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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Celeste, and I'm part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Fredo, teaching from our Big Fish series. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:When I say the word repent, what's the first word that comes to your mind? Maybe it's a thought. Maybe it's an image. Maybe it's a memory. Again, when I say repent, what comes to your mind?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I ask this because for a lot of people who are both inside and outside of the church, repentance is an ugly word, and it could, stir up all kinds of emotions. Maybe memories from the way you remember being raised in the church or raised by family who were in the church. I know for me as a college student, I could think of a time walking across my campus, going across the bell tower, and people I had never seen before were outside holding up signs that say, Repent. And then they had a list of all the sins that they thought you should be repenting of. Repentance can mean a lot of things.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And for many of us and for me included, I would say this is very unfortunate. Why? Because if we allow scripture to actually tell us about the word repent or repentance, we'll come to see that this is a beautiful word. It's a beautiful word. To be abundantly clear, when I think about the word repentance, I'm borrowing another author's definition, when he says that repentance is the act of turning away from a life that is ruled by ourselves into a life that is ruled by God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Meaning, when you repent, there is an, an interchange of the mind that, listen now, leads to a change of both your heart and the way you live. Your way of life changes. Repentance. And you move from going in one direction, now you're turned to another. Now for a lot of Christians, because of all the ways that it makes us feel, we sometimes put, repentance on the back burner.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But let's be mindful that Jesus, the greatest human being that ever walked the earth, saw repentance as a primary issue. In the gospel of Mark, when he first began his public ministry, some of the first words that came out of the mouth of Jesus were, repent. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent. And then some of his final words found in the book of Revelation that John wrote down.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He says, those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. What a phrase. Those who I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. So for Jesus, the one who we would love to talk about, the one whom there's like almost nothing bad you can say about the human Jesus.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Repentance was a primary issue for him. And I wanna say this, whether, you know, you follow Jesus or not, however you would describe your spiritual life with God right now, I want you to consider and be open to the reality that repentance is at the heart of all the beautiful change you long to see in your life. Like in every way that you want to grow as a person, in every way that you wanna see profound change in the way you relate to people, in the person you're becoming, in your, relationships, in in your marriages, in the way that you deal with finances, all of it. There isn't a single aspect of your life that does not begin with repentance. In every aspect of our life, it begins with a repentance.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I say all that because, we're in Jonah chapter 3 today, where we see a profound act of people turning away from their way of life. And I want us just to be mindful that in so many ways, Jonah's story is in fact our story. And what happens in Jonah 3 has so much to say for our lives moving forward. And so with that, I would invite you to stand with me as we read together scripture from Jonah chapter 3. By way of reminder, wherever you're at, wherever you're watching this, I also wanna encourage you maybe just to pause, stop what you're doing, and just to become mindful of God's word being read.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We do this from time to time here at Sandals Church because we often need to remember that we're reading God's word, and God at this moment is speaking to us. And so standing is a way for us to honor God with our bodies. And and in your body right now, when you think about it, you're carrying a lot. In your body right now, you're carrying your anxieties, your burdens. You're carrying your sin.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so to stand for a moment is a way for us to, yes, honor God, but also to attune our hearts and our bodies in a way that say, god, would you speak to me now? And so with that in mind, let me read to us Jonas Jonah 3, and then I'll pray for us. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now Nineveh was a very large city. It took 3 days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh. By the decree of the king and his nobles, don't let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything. Don't let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. This is God's word. Let's pray together.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Father, what a gift it is for us to gather in this way. We pause in prayer to recognize, God, that you have gathered with us too. And so we ask now that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see so that we might become all that you have for us in Jesus. We pray these things in his name. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen. Thanks so much. You guys can be seated. Now many of us, whether you grew up in church or you didn't, are somewhat vaguely, I can safely say, vaguely familiar with the story of Jonah. I mean, we called our series Big Fish because everyone knows there's a a big fish at some point.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But I just wanna caution all of us that oftentimes, it's our familiarity with the story that actually can keep us from seeing and hearing what God wants to reveal to us in the story. And so whether you've been with us for a long time, you know, every week since we've been in Jonah or not, here's what you need to know that that's happened so far that's led us up here to to Jonah chapter 3. The book of Jonah opens with, Jonah 1:1. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. Jonah is a prophet of God, meaning real simply he is someone who's been called by God to deliver God's word.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now, in a bit of irony and humor, Jonah does the exact opposite of what he's called to do. He's called to deliver God's word, and that's the last thing he wants to do is speak God's word. So instead of going to Nineveh to preach against them, he runs in the opposite direction, the furthest place he can possibly go, which is a city called Tarshish. He gets on a boat, pays most of his money, probably all that he has to get on this boat. He goes to the very bottom of it and falls asleep.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Now what we come to see throughout this process is that Jonah is running from God. Something that you and I know quite a bit about. You may not be a track star. You may never do a half marathon, but you know how to run from God. And Jonah runs from God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And in the midst of this, we are confronted with a foundational reality in life. That no matter how far or fast you run from God, he will always beat you to that spot. And the whole point of that is because God doesn't have to run. Wherever you try to go, God's already there. He's already there.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so even Jonah goes to the very bottom of the boat, falls asleep. Guess what? God's there. The text tells us that, God sent a a storm his way. He hurled a storm towards him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And the storm gets so bad, the boat begins to break up. We're told the pagan sailors, they actually start to cry out to their gods and and they get so infuriated. They go down, wake up Jonah, say, hey, man. You gotta get up. You gotta pray.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Everyone's gotta help now. Call out to your God, whoever he is, whoever she is, call out to your God. We need to be saved. And there's a profound principle in here for us to be reminded that oftentimes God will use the world to rebuke the church. He will use pagans who don't know anything about God to wake you up, the man or woman of God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is how he often operates. And so Jonah wakes up, tells him who he is. Yes. I'm a Hebrew. You know what?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is all happening because of me. I know the God who made the land and the sea, which literally is supposed to, you know, stir up a little humor in us because why? If you know the god of the sea, would you be on the sea as a way to try to run from him? It doesn't make any sense. And so he's like, listen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I know what will fix this. Throw me overboard. And in this moment, they're like, we're not gonna do that. Again, we're surprised as readers. Pagan people won't do what Jonah asked them to do.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:They have better and higher standards than that. There's a bit of morality in them. The storm continues, their prayers continues, and then at some point, you know, in Fredo's translation, they basically say, look, like, you ain't gotta go home, Jonah, but, like, you cannot stay here. So they throw him overboard, and again, from their perspective, imagine this. They threw a man overboard in the midst of a storm, and from their perspective, he's drowning, he's gone, but yet in reality, God's going to deliver him.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like in the very place in your life where you might feel like people on the outside looking at you, you're about to drown, God, in the same way that he swallowed Jonah with a fish, will often use the most bizarre, weird, and strangest of ways to deliver you. Swallowed being swallowed by a fish was not the last part of Jonah perishing, it was actually the beginning part of him being saved. And that's what happens. The text tells us that Jonah is in the belly of a fish for 3 days 3 nights, and he's praying. Now what I love that some people pointed about out about this passage is that what Jonah is doing is he's finding himself in this in between state.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What do I mean by that? Well, Jonah's not dead, but he's not alive either. In fact, the prayer he prays is actually a Psalm in which he talks about being in the realm of the dead, who's on the very brink of death. And even though, you know, none of us in here will be swallowed by fish, it's very possible that you know what it's like to be in Jonah's situation. In other words, you know what it's like to be in an in between state where you're not dead, but you're not alive either.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like your relationship with Jesus right now is not dead, but it's not alive. Maybe a marriage you're in, it's not dead yet, but it's not alive. Maybe you're in a career right now where it's in between, like it's not dead, but it's not alive. We know what it's like to be an in between state. And in praying, Jonah cries out to God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:God doesn't verbally respond to him here, but we are told that this great fish spits him out, spits him out onto dry land. And it's at this moment in Jonah 3 that I think we get one of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible. A verse that I think gets to the very heart of God's heart, his grace, and the essence of what the Bible has been telling us for the whole time. Jonah 31, you might have missed it when we read it the first time. It says this, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I don't know about you, but I am beyond grateful that God has come to me a second time. And that God has come to me a third time and a fourth time. He loves to pursue us in this particular way. If you're taking note, here's what I want you to consider. It's God's patience that actually leads to my repentance.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's what's happening here. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. How many times has god come to you with the same word? It's his patience, his patience that's led to your change and your repentance. The apostle Paul says it like this in Romans 2.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He asked the question, or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience? Not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. In other words, when you think about the the major milestones of your life, where you have seen profound change, let's be honest. You're not changing because you're better than other people. You you know what?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You might even think that you're changing because you're smarter than everybody else. No. Let's keep it real. You're changing because God has been kind to you. God has been abundantly patient with you, and you're responding to that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You're you're finally in a place where you're realizing, oh, God. It's it's because of your patience. It's because of your kindness that's actually stirring me on to to profound change right now and leading me to this place of repentance. Again, I am grateful that if you were reading the bible of Fredo, it would say the word of Lord came to Fredo the 800th time, the 900th time.
Dani Crowley:We are so glad that you are with us today. If this message has served you in any way or you would like to be a part of the work that we are doing here at Sandals Church, I wanna invite you to give today. You can do that by going to give dotsc@anytime. And for right now, let's get right back into the message with Pastor Fredo.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And in this moment, God's not waiting for Jonah to get clean. Only imagine what he looked like coming out of a fish. He's not waiting for Jonah to, you know, figure out all his struggles. He's calling him and being patient with him even in the midst of him, like, not even ready for it yet. And and Jonah arose, we're told, and he actually goes in the right direction.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He obeyed. He goes to Nineveh, and he's got a simple message. In 40 days, the city will be overthrown. Now I gotta be honest with you. I got a little bit of bow of a of a bone to pick with Jonah.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Why do I say that? Because Jonah gives a whack sermon, and everybody repents. Everybody repents. This man in the Hebrew said 5 words. That's what's recorded.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:In 40 days, the city will be overthrown. There's no preparation. Like, what I did this week, I labored over every word. And and Jonah doesn't have he doesn't have a Tim Keller quote. You know, he's got no reference to the Lakers to, you know, somewhat relate to ridiculous sports fans suffering.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He's got no reference to Kendrick Lamar. He's not dressed like me. Four words. It's a wax sermon. And something profound happens here.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Everybody repents. Now if you read it like I read it at first, you would be missing something really important that it's not so much about what Jonah's doing, but what God's doing. God is incredibly merciful with our faulty approaches to preaching the gospel. And so any moment in your life where you feel like, oh, I really stumbled that at the workplace, or, you know, trying to lead your kid through a devotional, good luck. Or or anytime you you feel like you were just poor at delivering the gospel, please know God's mercy is at work.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:If he can use a Jonah sermon, a wax sermon, and the nation repents, this speaks not so much to Jonah's skill, but God's mercy. God's mercy. Now here's what's so profound. The king of Nineveh gets word of the message that Jonah's giving, and he also repents. And not only does he repent, but he institutionalizes repentance.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We're all doing this. Your chickens are doing this. Like every animal not eating, putting on sackcloth. This is astounding. What does the king of Nineveh believe so greatly that he's led to repent that you and I miss on a daily basis?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Here's my initial thought. It's judgment. The king of Nineveh, for all kinds of reasons, now historically speaking, we we can make the case that Assyria, as oppressive and evil as they were, they were in political turmoil. Like, assassinations were happening so people can gain power. People hadn't eaten in weeks.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The economy was not good. There was a lot of hostility. Sound like any place you know? And so, you know, some commentators have said their repentance, their their quick surprising repentance was probably because they were primed for it. In other words, life was so bad, they were almost longing for a prophet, any prophet to deliver news of what to do.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But but I think it's safe to say at the very least, this king, this nation is aware that God judges wickedness. He judges violence. He says we should surrender our violence. In other words, the king is fully aware that God's judgment is coming on every form of violence in the world today. And that's true of us.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The violence we see in our own country, God's judgment is coming. Why? Because when you think about it, violence against another person is an assault on the character of God. Every human being is made in the image of God. So to do violence against a human being is to assault the very nature and character of God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He takes it seriously, so seriously that judgment is coming. The the tragic violence we see in schools where children are shot at, God's judgment is coming against that. The the violence we see around the world, in Ukraine or the Middle East, whoever side you're on, any violence and all violence. Let's be very clear. Judgment is coming for all of it.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That's right. And to bring this home, it's not just you shooting someone or hitting someone, that is violence. Violence done by our words towards our neighbors. Judgment is coming for that. James said it clear.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:How in in one moment with your own mouth can you bless God and then the next you curse God. He he got that from his half brother Jesus who in the Sermon on the Mount said, you think you're okay because you haven't killed anybody. But when you speak an evil word against someone, you have committed murder in your heart. Violence is coming. I'm sorry.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Judgment is coming for every single one of us who think we can get away with the violence of our words. And I say that as someone who who is a Christian. I believe the good news of Jesus that he lived, died, and rose for me. And that in him, eternal life is here. And the kingdom of God is here.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But let's be clear. Judgment's also coming Yes. That's right. For the church and for the world. And so we should think about this not as like a, yeah, God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You better get them. Get all the evil people. No. The the the the hands are not this way. The hands are this way.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, God have mercy on us. God have mercy on us as a church. Have mercy on us as a community for all the ways that we have done violence against our neighbors by the way we speak about them. And so let me just ask us, how many of our lives right now are marked are marked by violence toward our neighbor in this current political season? The ways that you speak about people who see the world differently than you do.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Who vote differently than you do. Who make a priority over one issue that that you seem as, well, I don't know if I can go there. The people of Nineveh felt the reality of god's judgment against violence. What is keeping us from living in in this comfortable place, unaware that we all have sin on our hands, and we need the mercy of God. Because they repented.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It was surprising. It was powerful. National repentance. This is this is what every, like, pastor dreams about experiencing. I'll work hard on Sunday to deliver 3 messages in 35 minutes to get you out, and I've never walked in the lobby and seen everybody repenting.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Not eating. You know, I get handshakes. That was great. Thank you. Oh, so sweet.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Thanks. Been laboring up there. And I love it. I love the handshakes. So I'm, you know, I'll stop them, but I'm just this is an astounding moment.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Everybody repents. Here's what I want us to draw out from this passage. A few things. 1st, that repentance must go deeper than just my feelings. Yes.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Repentance goes deeper than my feelings. In other words, like, when you repent, think about the last time that you actually repented of a sin. Did it feel good? Like, how did it feel? In our story, there in verses 3 and 4, we're told that Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord, went to Nineveh, and then it says this, now Nineveh was a very large city.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It's the second time in this story we've been told there's a large city. It took 3 days to go through it. So maybe he's a traveling prophet going from, you know, village to village or town to town or market to plate marketplace to marketplace, but it took him 3 days to go on this journey. Now, as a casual reader, we would kind of miss the point that Jonah was spit out of the whale not in front of Nineveh, but somewhere else. Which means historians have reminded us that, sure it took 3 days to walk through the city, but how much longer did it take him just to get to Nineveh?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Chances are likely that he actually was spit out around 500 miles away from Nineveh, which means he had a long walk. There ain't no Uber. This man's got a long walk on what day of walking 500 miles. And just to put that in perspective, that's like SoCal to Salt Lake City. If you want to go find like a real Mormon housewife or something like that, you know.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:500 miles. That's a long walk. Scholars estimate that if you're traveling by foot, that's about a month's journey. How many days out of that month do you think it felt good for Jonah to be walking towards Nineveh? And yet, this moment is a key picture that repentance is a lifelong journey.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Repentance is a lifelong journey, where you walk in the same direction for a very long time. Here's why that's the case. Because every single day of our lives, we are pulled away from from being the very thing we were designed to be, and that's a person who lives in loving communion with God. Every single day, the powers of your flesh, the powers of the evil one, the distractions of this world are ripping you away from communion with God, which means you need to regularly repent. You know, I wake up early and I like to start my day with just small prayers, like good morning, God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I'll say that. I'll say, welcome, Holy Spirit. Sometimes Ash will laugh at me like, welcome, Holy Spirit. You know, like, because it sounds like a little trance or something, you know. But it's it's just a way for me to try to early on align myself with communion.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:But give Fredo 5 minutes, and my flesh is already 2 stepping around the whole house. I can so quickly go from trying to pray, welcome, holy spirit, to just acting out in from a place that's just broken, irritated, frustrated. Coffee's not good. Kids aren't listening again. I can turn on a dime, which is why repentance is an ongoing process that doesn't always feel good.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And if you are not familiar with how quickly you can turn, you you probably are blinded to how broken you actually are. Go from singing in the car, I trust in God, and then someone cuts you off. What the hell? You know? Like, you just you lose it in a second.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You you will and that was me on the way to preach this message. We turn on a dime, and it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. It does not feel good. This month, it's, it's October, which means it's birthday month in the Ramos household.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I know a lot of people think nothing good happens on October 30 first, Halloween, but I have two pieces of evidence that something beautiful happened on Halloween because my wife was born on Halloween and so was Eli. So Halloween's a big deal. And so, we we celebrate birthday month, and it's an expensive month, I'll tell you that. But which means on October 1st, the house gets decorated. I surprise them, they come home from school.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There's balloons, and we did it this year. It was fantastic. But a certain child of mine said something that just rocked me, and I turned on him quickly. And the whole way in the car afterward, I was on the phone with Ashley just ashamed at how quickly it went from celebration to condemnation. It's embarrassing how quickly we can turn.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so to to view repentance as something that goes deeper than feelings and is a lifelong journey is a way for you just to freely admit that you are a weak person, and that's okay. You need the grace of God. And and and, man, this is a beautiful thing to enter into. And, again, if you don't feel this tug, like, if you don't think you can turn that quickly, you are deceiving yourself right now. And the invitation for you in repentance is to become familiar with your own heart because it runs deeper than than just feelings.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And this is so important for us. We all live in a world in which we are regularly told the gospel that says the good news is you should do whatever feels good to you. And a life that is always ruled by your appetite will leave you starved for the life of Jesus. Repentance must run deeper than just what feels right in the moment. When when Jesus says for for anyone who tries to save their life, they're gonna lose it, that sounds hard.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And for anyone who wants to find their life, must give it up, that also sounds hard. Like picking up our crosses, nothing easy. I don't discover anything easy in that statement. I just kinda sigh. I'm like, really though, Lord?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And I wanna just name this because so much of my spiritual life is not directed by how I feel. This last season of my life, I've been really meditating on prayer. Been thinking about prayer. Been doing some writing on prayer. And and the first step that I've had to realize is that most the time, I don't like to pray.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I just don't. And I say that specifically knowing that I'm a pastor. Like, I don't have an extra gift that you have. There's no special anointing over here. I don't feel like praying most of the time.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I genuinely don't. I wake up and there's other things I would much rather be doing. And and I think one of the big barriers for our spiritual lives right now is that we will wait to do the things that Jesus calls us to do when we feel like doing them and when it makes sense to us. And so I just wanna openly invite you to consider that so much rich life is waiting for you on the other side of just doing what doesn't feel okay and giving yourself to the practice still and discovering what happens there. Secondly, I want us to be mindful of the fact that repentance not just goes deeper than feelings, but repentance goes much deeper than my own words.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Repentance runs deeper than words. Jonah 6 I'm sorry, verse, verse 6. When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, we're told, and sat down in dust. This is the proclamation he issued by the decree of the king and all the nobles. Don't let any people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Don't let them eat anything. This is profound. This is a decree that all of them actually followed. In other words, Nineveh put actions to their words. They fasted.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Even the animals gotta fast. Like that's like me going home and say, everyone's fasting. Jordy, my dog, you're fasting. And she starts barking. What do you mean I'm fasting?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is your sin. Well, I don't care. You're fasting. No food for you tonight. No no sandwich crust for you.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Everyone everyone takes their repentance beyond just their words. They institutionalize the end of violence, surrender violence. And I say this because it's at this moment that we should clarify that confession and repentance are not the same thing. Confessing is stating what is. Repentance is doing something about it.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Confession is stating what is, good or bad. Repentance is doing something about it. Many of us stop halfway at confession, and and we don't take it to the furthest extent of actually doing something about it. John the Baptist, as he's preparing the way for Jesus, we're told is in the wilderness, and he's preaching, he's baptizing people again as a way to help prepare their minds and hearts for the coming of the Lord. And it's it's a profound moment because, like in Nineveh, there's a surprising transformation happening.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:People are repenting. So much so that people, not just Jews, but even Roman officials, they're all coming to John in the wilderness of all places and saying, John, what should we do? He says this in Luke's gospel, prove the way or prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins. Another translation says, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, repentance always goes beyond just your words, and actually leads you to actions.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It leads us to act a particular kind of way. And so what does it mean then to repent of my greed? It means that you practice being generous with your resources. What does it mean then for some of you to repent of your secret sins that you're ashamed to name today? It means that you confess those things and you seek the help that you need to allow you to live a different kind of way.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What does it, mean to repent of your violence towards your neighbor in a political season? It means maybe for some of you, you stop watching cable news. Knowing that that form of media is designed to make money off your unhappiness, and they are strategically positioned to feel your hatred and disgust for someone who is not like you. So repent in the way that you take in less. What does it mean to repent, of your dismissive attitude towards the poor and needy?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:It means maybe you practically help them with a meal, or you ask them their name the next time you bump into someone who is walking the street. What does it mean to repent of my distractions? It means that I do everything I can to eliminate all the extra crap in my life that is keeping Alfredo from living a life in line with god and in line with the people that god has called me to serve. Repentance always moves us to action. What does repentance look like for you right now?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:What does it look like? As we close, I can't get enough of this one aspect of Jonah 3. For the last few weeks, I've been thinking about this reality, and it's this, that god longed to save Nineveh. God could not wait to show them mercy. And if God was longing to rescue Nineveh, what might be keeping us from thinking that he isn't longing to also rescue us too?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There is no place too dark that God won't reach, and no person too hopeless that he can't save. Israel at that time would have said there was nobody darker or more hopeless than Assyria or Nineveh, and yet God was waiting to show them mercy. It says there in verse 10, when God saw what they did and how they relented and turned from the evil ways, he did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. He loved to show mercy. And what's even more surprising is that in their repentance, they confessed, we don't even know if God will hear us.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Like, perhaps, they don't even know him fully and he can't wait to show them all kinds of mercy and grace. This is good news for all of us today. God loves to be merciful to you and I who find ourselves in darkness, who find ourselves without hope today. Some of you came to church with struggles that you would tell yourself are simply too dark to be saved from. And some of you are even you're you're, like, on the edge of confession, but what you keep telling yourself is that if I say this, I will lose everything.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:The truth is if you don't say it, you stand to lose far more than you can imagine. But if you say it, if you confess, if you repent, you stand to receive more mercy and grace and compassion than you can possibly believe. It will take all of us the rest of eternity trying to understand how compassionate and merciful God has been to us with gross things on our hands and wickedness in our hearts and thoughts that we would be ashamed to even begin the sentence with. The good news is that in the words of Jesus, someone greater than Jonah is here. That's his own words out of the gospel.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Meaning this, Jonah went to Nineveh and said, 40 days, you're you're gonna be overthrown. Jesus came to us and said, I will be overthrown on your behalf. What's profoundly beautiful about Jesus is that he took the, obedience far beyond his feelings. He took his obedience far beyond his words. In fact, Philippians 2 says that he was obedient, even obedient unto death on a cross.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This is a profound invitation for us to consider that someone greater than Jonah is here. You and I have the the widest gate of invitation to confess sin right now and to repent and to receive all that Jesus has for us. And in so doing, to to meditate on this beautiful passage from Psalm 51. As we close, let's just think about these words. David, King David, confronted in his sin by the prophet Nathan, makes the decision that he will no longer hide, he will no longer justify murder, he will no longer justify his adultery, he will just name it.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And listen to his words in Psalm 51, cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Listen to that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Let let me have joy and gladness. And the bones that you have crushed, God, as I've carried the conviction of this sin, let them rejoice. This is one of the profound gifts that awaits every single one of us on the other side of repentance. It's joy. It's joy.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Christianity is the only religion religion that would offer every single one of us. If you repent, if you get honest, there's joy waiting for you. Profound joy waiting for all of us on the other side of confession and repentance. Repent and receive joy. He goes on to say, hide your face from my sins, blot out all my iniquity, and create in me a pure heart, oh god, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Renew a steadfast spirit. You know what that is? That's the other gift to joy, and that's power. That is an immense supernatural power. There is power waiting for Sandals Church on the other side of repentance.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We wanna reach our cities. We wanna reach the nation. We wanna bring the good news. Power is waiting for us on the other side of repenting of our sins and ending our violence. He says, don't cast me away from your presence or take your holy spirit from me.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Do you hear the pain in David's voice? Don't take your spirit from me. That's an honest Christian life if you ever said those words. Don't take your spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit. A willing spirit is a spirit that says, man, I just got shot out of a fish, but I'm going to walk this long road to Nineveh. That's a willing spirit. And grant me, I'm sorry, he says, to sustain me. And then here's where he gets very specific to religious folk like us at Sandals, you don't delight in sacrifice or I would bring it.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:That means leave your religiosity at home, leave the performance at home. You don't take pleasure in burnt offerings, my sacrifice, oh God, is a broken spirit. Contrite heart you, god, will not despise. What is needed of you right now? No performance, no games, just a broken spirit.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:A broken spirit that says, God, I confess and I repent. What sin would you feel that that god is inviting you to repent of today? What sin is it? For me, it's the sin of tolerance. Here's what I mean by that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:My life, for the most part, is a sweet gift, but that's come with some downsides in the way that I have tolerated comfort, I have tolerated distractions, and I have tolerated little sins that have kept me from both joy and power in my life. I, as a person, know what I should do, but I have little joy in doing it. I, as a person following Jesus, know what I should do, but I have such little power in doing it. Why? Because I have some repenting to do.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I have some confession to do. And that begins with just naming the sin of what I have tolerated in my own life, tolerated in my own heart, tolerated in my community for too long. What sin do you need to confess and repent of today? That, listen now, god is inviting you into his mercy. There is no judgment on the other side of this.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There is no, condemnation for you. There is but mercy and grace and joy and power for anyone who would say, god, renew a right spirit in me. Cleanse me of my sin. Let's do that now. Heavenly father, I love to sing the words that I am prone to wander.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Lord, I feel that prone to leave the God I love, and I'm not alone in confessing that. And so we announce today with as much courage that we have that we are prone to wander, And I ask, god, that you would, in your in your own grace and power, help us to surrender our violence and and help us in your power to take our repentance beyond just what feels good. Take our repentance beyond our words and lead us to a place of joy and lead us to a place of power where new life can happen and where the gospel can go forth in power. Would you do that work in us now? We pray in Jesus' name.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Amen.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandals church.com.