[0:00] Good evening and welcome again to the worship of our God and again how thankful we are for this chance to worship Him this evening. Just the same announcement as the morning, but it's well worth repeating.
[0:12] That of course is the WFM Open Meeting is this Wednesday. WFM Open Meeting this Wednesday, 7.30 in the hall. 7.30, all welcome, and it's Colin McLean and Robert France talking about their recent trip to Israel.
[0:30] So, well worth attending if you're able to. Let's carry on our public worship of God by singing to His praise. We sing from Psalm 13, the Scottish Psalter, and Psalm 13.
[0:44] Scottish Psalter, Psalm 13. We can sing verses 1 down to verse 6 of the Psalm. That's on page 213 of the Church Psalm Books.
[0:54] Page 213, Scottish Psalter, Psalm 13. Page 213. How long wilt thou forget me, Lord?
[1:06] Shall it forever be? How long shall it be that thou wilt hide thy face from me? How long take counsel in my soul? Still sad and hurt shall I.
[1:17] How long exalted over me shall be mine enemy? Psalm 13, verses 1 to 6. To God's praise. How long wilt thou forget me, Lord? How long wilt thou forget me, Lord?
[1:37] Shall it forever be? O God's praise. How long wilt thou forget me, Lord? How long wilt thou forget me, Lord?
[1:47] How long wilt thou forget me, Lord? If he be that thou, Lord? If he be that thou with thy life in me hat ledonse with thy life Would oh Till something heart shall I.
[2:20] How long has God till over me.
[2:30] Shall be my name. O Lord my God.
[2:42] Consider the well. And answer to me.
[2:54] My eyes and eye carelessly.
[3:06] All can be over me. Let's light my hand.
[3:19] Let me just sit. Again, still I feel.
[3:32] And those that have the nearly choice. When I am to the hill.
[3:51] But I have all. My heart will end. Thy mercy set upon.
[4:09] My heart will end. Me shall rejoice.
[4:20] In thy salvation. I will undo.
[4:34] The Lord my Lord. Sing places cheer for me.
[4:48] Because he has. His heart will be strong.
[4:59] To me. As the Lord. Let's join together in a word of prayer.
[5:13] Amen. Lord, we come once more before you. And again, we find ourselves with the need to humble ourselves down before you. Lord, we know in one sense that your presence is not more so here because of the building.
[5:30] Or because of even the history and the godly history of this place. Lord, your presence is here because we are here worshiping your name. We do praise you for this opportunity. Lord, help us not even having come together for a second time in the same day.
[5:44] Help us not just to take for granted this opportunity. Help us to treasure every moment we have together. To treasure every moment we have in fellowship. And in worship.
[5:56] And in praise like this together. Lord, we know that even us being here is an act of your mercy towards us. Even us being here this evening is a showing of your love towards your people.
[6:09] You've given us not just a building we can comfortably join together in. But you've given us this time. This opportunity to come together away from the various many burdens and concerns of this world.
[6:22] And to spend time once more together. Time once more worshiping your name together as brothers and sisters. Time once more around your word. As we seek each one of us to hear from you.
[6:35] As you speak to us from your word. We give you praise for that reality. We come this evening not waiting for the words of man. But we come this evening around your word. The inspired word which you have given to us.
[6:48] Which you have preserved for us. That word which we know is all that we need to live a life that honors and glorifies you. That word which gives us all we need to know about salvation.
[7:01] About knowing who you are. And about knowing that our place with you is certain for those who believe. And those who know Jesus. And those who love Jesus. But help us this evening to make your word alive and fresh to us once more.
[7:16] We confess that we often come to a time of worship. Lord, both preacher and hearer alike. And perhaps your word is still closed to us. Of these times where we feel, Lord, as if the printed words on the page are not speaking to us as your words.
[7:32] Or we ask you to make that reality known to us. Lord, help us to move away from the various thoughts and worries and burdens which plague our minds.
[7:43] Especially which plague our minds in time of worship. We pray once more for those whose minds are heavy this evening. Those, perhaps, whose souls and whose very spirit feels heavy this evening.
[7:55] You alone know, Lord God. You alone know their situations. You alone know their prayers and their circumstances. We ask that you would work in their lives. If it's your will, Lord, you would intervene and change situations.
[8:09] Lord, if it's your will, you would come alongside them and they would know your presence even in the midst of situations. We pray, dear, for those who know you and who love you.
[8:20] But who are feeling perhaps even far from you this evening. Even some, even here. Who, as of yet, Lord, have waited for weeks, if not months, if not perhaps years.
[8:31] Who know you and who love you. But whether for their own sin or whether for reasons they do not understand. They are feeling a distance having grown between you and them. We ask that even this evening, you would bring them back to yourself.
[8:45] Bring them back to that saving knowledge. Or that saving knowledge that they are yours. That you know them. That you have sought them out. That you have saved them. That you keep them. But you promise never to let your people go.
[8:56] We pray for any here this evening who, again, as of yet, cannot say that. Who, as of yet, cannot say that. They know what it is to know the Lord and to love the Lord. We thank you for them. We ask you would once more, Lord, work in their lives.
[9:09] So they would come to know and come to serve. Come to follow and come to love Jesus as their Savior. Lord, help us in our own personal witness. Help us in our homes.
[9:20] With those who are closest to us. With, Lord, spouses and siblings. Sons and daughters and parents. Help us to be bold and brave witnesses.
[9:31] Help us to be gentle and to be careful in our conduct. Help us in all that we think, say and do. To be reflecting the great love and joy of our Savior.
[9:42] The one who has brought us out of darkness into marvelous and his marvelous light. Help our witness to reflect that great salvation work. Lord, forgive us for the times our witness lets us down.
[9:55] Forgive us for the times this week we have acted and thought and spoken in a way that does not glorify you. Lord, we ask you to forgive us these things. We ask for this week for fresh opportunities.
[10:08] Fresh chances to share the word. Fresh opportunities to talk about you to those who you are putting in our places. We do ask, Lord, for these opportunities. We ask for them in home and in places of work.
[10:21] We ask for them, Lord, day by day as we spend our lives in this village, in this area. That you would, Lord, use us as your witnesses in this place. We pray once more. I pray, Lord, we hope to pray until you remove us from this place.
[10:36] We pray we would see this village, this district, this area, Lord, full of people who know you and who love you. Who call themselves your people. Once more, we pray for our friends next door as they seek the same.
[10:51] Days of refreshing and days of renewal. Days where we see households and families up and down, Lord, the street and these streets here, up and down these roads. Come to know and come to love and come to serve you and come to call you, our God.
[11:05] Lord, we know we pray this prayer. We look around and we see a church that is, Lord, near enough empty. And we know that as we pray this, we feel ourselves so small and the task so big.
[11:16] We feel ourselves so weak and the calling just too much. But we give you praise that when we find ourselves small and weak, we find the calling so great. We come to you.
[11:27] The one who tells us that the fields are ready for harvest. Lord, but those who are willing to do the work, that they are few. Lord, prepare us, we ask.
[11:39] Give us that zeal, that desire to serve you in this place. To see your name lifted up and your name glorified. For your glory and for your glory alone. We pray once more, Lord, for the children of this congregation.
[11:52] We thank you for them. We praise your name that there's a Sunday school here. There's a gathering, Lord, of young people who are hearing the word taught and explained.
[12:03] And, Lord, that we ask that all they hear in sung worship and in church and in their time in Sunday school would be a blessing to them. Not a blessing now, but if not now, a blessing perhaps even in years to come.
[12:16] They could look back and say that this is where they first heard about you. Or even if it's your will, this is where they first met you. And we pray once more for all those involved in Sunday school. Or those involved in the hard work behind the scenes.
[12:29] As we look forward perhaps to, Lord, various other ideas in the future. And various other plans with, if you will it, with the youth in this area. We ask, Lord, you bless, Lord, the work. Bless all the work that we hope to do in this congregation.
[12:41] All the work that, Lord, we seek to do to see your name glorified in this place. Lord, we ask that all that we seek to do would be done for your name's sake. Lord, if we know that if you're not in it, then it will fail.
[12:54] And if you're not in it, there will be no fruit of all the hard work we may put into it, Lord. If it's not done in your name and for your sake. If it's not done following your leading and your guiding. Lord, there is no reason for us to do it.
[13:06] Give us wisdom, we ask, in all the plans and all the ideas. Give us wisdom as we seek to see this place know Jesus and hear about Jesus. As we seek to see this village become one where your name is known from house to house.
[13:18] Lord, and from road to road. We again ask this knowing it's beyond our efforts. Beyond our ability, but it's not beyond yours. Lord, help us come this evening with hearts and minds again ready to listen to your word.
[13:32] Lord, take away from us distracting thoughts just now. And take away from us, Lord, perhaps doubts of assurance. Doubts of place before you for those who are yours.
[13:44] Take away from us perhaps the attacks of the enemy for those who are yours this evening. Take away, Lord, from us all these things which take us away from listening carefully to your word. Open your word to us, we ask.
[13:56] Help us to come again to sing for your praise. Help us again not just to do the sung worship as part of the evening, but help us to do so understanding the words we sing. Caring for the words we sing.
[14:08] Knowing that you hear our worship. We worship. We worship a living God who is in our presence and we are in your presence at this very moment as we worship you. Lord, forgive us our sins.
[14:19] We come confessing them and come claiming only the righteousness we find in our risen Saviour. In his name's sake. Let's call these things. Amen.
[14:30] Let's again sing to God's praise again from the Scottish Psalter. Again, all our worship this evening is from the Psalter. The Scottish Psalter, Psalm 103.
[14:41] Psalm 103. The Scottish Psalter, Psalm 103. It's on page 369.
[14:52] On page 369. And we can sing verses 8 down to verse 13 of the psalm. Psalm 103, verses 8 to 13. Psalm 103.
[15:03] The Lord our God is merciful and he is gracious. Longs suffering and slow to wrath and mercy plenteous. He will not chide continually, nor keep his anger still.
[15:15] With us he dealt not as we sinned, nor did requite our ill. Psalm 103, verses 8 to 13. To God's praise. Psalm 103, verses 8 to 13. The Lord our God is merciful and he is gracious.
[15:28] The Lord our God is merciful and he is gracious.
[15:42] The Lord our God is merciful and he is merciful and he is gracious.
[15:59] He will not try contented by He, nor keep His hunger still.
[16:14] Where does He get, nor God's we sin, nor give He require the ill.
[16:30] For all the hell and better He has gotten, ring your suspiciness with your spirit also love.
[16:47] So good, you are loosed by you, and then we're to the end and then, see small as part of the seas, isn't it, is not long Jane.
[17:13] The west so far are free From the streamer Let him miss the Other iniquity Search for the As a father Unto his Trev in the air Like him he chose The Lord to serve As one should live in the air So turn to reading God's word
[18:17] Coming to an end of our series In the book of Jonah Book of Jonah That's on page 727 Page 727 It's a hard book often to find Even if you know where it is You often skip past it Page 727 Jonah chapter 4 Page 727 Jonah chapter 4 Let's hear again the word Of God It displeased Jonah exceedingly And he was angry And he prayed to the Lord And said O Lord Is not this what I said When I was yet in my country That is why I made haste To flee to Tarshish For I knew That you are a gracious God And merciful Slow to anger And abounding in steadfast love And relenting from disaster Therefore Therefore O Lord Please take my life
[19:19] From me For it's better for me To die than to live The Lord said Do you do well To be angry Jonah went out of the city And sat to the east of the city And made a booth For himself there He sat under it In the shade Till he should see What would become Of the city Now the Lord God Appointed a plant And would it come up Over Jonah And there might be A shade over his head To save him From his discomfort So Jonah was exceedingly glad Because of the plant But when dawn came up The next day God appointed a worm That attacked the plant So that it withered When the sun rose God appointed a scorching east wind And the sun beat down On the head of Jonah So that he was faint And he asked That he might die And said It is better for me To die than to live But God said to Jonah
[20:19] Do you do well To be angry For the plant And he said Yes I do well to be angry Angry enough to die And the Lord said You pity the plant For which you did not labour Nor do you make it grow Which came into being In a night And perished in a night And should I not Should not I pity Nineveh That great city In which there are more than 120,000 persons Who do not know Their right hand From their left And also much cattle Give praise to God For his holy And his perfect Word Let's once more sing To God's praise This time from Psalm 145 Psalm 145 Scottish Psalter Psalm 145 We can sing the second version Of the Psalms Psalm 145 The second version Of the Psalm It's on page 444
[21:20] Of the Psalm books We can sing verses 8 Down to verse 14 Of the Psalm Psalm 145 From verse 8 The Lord our God Is gracious Compassionate Is he also In mercy He is plenteous But unto wrath And anger slow Good unto all men Is the Lord Where all his works His mercy is Thy works All praise To thee afford Thy saints O Lord Thy name Shall bless Stand and sing These verses To God's praise Amen The Lord The Lord Is gracious Compassionate In See Our Soul On
[22:31] Shack is the Lord for all his time his mercy is thy works all praise to thee I Lord thy name O Lord thy name shall rest the glory of thy kingdom shall lead and all thy power tell that storm and sun escapes in all this kingdom space that could excel thy kingdom have come to come to come to come to come to come come to come to come to come to come to come let's turn back to the chapter we had book of
[24:27] Jonah and chapter four book of Jonah chapter four of course taking in the whole chapter this evening but for the sake of a text we just take the first verse it takes in that first verse all that's going on but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and so on and so on we said from the start of our short study a few weeks ago that despite what we might know the book of Jonah to be about the big fish and Jonah's running away there is one central theme that we see again and again displayed in various ways and that theme is of course the mercy of God as we come to this evening to our final chapter here we see that being shown to us so clearly so precisely and it's it's shown to us unfortunately in contrast towards a very unmerciful a very unkind a very unpleasant situation from Jonah himself but Jonah's unkindness
[25:42] Jonah's unpleasantness Jonah's anger shows us more clearly the love and the mercy of God last week we ended at the end of chapter 3 with the great news that the people of Nineveh repented they listened to the message given to them by Jonah they repent and God in verse 10 of chapter 3 God saw the repentance and God relents God relents of the disaster he had promised to do to this people he does not destroy them as he said he would if they did not repent they repent and God holds back his destruction if we didn't know the story I know we do but if we didn't just imagine for a second this is new to you if we didn't know what would come next chapter 4 could well be about Jonah then praising God for his mercy praising God for his goodness Lord you saved me from my own waywardness you saved me from death you rescued me you've rescued this massive city of people how good you are unfortunately we know that's not what we read in this last chapter of Jonah it's quite the opposite the servant of the Lord who's seen mercy who's been shown mercy the last thing we hear of this man at least for now in this part of scripture he's just right back almost where he started in one sense he's in Nineveh he's done his job physically he's obeyed the Lord but we see here his heart is still not where it should be in fact quite opposite his heart is almost right back at home his heart is right back hundreds of miles away we said back where he started back just beside his house there he's moved his mindset his heart certainly hasn't we see this evening as we spend just a short time looking at these verses together we see that
[27:53] Jonah still has a lesson to learn and with that God still has something to teach Jonah and with that God still has something to teach us as we come to his final few verses his final section just under three very general headings and they are general first of all verses 1 down to verse 3 where we see too much mercy too much mercy then verses 5 down to verse 9 or 10 roughly not enough mercy mercy and then the final few verses verses 10 and verse 11 the question how much mercy so too much mercy not enough mercy and how much mercy first of all too much mercy verses 1 down to verse 3 we begin with our angry prophet left him last week doing his job well now we find him again job's done but Jonah is less than pleased but displeased
[29:02] Jonah exceedingly and he was angry with respect with respect and being honest this verse of these two verses verses 1 and 2 every time I read them it just gets to me you just read it you think Jonah Jonah what are you saying what are you saying we know that he knows who God is he admits in chapter 1 that God's the God of heaven and earth who made all things who sustains all things he is Yahweh he is creator he is sustainer and yet in chapter 4 Jonah is speaking back to God not just that he's speaking back to God in a way that is just awful we'll see that in a second why we can say that in a way that is just awful here we find the great restored prophet who does that wonderful prayer of repentance in chapter 2 and there's some who will say based on what happens in chapter 4 that improves what happened in chapter 2 that prayer of repentance it isn't genuine that chapter 2 is just
[30:16] Jonah saying what he thinks needs to be said for God to rescue him you could argue that you could argue that I think I would go with the fact that chapter 2 is genuine because chapter 2 shows us we combine it with chapter 4 that Jonah is just like us but we're just like Jonah how often can you think just now to yourself how often can you think of times God has shown you mercy God has shown restraint when you find yourself in sin and in rebellion as a Christian when you find yourself back sliding when you find yourself in a place mentally physically spiritually you know you shouldn't be in it's all your fault and God rescues you and God shows you mercy and like Jonah in chapter 2 you and I with you we can we can praise God and we mean it and we can do the
[31:17] Lord's work for a while but then we find ourselves then in chapter 4 with poor Jonah with foolish Jonah we stopped praising God's mercy now we're complaining to God about something else yet we're in sin yet again we're making a mess of things yet again and it shows us it shows us that we're all the same ultimately and to our shame we are Jonah the great prophet of the Lord and us here in Tulsa we're all the same faults the same failings when it comes to the Lord how quickly we can change from being faithful servants to messing it up again and again and again well here we see the words that Jonah dares to say to Yahweh God verse 2 Jonah prays to the Lord prays to Yahweh and he says oh Yahweh oh Lord is not this what I said when
[32:18] I was yet in my country that's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish for I knew you are gracious God and merciful slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster with respect we could summarise Jonah's prayer I knew this would happen I knew this would happen I knew you'd be merciful I knew you'd be kind I knew you'd be gracious I knew I came here to preach destruction to these people these evil people I came to tell them to repent and look what's happened they've repented and now you're going to save them you're actually going to do what I know you're going to do you're going to save these people and be merciful towards them this this is not just a man who's having a huff it's not just a man who's a bit annoyed if you have the church bibles and it's interesting it includes this and it's good for us to include this we see there's actually a wee note for us which gives a wee insight into the
[33:31] Hebrew we said before there's nothing in the English it's not in Hebrew but sometimes the Hebrew gives a bit more of a poetic addition for us we said before it's quite close in the Gaelic but here we see if you look down I think we all have it in our Bibles too we do we see it in the four in the bottom where it says that it displeased Jonah exceedingly the original is really much more harsh than that much more harsh Jonah thought it an evil thing how does the Bible have it here it was exceedingly evil to Jonah Jonah thought it was an evil thing that God would save these people we think Jonah we spent weeks talking to you looking at you seeing your journey from being astray and coming back and now you're calling what God is doing evil now
[34:34] Jonah prays to God and Jonah knows the Lord and we're sure he loves the Lord but in his mind at least in his heart at least he isn't saying the words but he's thinking them what the Lord is doing is just not right it's just not right scripture does many things but one thing scripture does again and again it shows us ourselves and God is clear and with respect often he is blunt at showing us ourselves because we are skilled you and I with you we are skilled at making ourselves or thinking of ourselves in a way that we should not do I am not that bad I am not that bad I wouldn't say what Jonah is saying here I wouldn't think that way perhaps not in the same words but
[35:39] I can almost guarantee that you have and I have with you Jonah is so full of hatred towards the people of Nineveh so full of seething hatred that it's blinding his own understanding of who the Lord is he is so full of anger at God saving these people he is so full of his own opinion and his own ideas he is willing to call what God is doing evil such such as the length of anger and the length of hatred in Jonah's heart towards this evil people evil they were and we know elsewhere in scripture they were an evil people they were an evil people we also know this is not for tonight but we do know also that destruction eventually did hit Nineveh the people repented here but went back to their evil ways and eventually Nineveh was destroyed not this time about 150 or years after this around 150 200 depends who you listen to but sometime after this a century or after this
[36:50] Nineveh was in fact destroyed they were an evil people who did many evil things but Jonah is so saving with rage it blinds his understanding of who God is what's even more heartbreaking is the very qualities he praises God for in chapter two steadfast loving the Lord that saves his people that keeps his people the Lord that is gracious and merciful the same things he once praised God for he's now using them as a basis of his anger against God it gets worse doesn't it it gets worse I knew your gracious God a merciful slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster therefore now O Lord please take my life from me for it's better for me to die than to live he'd rather die than see
[37:59] Nineveh saved this great prophet of the Lord would rather die than see this people repent and the Lord show mercy towards this great city of people how does the Lord respond to Jonah this servant of his who is railing at the Lord who is calling the Lord's actions evil how does the Lord respond to this errant abusive here servant does the Lord condemn Jonah instantly as he should perhaps in his wrath does the Lord condemn this angry failure of a prophet does the Lord destroy this embarrassment towards the rest of the prophets verse four as the Lord answers this tirade it's called a prayer but it's a very weak prayer it's a tirade it's a rant from
[39:06] Jonah to the Lord and the Lord said do you do well to be angry this is a devastatingly simple answer from the Lord he won't take Jonah on we word this carefully but he doesn't take Jonah on he doesn't answer Jonah back according to the way Jonah is speaking to him the Lord is merciful not just to Nineveh the Lord is merciful to Jonah Jonah at this moment as is called the ways of the Lord evil he does not deserve mercy but he gets it the Lord is merciful to Jonah a simple question to Jonah is merciful do you do well to be angry a question that Jonah doesn't answer at this point as God graciously asks Jonah this question
[40:07] Jonah then storms off we'll get to that in a second there's a hard question that needs to be asked just now a hard question and only you and the Lord know the answer to it for yourselves but as you read these verses as you read them together as you spend time just now in these verses as you hear the tirade of Jonah towards God as you see the Lord's answer to Jonah can can can you say there's been times in your life where providences situations have led you to if not use the words of Jonah but to have the same heart as Jonah towards the Lord and you think as it makes sense to you you think well I've said things in anger I've been angry towards the Lord and surely that's it for me there's no way back the things
[41:10] I said in my anger the things I did in my anger towards the Lord there is no way back my frustration I said this I said that I thought this I prayed this I prayed that I'm done look to the Lord's response his response is clear it is merciful gracious it is restrained his response of love to this foolish prophet you come dear Christian perhaps you think you've gone too far you've sinned too far you've been too angry towards the Lord whatever your thinking may be you come and you know this steadfast love which Jonah rants about the steadfast love it's a wonderful there's time and place for the Hebrew lessons but it's a wonderful word it's chesed it's a beautiful word chesed chesed love his steadfast love the covenantal love the love of God that is from eternal to eternal towards and for his eternal people that's the love
[42:23] God shows to Jonah despite Jonah's own disaster of a situation despite his own words despite his own anger and ranting and raving God still keeps a hold of Jonah despite Jonah deserving none of it from the Lord so Jonah complains that God is too merciful but now we see that God but Jonah now complains of not enough mercy in the next section verses 5 down to verse 9 Jonah stormed off we could say at the end of verse 4 God asks a question to him do you do you want to be angry no answer given and Jonah goes and again there's no wasted words in scripture no wasted words in the word of God where does Jonah go God's word could you say to us Jonah went out of the city and sat in the hill and so on no it's very specific Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there we said this on
[43:31] Thursday evening in scripture what does east almost always signify out east away east away from the presence of the Lord he's gone in the huff he's gone in his anger he's stormed away and what is he doing what is he doing as he sits on the hillside looking at the city he sat to the east of the city verse 5 in a booth for himself there he sat under it in the shade until he should see what would become of the city he just cannot believe that God won't destroy these people God told him he won't do it Jonah argued back to God that he won't do it and he still can't quite believe that God is going to do what he said he's going to do and be merciful to these people so much so that ignoring everything the
[44:33] Lord said everything he himself has just said he storms off and sits and waits to see what God's going to do the question is what makes the reality is he must have still hoped deep down that the Lord with respect would see sense would see things his way Jonah's way so Jonah sits and he waits to see what's going to happen this man is so angry this man is so seething of rage that he is even ignoring and blindly ignoring what the Lord has just said to him the Lord has just said to him so there's Jonah he's made a wee booth for himself he's sitting there seething just waiting just hoping the Lord relents once more and goes back to the original plan and destroys this evil people it shows us then the question is asked is this why
[45:40] Jonah came back and actually served the Lord did he do so in good faith perhaps he did perhaps he went then in chapter 3 back to Nineveh in the hopes that he would be sent that Nineveh would not repent and that he would be the prophet who saw the destruction of his evil people we don't know we see enough of Jonah's mind here but we don't know all of his mind but enough is shown to us to know that he is not in a good place God in his mercy then verses 6 9 he prepares this plant for Jonah this gracious covering that the Lord gives to Jonah it's a miraculous growth the speed it grows at and it's given to him Jonah sleeps seething he wakes up he wakes up to his plant and God at the end of verse 6 we see that
[46:40] God did it to save him from his discomfort yes God is going to use his plant for less than a second but in the immediate context God grows his plant for Jonah to save him from his discomfort God is a gracious God he is a kind God but note here the word for discomfort and again this Bible handily gives it to us to save him from what we see we six there go down to the bottom to save him from his evil God in his mercy is saying and is seeing Jonah sitting there saving and he's baking under the sun he's hot under the collar because he's so angry he's full of rage sitting in the midday sun in a wee booth he's made himself a wee ram shackle booth you can just imagine it sitting there in the seething rage in the beating down sun and to save Jonah from his own discomfort of his own evil God gives him and causes his plant to grow over this prophet and
[47:52] Jonah is happy with what God gives him we see that don't we at the end of verse 6 so Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant Jonah is overjoyed he's exceedingly glad he's overjoyed at his own short term comfort he's no longer baking in the sun he's overjoyed at that but he feels nothing but a desire for destruction he feels nothing towards the eternal destruction of a whole city of people he is so full of his own rage and so full of his own desires he's quite happy to feel happy for a small plant the Lord has given him and he's exceedingly glad about that yet he seems to feel nothing but hatred to the thought of 120,000 people being killed being destroyed such is the level of
[48:52] Jonah's anger as hatred Jonah is receiving mercy once more from the Lord we know what takes place the Lord is about to show and teach Jonah a lesson but when dawn came up the next day God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered when the sun arose God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and once more he asked that he might die and said it is better for me to die than to live yet again yet again Jonah wants to die yet again his own you could say minor inconveniences are more important to him than the destruction of a nation the destruction of this massive city with so many thousands of people and
[49:56] Jonah being hot and bothered and Jonah having a miserable night and a miserable morning is more important to him the death of thousands such is the level that Jonah is sinking to as we read his verses the level he's just sinking down and down and down and yet again we find Jonah sinking down this time not into a sea but this time into his own anger his own rage as Jonah sits in seething anger yet again in verse 9 and verse 10 the Lord speaks to Jonah verse 10 you pity the plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow which came into being in a night and perished in a night and should not I pity Nineveh that great city in which there are more than 120 thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle once more
[51:00] God is merciful to Jonah Jonah is again ranting and raving and asking to die and once again saying to the Lord that he'd rather die than see this people saved once again he's disproving and disqualifying himself from being a faithful prophet and once more the Lord speaks gently and kindly to Jonah the Lord speaks kindly to Jonah brothers and sisters another hard question not as hard as the last one but do you know this in your own life after a time of waywardness a time of rebellion a time of perhaps sin the
[53:44] Lord showing the mercy the grammar is bad in English but it makes sense in Hebrew and should not I and the I there is emphasized heavily should not I I Yahweh I the Lord who sees the evil who knows the evil who has seen and heard the destruction this people has caused I the God of that Chesed love should I should not I pity Nineveh that great city Nineveh deserves destruction but Nineveh receives God's mercy how much like today do we find this final verse we didn't know the right hand from our left with respect in terms of spiritual things that just covers our own day our own age I'm sure you have but maybe haven't for a while if you speak to anyone anyone even people born and brought up on the island and you talk to them about the things of God they might know their stuff some might many might but you would be surprised how little the gospel they know yes they'll tell you where things are in the bible they'll tell you their catechism perhaps but they won't tell you anything of the gospel itself facts and figures maybe the actual gospel of God's mercy and
[55:21] God's care for those who come to him of a saviour provided for them the reality is the reality is we live in a day we must be open and honest and realistic about it the Lord calls us to be these things and we'll see that in future weeks with his help we live in a day where there is next to no gospel knowledge next to no gospel knowledge and you know that yourselves where the word of the Lord is not known the gospel is not known we live in a day where biblically speaking in terms of gospel where those around us those we love and those we care for never mind the rest of the island don't know of our left hand from our right and this is a great unanswered question of this book it remains unanswered for 700 800 years after this question is first asked
[56:25] God asks this question of Jonah 700 800 years later this question is answered where we see not just the pity God shows to Nineveh but the pity God shows to all his people 700 800 years after this question is asked to this failed prophet a prophet a king the final great glorious high priest is born a king is born our saviour is born one who answers this question in his life in his death in his resurrection how much does God pity Nineveh replace Nineveh with Tulsa Tulsa replace that with your own loved ones names your own spouses names siblings names whatever your situation is how much does
[57:25] God love x y or z how much does God pity Tulsa let's take the Tulsa that's our concern how much does God pity Tulsa that small village there's 400 persons give or take who don't know the left hand from the right not many cattle but plenty of sheep how much pity does God show how much care does God show to this place he sent his son none have repented of a failed prophet none have repented of a prophet who hated them who hated them so much he was blinded by his own anger God sent to us not a prophet who hated us but his own son who loved us that's the answer the final answer to the question that we find at the end of this book how much pity does God show to his people enough that his own son would be sent the son would come and live that life die on the cross and take on himself the full wrath of all the sins of all his people would become sin for us that is the level of pity that the
[58:45] Lord has for us for his people so we begin this new week as we come to the end of this study and go about back into the world and live our lives day by day we are and you with me we are dealing with people in our homes in our villages in our village in our places of work perhaps we're dealing with people to whom deserve no mercy is true but people whom the Lord has shown his mercy towards by sending his son yes we will fail you and I with you we will fail in the years that the Lord gives us years to come months years whatever the Lord gives us together as a congregation we will fail to serve him well individually we will fail to serve him well that's a reality but even in our failure as we see with Jonah here as prayer failure it's not like his failure but even in our failure the
[59:48] Lord will still bless his word and his work to the place he has placed you aren't just here because of family because of love because of work you are here and I with you as the Lord has placed us here in this day for this time for his purposes as we leave this book behind at least for now we have to have in mind what it is we've been called to we've been called to give to share and to point towards the one who is the Savior who loved his people who died for his people who lives forever intercessing for his people who was not an unwilling servant but who was the willing servant who gave his life for us that's the one we worship this evening that's the one we come to this evening that's the one we pray to this evening that he would give us wisdom and give us that holy zeal to serve brother
[60:58] Jonah and all his messing up to learn the lessons from him and to go forward this new week this new month this rest of this year and to serve him as best we can for his glory in our homes in our village in this district let's bow our heads now a word of prayer Lord go before us we ask and we thank you for the the hard words that we've read tonight and looked our own sin has blinded us our own seething anger word our own seething and hot headedness has caused problems our own sins our own pet sins our own frequented sins has caused us to serve you less to give you less Lord we ask you remove these things from us to serve you well this new week help us as one body here together as brothers and sisters
[62:01] Lord as one family here going forward in this season together to seek to do well to seek to see your name known and glorified and praised in this place Lord ask all these things knowing that we need your strength and your power and your guidance as we seek to go forward Lord for you alone will accomplish your will in your way or bring your people home to you we ask all these things in and through and for Christ his precious name sake alone let's conclude Scottish Psalter again we can sing in Psalm 25 Scottish Psalter in Psalm 25 I sing the first version of the Psalm Psalm 25 Scottish Psalter in the first version of the Psalm on page 231 of the
[63:03] Psalm books we can sing verses 4 down to verse 10 of the Psalm show me thy ways O Lord thy path so teach thou me and do thou lead me in thy truth wherein thy teacher be for thou art God that does to me salvation send and I upon thee all the day expecting do attend Psalm 25 the first version from verse 4 singing to God's praise to me thy wish O Lord thy path so told be cho me and in Jesusoko I do still in Thy truth where might each are Vilкое for thou are called unto thou to peace
[64:09] I wish I'd send, and I upon thee all that is expecting to attend.
[64:29] Thy tenderness, dear Lord, I pray thee to remember.
[64:44] And I am in kindness this morning, that we hold forever.
[65:00] My sins and faults of you, good thou, O Lord, forget.
[65:15] After thy energy, giving on me, and for thy goodness paid.
[65:33] God give and have practiced the way the sinner's show.
[65:48] The meekens, just making with kind, and with its paths to know.
[66:04] The hope, as of the Lord, are through and met, so sure.
[66:19] Who knows that to his covenant, and his testimony's due.
[66:37] In the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both you now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.