dreams..
        
        Sense of purpose / part to play. 'oh I might as well just dissapear..
        
        Opportunities/future
        
        Your peace
        
        Your confidence
        
        Your 80 years of life!
        
        Can evaporate!
        
        In a dull state where ongoing sin is you master!
        
        Your reputation..
        
        Others ability to trust you..
      - 'The wages of sin is death!'
        
        Causes death + corruption all around us
        
        It does no good!
        
        It spoils... eats away... contaminates...
      - Let’s be honest + say it how it is..
      - Un-dealt with sin has its effect on us all.
      - Jonah arrogantly thinks it will be just him that is affected. Gift to word!
    - - That couldn't be more wrong!
      - The condition of our hearts matters hugely!
- - - - This = not a simple story
      - Multi-layered, complex, nuanced message
      - Infginite themes & applications!
      - Infinite possible ways to sub divide.
      - We could preach on this again & again, & God deal with our hearts in multiple ways!
        
        = beyond adequate to speak into & meet needs of our nation & this world