This is part 4 of a sermon series on Jonah entitled “Surprised by Grace.”

In this sermon—“The Ultimate Price of Rescue”—we see that Jonah’s self centered flight from God generates an act of divine intervention which produces a momentary act of selflessness on Jonah’s part. It would seem he is getting better, that he’s learned his lesson. But the rest of the book shows Jonah slipping back into self-centeredness.

This pattern mirrors our own lives. One moment we’re doing something selfless and the next moment we are acting despicably selfish. One moment we are giving and the next moment we are taking. As Paul says in Romans 7: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

What we see in this message is that no matter how often you run or to what dark places your roaming may take you, God NEVER stops coming for you with infinite amounts of gritty grace, muscular mercy, and ferocious forgiveness.

"Jesus + Nothing = Everything", Part 2 | Tullian Tchividjian

Wheaton College, January 19, 2012

This is part 3 of a sermon series on Jonah entitled “Surprised by Grace.”

In this sermon—“Divine Intervention”—we see God go after Jonah in a storm. It seems at first that this storm is divine punishment fueled by God’s anger toward Jonah for running away. But it’s actually divine intervention fueled by God’s affection for Jonah.

When we run, God will send storms—usually in the form of consequences. But each storm God sends is a merciful intrusion designed to wake us up and set us free.

God is in the business of relentlessly pursuing rebels like us and he comes after us not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to self so that we might become truly free.

Jonah 1:4-10

"Jesus + Nothing = Everything", Part 1 | Tullian Tchividjian

Wheaton College, January 18, 2012

This is part 2 of a sermon series on Jonah entitled “Surprised by Grace.”

In this sermon—“Flight From God"—we see that Jonah’s runaway posture is our runaway posture. We runaway from God as quickly as Jonah did—and it always leads us to dark places.

The good news is that God spares no expense in coming after fugitives like us. This is a story that shows how quick we are to run away from God AND how quick God is to run after us. And he does so, not because he needs us, but because we need him.

Here is a throwback message from 2013 delivered at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina: “Grace for the Promiscuous and the Pious.”

Jonah 1:1-3

This past Sunday, Tullian began a new series on the book of Jonah entitled “Surprised by Grace.” We are super excited about it because, believe it or not, the story of Jonah is NOT about a fish swallowing a man 😊

It’s so much more than that.

Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel.

It’s a story of sin and grace, of desperation and deliverance.

It’s a story that exposes all the things besides God that we build our lives on—a story, in other words, about where we find our identity.

It’s a story about idolatry and the things we actually depend on to make life worth living, to make us feel like we matter.

It’s a story about how quick we are to run from God and how quick God is to run after us.

It’s a story about a God who spares no expense to rescue fugitives of grace and freedom.

So, join us on this journey through Jonah….

"There is no other Stream" | Stacie Tchividjian

We love to believe that we are better than we are, stronger than we are, more spiritual and faithful than we are. We feel more valuable and important if we can convince ourselves of these things.

But this overinflated view of ourselves is actually enslaving.

What happens when the giants we face always seem to win: when we can’t overcome the addiction for more than a week, when we can’t seem to beat our anger problem, when no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to tame our tongue, or get past our anxiety, or escape our fears?

What happens when no amount of positive thinking can overcome the giant of guilt and shame you feel down deep? Have you ever tried to strong arm yourself out of a depression? Have you ever tried to talk yourself out of your insecurities? How did that work?

Real slavery in the Bible is self-reliance…and the only thing that can set us free from the bondage of relying on ourselves is coming face to face with our own deficiencies.

This means that weakness is your best friend when you know it. After all, true freedom involves two confessions: “I can’t” and "God can."

We hope this message from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 encourages you.

The Book of Romans has long been recognized as the apostle Paul's Magnum Opus. Everything God wants us to believe about guilt and grace, sin and salvation, failure and forgiveness, can be found in Romans.  

In this classic sermon series from 2014, Tullian Tchividjian liberatingly unpacks the life-giving message of this monumental letter showing that Romans is pure theological therapy for the soul.  

Tullian divides the letter into three parts:  

The diagnosis section: Romans 1-3. 

The deliverance section: Romans 4-11. 

The description section: Romans 12-16.  

We hope this series of 23 sermons will set you free in brand new ways.  

Here is Part 23.