You might assume that God prefers to use perfect Christians to accomplish his goals, but think again. The Bible is filled with stories about broken people who became heroes of the faith. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl cites a stellar example, the reluctant prophet who was swallowed by a great fish. In this study, we'll see that God never gives up on us, even when we've given up on ourselves.
So whether you're carrying guilt, shame, or regret, this message will remind you that His mercy is as fast as the ocean, and His grace always gets the last word. There are so many things I love about our God. All these great characteristics of our God that make us love Him so. There is one that always brings me to my knees. and overwhelms me with gratitude.
And it is that Our God is so merciful.
So merciful. He is full of grace. and mercy. For as often as you fail, He is there. to hold you fast.
and to take you on.
Now, the second chance, grace of God. needs to be understood.
So, allow me for a few moments before we look at how it. became for Jonah a reason to go on. What it means is this. His understanding is limitless. He realizes that each one of us is far from perfect.
Oh, we may amass of A mighty fine resume, and we may have impressive credentials.
Some more than others. The God who looks beyond the surface Seeing the heart, reading the motives. Knowing the truth All of it. has an infinite capacity to forgive us. At any moment of failure, Our God is the best, remembering that we are but dust.
Remembering that we often refuse to obey him. offers us a second chance. A third chance. A lifetime of opportunities. to move on past.
where we are at this time. He has an infinite capacity to forgive us an infinite number of times. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. He always longs for us to obey him. But there are occasions When we continue to do so, when he steps in, And according to Hebrews 12, verses 5 through 11, as a father disciplines his children, so the Lord disciplines those he loves.
And no suffering for the present time is joyous, but grievous.
So while he forgives, there may be consequences. to our wrongdoing. Matter of fact, I find As I work my way through the scriptures. One person after another whom we would all say stand out as a significant character in the Bible? often being given a second chance.
Get to the New Testament. We come to Peter. We've looked at him before. No reason to turn. This.
Spokesman for the disciples. Who has just made his greatest statement in life? You are the Christ. The Son of the Living God. And the Lord says to him, Flesh and blood does not reveal that to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And then the Lord tells of his plans for The cross and Peter rebukes him and says, you're not going to die. Many things will happen, but death will not be one of them. And the Lord says to him, Get behind me, Satan. Shortly thereafter, Jesus Says to him before the Cock Croz. twice, you will have denied me three times.
And he did. That's exactly what happens. Yeah. And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. at the second crowing of the cock.
And Ultimately, the Lord comes back and says to him at the shores of Galilee. I want you to feed my sheep. And feed my lambs. He gives him a second chance. And then I'll name another that is a little less famous, but we've talked of him before.
That would be John Mark. or John as he travels with Paul and Barnabas, as they began their first journey, And when things get tough and The mosquitoes bite, and the diseases come, and the mountains are high, and the climb is arduous. and the future is bleak. And the enemy is real. He gets scared.
And he deserts. He deserts The two when he He slips away. He doesn't even leave a note. And they find out in the morning that He's taken his backpack in And he's run. He's failed him.
The failure is so real that when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas are talking of a second journey, And barn of us want so much to give John a second chance. Paul will have nothing of it. A man who will Prove himself unfaithful once, will prove himself unfaithful again, and he won't hear of it. Barnabas takes John and sails to Cyprus. Paul chooses Silas and begins the second journey.
And John lives in the backwash of that embarrassing. A failure. Until finally, at the end of Paul's life, 2 Timothy writing That final letter Paul says to Timothy, Bring John Mark with you. He would be profitable to me for the ministry, second chance. How great that must have sounded.
In the years of John Mark. He has been given a second chance.
Now all of that has prepared us for for this third chapter of uh of Jonah. We've groaned our way through Jonah's life and we've. found ourselves uh longing for Jonah to get the message and Finally in the belly of the fish, He prays and offers up his songs of praises and his Sacrifices to the Lord and says, I will fulfill my vows. Jonah 2 and verse 9. My deliverance comes from the Lord alone.
And when the Lord heard that, The fish spewed him out on the shoreline and And there stands Jonah. ready to hear These words of mercy. From the Lord. Before I go into this third chapter. I know that there are some of you who need to hear these words today.
Because you have failed. And you're Embarrassed to think that that would be found out by others. and realize that you Certainly you are found out by the Lord. He's never been absent.
So you especially hear these words. From Jonah chapter 3. I love the beginning of verse one. Then. The Lord.
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah. a second time. There's the God of the second chance. He doesn't have his hands on his hips shaming Jonah. He doesn't have his finger pointing at him.
Saying your own probation. For the next two years, to prove the sincerity of your repentance. No, that's not a second chance. That's probation. That's not forgiveness.
The Lord comes to Jonah the second time. And notice what he says to Jonah, He says, get up and go to Nineveh. That sound familiar. It's exactly what he heard as the book begins. Where he was told to get up and go to the great city of Nineveh.
Check it for yourself. Verse 2. But in that case Rather than going 500 miles. east to Nineveh. He gets on the ship.
to travel 2,500 miles west to Tarshis. But now Jonah hears the second time It's the same. Message. God's desire for Nineveh to hear it. has not changed.
His person to make the announcement. has not changed. It's still you, Jonah. You're still my spokesman. Failure though you have been.
I give you this second chance. To speak for me and deliver what I will give you. And I think that's worth noting here in this second. Deliver the message I have given you. It wasn't Jonah's message.
To be proclaimed, it was God's, and every preacher, every evangelist. Every missionary Every musician who delivers the message of God must remember it is God's message. His message is to be proclaimed. It is not mine. It is not ours.
It's interesting what God does not do. He does not tell Jonah. What's going to happen as a result? of his proclamation. How gracious of God not to tell him.
Because I think Jonah was thinking they are going to be destroyed. Hot dog. That's what I want. As we've talked about, Jonah the racist. He despises the Ninevites.
He hates what they've been doing. He wants nothing but their destruction.
So when he hears the message, it is the same. He thinks, I'll do it. I can take that message, but God doesn't tell him what is going to happen. By the way, it's gracious of God. Uh not to tell preachers or evangelists or Profits.
What he's going to do. Just deliver the message, get out of the way. I'll take it from there. All I need is a voice box. You carry the message.
I'll take it from there. reminds me of Habakkuk. one of the minor profits that we Rarely Read. If you read Habakkuk, you're not very far into the account before. you read two questions that stand out.
I have them circled in my Bible. The first question is, how long, Lord? Because Habakkuk is living in Perilous times. The people around him are wicked people. They are compromising.
They are unjust. They are unfair. When justice goes forth, it's twisted. It's prejudiced. How long do I put up with this kind of people?
And the Lord says, You stay right where you are. You're my man. And I know what I'm doing. And Obaca says, tell me what you're going to do. I'm ready to hear it.
And the Lord says to him: If I told you, you wouldn't believe it. And uh Habakkuk responds, I will tell me.
So is that all right? I'm bringing in the Babylonians, and they are going to wipe you folks out. And Habakkuk goes, I can't believe it. He finds out And that's exactly what happens. which causes him in that second question to ask, why?
Why would you do that? You see, in God's sovereign plan, There are mysterious Things that unfold that we can't see the end to. at the time they are happening. And we wrestle with them. Matter of fact, we have trouble justifying some of them.
We even can't defend them. But God is at work. And he knows what he's about.
So he says to Jonah, you take my message. And you declare it, and this is it. Forty days from now, Nineveh will be... Destroyed. Period.
I'm telling you that was a brief message. And that's Jonah's message. God could have used an angel. He didn't want to use an angel. He wanted a man.
He wanted a spokesman. He chose a prophet, flawed though he had been. He chose one who had been given a second chance. And God's Plan was a It was to the point, wasn't it? I mean, look at the message there.
in that verse. I mean, it gives new meaning to what most young preachers need to remember. Stand up, speak up, and shut up. You tend to be reluctant about standing, getting into a message. You tend to meander around when you deliver, and it comes to the end, you don't know when to stop.
Jonah, I got a period in this message. Don't hesitate to deliver it. Don't complicate it. And don't elaborate. You deliver this message.
Step up. No hesitation. Say it straight. No meanderings. And when you're done, get out of the way.
No pleadings. I wish I had learned it. the value of that early on. I felt it was that so much was my responsibility. I felt that if I'm to deliver God's message, Then I'm responsible for following up.
So I got Pretty legalistic. early on. checking up on people and cornering people and forming opinions about people Uh You know what? I don't do that anymore. I rest very easily in my nap on Sunday afternoons.
I'm not worried about you. I'm not struggling over what God's going to do. With his word. The only thing that may bother me is if I garbled a message. If I didn't deliver it clearly and carefully and well.
But if I did, I'd get out of the way. You'll never know me to plead with you. or follow you or beg you. or in some way corner you. Poking a finger on your sternum saying, Were you listening?
Did you stay awake and hear that? What have you done about last week's message? Most of you can't even remember last week's message. for whatever reason.
So let me say this and I'll get out of the way. and take on my nap for this afternoon. Let me say, first of all, if you're running. You can't escape. Have you been running from God?
I don't know of a bigger waste of time. You can't outrun. Omnipresence. He's everywhere. Psalm 139, even if I take the wings of the dawn and dwell in the remotest part of the sea.
Even there you will be. Even there, If I go to heaven there. If I go to the place of the grave, you're there. You can't escape God.
So stop the running. Stop and listen and turn around. It's called repentance. Second, I would say, if you've blown it. Seek His forgiveness.
Don't wallow in the misery of your shame. Another waste of time. God sees that you've blown it. He understands that you're just. Like the rest of us, sinful, a pile of dust.
That's the way you are? And he knows fully what you've done and why you've done it. And he's the good news is he's full of mercy.
So if you voted Come to him. Clam. Just exactly as you are. You don't have to clean up or dress up. or act on.
All you've got to do is say, here I am. Fallen, broken. Miserable. And I need what you can give, and that's your forgiveness.
So, third, if you need a second chance, it's yours for the asking. Take it. Listen to these reassuring words again. It is of the Lord's mercies. that we are not consumed.
Because his compassions fail not. His compassion is They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. What good news that is. There's a wideness in God's mercy.
Like the wideness Of the sea. Bow with me, will you? Just with that mental image in mind. of the vast sea That has formed the oceans around us. That's God's mercy.
It's there. It's limitless. It's infinite. And the best part of all, it's available. It's there for you to take it.
Embrace it. Claim it. I often give people a simple prayer to follow. If that will help. Lord, I'm A sinner.
I know it, you know it. Most people who know me know it. I'm lost. I've been going in the wrong direction. Long enough.
And today I turn around. I repent of that direction and I move. To you Dear Father, And I take your son. Who paid the penalty for my sin as my. Savior.
Right now, I trust him. to forgive me to give me another chance. Thank you. Father, for bringing Christ into my life. If you will pray that, we would love so much to follow up and.
and help you along the way. But because we don't follow you around, we don't corner you. The next move is yours. You let us know. You have made this decision.
Let us know how we can connect with you. And that will be our pleasure. That's why we exist. It's to help people. move from misery to mercy.
Thank you, Lord, for speaking today in such a way. that really even a child could understand. Thank you for the record that you have kept. of people we've known about and read about. Each of whom was a failure.
At some point Each of whom was used again. By your mercy and grace. Thank you for telling us about that. and giving us hope. In the midst of this sea of mercy.
Thank you for cleansing us and washing us clean. through the blood of the Lord Jesus. I pray that whoever may be hearing these words and having never come to Christ. We'll trust. You now.
For forgiveness and hope. and eternal life. Through Jesus Christ. Our faithful Truthful. Loyal.
Merciful Savior. I pray. Everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. and with his closing prayer, Chuck Swindahl concludes his message called God of the Second Chance.
In recent years, we've discovered that many in our listening family enjoy keeping Chuck's messages on hand to listen at their own pace or to share with friends and family.
Well, all nine sermons in this series on Jonah are available right now on Audio C D or MP3. To purchase the complete collection or to access the other Bible study tools for our study on Jonah, go to insight.org/slash offer. Chuck titled this nine-part series, Jonah the Reluctant Prophet. In addition, we'd love to offer you a brand new booklet by Chuck Swindahl. In October of last year, Chuck preached his last sermon as the senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church.
It was the weekend of his 90th birthday. In his final sermon, Chuck reflected on the final word of the Apostle Paul, who who in his letter to Timothy looked back on his lifetime of service to Christ. We'd love to send you a copy of this booklet containing Chuck's last sermon. It's called Look Beyond. Will you focus on eternity?
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Join us when Chuck Swindahl continues his biographical study of Jonah, the reluctant prophet. Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message God of the Second Chance was copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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