Jonah, it's a short one. I'll give you a few moments to get there. Flip past it a few times.
We've spent the last two weeks in this book, and today will be the final Sunday of it.
The books of the Bible were not given titles, so we call this the book of Jonah because it's about a prophet named Jonah.
I sometimes want to add subtitles to these books.
It's Jonah, God's whiny prophet, or Jonah, how not to be a prophet of God.
I've always really liked the name Jonah, and I don't think there's anyone in our congregation with a child named Jonah.
This morning anyway. If you know somebody with a child named Jonah, please don't be offended by this.
I couldn't name a child Jonah after studying this book. What a mess he was.
This morning our text will be Jonah chapter 4, so verses 1 through 11 of chapter 4.
But before we get into that, I want to kind of give some summary of where we've been,
and then I'm going to read the entirety of the book to you.
It's such a short story and such a wonderful story.
I think you need to hear it in its entirety, especially if you haven't been here with us over the last two weeks.
The way we've kind of structured across the book in these three weeks began with a sermon whose theme was rebellion,
where we looked at the rebellion of the mariners, those who piloted the ship that Jonah got onto as he fleed from the presence of God.
And we saw that they cried out to their various gods.
They weren't worshipers of the one true God.
Certainly see the rebellion of the Ninevites.
God called it a great city and said that their evil has come up before him.
And the message that's given to Jonah to take to the Ninevites is that in 40 days,
Nineveh will be destroyed for their wickedness.
And we saw the rebellion of Jonah as he worked at fleeing from the presence of God,
although was entirely incapable of doing so.
And as we think about these various forms and various accounts of rebellion,
the lesson for us to learn in all of that, I think, goes one of two ways.
And that is either that you find yourself this morning very self-righteous,
that you think you're a pretty good person and that you've done well in the sight of God,
that you're not like the Ninevites and you're not like Jonah and you're not like the mariners.
But what you need to know is that you are.
Even the smallest offense against the holy God, an infinite God, demands infinite punishment.
It's weighted the same before him.
By God's grace, you may not be in human terms quite as evil as the Ninevites.
However, you are found before God condemned because of your sin.
The other side of that is you might be very self-abasing.
You might find that you're never in your own mind worthy of the mercy of God to you.
That you don't think he could possibly forgive the sins that you've committed.
And there's this great measure of mercy in this book that God abounds on all of these various characters.
And I want you to be comforted by that today.
As we looked at the rebellion, particularly in chapter 1, we talked a bit about God's purpose.
That when the gospel of Jesus Christ came to Paul,
and he was given the commission to go and preach it to the Gentiles,
this was not a new revelation.
This was an amazing thing, an astounding thing for Paul in his day to be told to take the Word of God
beyond the borders of Jerusalem.
But God has always had a global purpose for His glory.
He has always wanted His name to be proclaimed amongst the nations.
There's many Old Testament texts that say this.
My favorite is Isaiah 43, 6 and 7.
God says,
And God has always had this intention.
And Jonah is aware of this intention,
which is the very reason that he flees from the presence of God.
This is the reason he takes off and goes in the opposite direction of the city of Nineveh,
because he knows that God has a purpose.
And we ask the question,
do we live in light of God's purpose to the world?
We talk about God's presence and about how living in God's will is to live in God's presence.
And we talk about God's power and the way in which He sovereignly works His will.
To observe that Jonah did not have the power to thwart God's intention for the people of Nineveh.
And God brings about these extraordinary circumstances to reorient Jonah's life
for the preaching of the destruction and therefore good news.
Ultimately, as we consider all the rebellion that's found in this book,
particularly the rebellion of Jonah as the centerpiece of it,
we need to remember that this is primarily, in a very high way,
this is a story of God's great mercy.
You see all of this rebellion,
but you see God's mercy in the proper and right thing for God to do for all of these people
is just to go ahead and destroy them.
Just go ahead and wipe them off the face of the earth.
But yet He brings these great mercies in the form of a great wind that He hurls upon the mariners.
Consider that Jonah being on the ship and God punishing his disobedience
was what turned the mariners to God.
You see in chapter 1, verse 16,
And the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord,
and they made vows.
They repented.
They turned from their ways,
and they turned to the one true God.
God sent great mercy in the form of a great fish
that came along and swallowed Jonah whole.
Jonah certainly would have died in the midst of the sea
had it not been for this fish.
And it's this fish that is used in His time in its belly
to bring Him to repentance.
And God brings great mercy to the city of Nineveh
with the promise of a great destruction.
The call to repent.
Forty days and I will destroy.
And there's this call to repent.
And in chapter 3, you see even the king himself gets involved
in the fasting and the mourning over their offense to God
and calls them to righteousness.
So all of these great mercies leading to proper and right repentance.
Repentance.
Today, I want to talk about Jonah's regret
as the theme for this morning.
Let me read to you the story of Jonah.
Follow along with me, if you will.
I'm reading from the ESV version of the Scripture
if you manage to have a technological piece
that you can flip between translations.
Chapter 1, verse 1.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai,
saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish
away from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,
so that the ship threatened to break up.
Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God.
And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.
But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship
and had laid down and was fast asleep.
So the captain came and said to him,
What do you mean, you sleeper?
Arise, call out to your God.
God, perhaps the God will give you a thought to us that we may not perish.
And they said to one another,
Come, let us cast lots,
that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.
So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Then they said to him,
Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.
What is your occupation, and where do you come from?
What is your country, and of what people are you?
And he said to them,
I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land.
Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him,
What is this that you have done?
For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord,
because he had told them.
Then they said to him,
What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?
For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
He said to them,
Pick me up and hurl me into the sea,
then the sea will quiet down for you,
for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.
Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land,
but they could not,
for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
Therefore they called out to the Lord,
O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life,
and lay not on us innocent blood,
for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.
So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,
and the sea ceased from its raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days.
And three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord as God from the belly of the fish,
saying,
I called out to the Lord out of my distress,
and he answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the floods surrounded me.
All your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said,
I am driven away from your sight,
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.
The waters closed in over me to take my life.
The deep surrounded me.
Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
Yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I, with the voice of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
And the Lord spoke to the fish,
and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
and call out against it the message that I tell you.
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh,
according to the word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,
three days' journey in breadth.
Jonah began to go into the city,
going a day's journey,
and he called out,
Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
And the people of Nineveh believed God.
They called for a fast,
and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest of them to the least of them.
The word reached the king of Nineveh,
and he arose from his throne,
removed his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes.
And he issued a proclamation,
and published through Nineveh,
by the decree of the king and his nobles,
let neither man nor beast,
herd nor flock,
taste anything.
Let them not feed or drink water,
but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
and let them call out mightily to God.
Let everyone turn from his evil way,
and from the violence that is in his hands.
Who knows?
God may turn and relent,
and turn from his fierce anger,
so that we may not perish.
When God saw what they did,
how they turned from their evil way,
God relented of the disaster
that he had said he would do to them,
and he did not do it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was angry,
and he prayed to the Lord and said,
O Lord, is this not 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 were a gracious God,
and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from disaster.
Therefore now, O Lord,
please take my life for me,
for it is better for me to die than to live.
And 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 could see what would become of the city.
Now the Lord God appointed a plant
and made it come up over Jonah
that it 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,
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 labor,
nor did you make it grow,
which came into being in a night
and perished in a night.
And should I not 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.
And so we see in the story
this wonderful display of God's mercy.
And let me draw your attention
or your mind's attention
just momentarily
to the great deal of mercy
that He showed Nineveh,
this massive city
that takes three days to cross,
which likely included the suburbs around it.
But this huge populace
of wickedly evil people,
the Ninevites were Assyrians
and were historically horrid, horrid people,
and they turn from their ways,
and God relents from the disaster.
This wonderful revival,
possibly the largest revival ever in history.
And Jonah regrets it all.
I want to structure this morning,
this sermon,
in just two quick and easy ways.
First, the sin of Jonah's regret.
Regret.
The sin of Jonah's regret.
Sometimes I just move right past the mistakes
because it's not worth stopping
and sometimes it's worth stopping.
And secondly, God's merciful response.
God's merciful response.
So, the sin of Jonah's regret.
It's really interesting
that there's this little glimpse of obedience.
We see this repentance on his part
in chapter 2,
this wonderful prayer of repentance.
The beginning of chapter 3,
he's recommissioned to go.
He's obedient now.
He's now following God.
He goes and he preaches this message.
But it's bookended by sin
on both sides.
The fleeing from God's will.
The very beginning,
verse 1 of chapter 4,
you see that Jonah was unhappy and angry.
It displeased Jonah exceedingly.
And he was angry.
The fact that the Ninevites
were actually listening
to what he had to say,
that the Ninevites were doing
all that they could
to flee from the wrath of God
for their disobedience to him,
displeased Jonah exceedingly.
And we see in this
that Jonah's obedience
was not rightly motivated.
He's gone through this epic adventure
of sailing on a ship
and getting tossed overboard
and swallowed up by a great fish
for three days
and vomited back up onto a beach
and journeying across a desert.
And he does the thing
that God has asked him to do
in the preaching of judgment,
but he does not do it rightly.
He doesn't walk in
to the city of Nineveh
hoping for their repentance.
In fact, it would seem
that what he's really hoping for
is their destruction.
I'm going to go and preach
the destruction of God
and I hope that's how it turns out.
You see, the Assyrians
were evil people.
There's a prophecy,
a judgment cried out to them.
I've read to you the last two weeks,
but I just want to highlight this once again
and in a little bit of a way,
I'm kind of getting in Jonah's corner on this
because these people
were the enemies of Israel.
They had done atrocious things in the past
and they still would do atrocious things
to Jewish peoples.
I think the very similar cross-reference
for us today would be ISIS
and the way that ISIS is going after
Christian populations so heavily.
So if you can imagine that
as you're thinking about
who these people are
that he's going to preach to.
Nahum 3, 1-4 says,
Woe to the bloody city.
Talking about Nineveh.
All full of lies and plunder.
No end to the prey.
The crack of the whip
and the rumble of the wheel.
Galloping horse and bounding chariot.
Horsemen charging,
flashing sword and glittering spears.
Hosts of slain.
Heaps of corpses.
Dead bodies without end.
They stumble over the bodies.
And listen to the why
that they're doing this thing.
That they're so viciously brutal.
And all for the countless whorings
of the prostitute.
Graceful and of deadly charms.
Who betrays nations with her whorings
and peoples with her charms.
Right?
They're violent because of sex.
A wicked, wicked people.
But it would seem that Jonah
has misplaced the very character of God
and His mercy.
It would seem that he's forgotten
that God was merciful to him.
All the same, in his wickedness,
being called by God to go
and preach a message,
he flips and goes the other direction
and flees from the presence of the Lord.
And yet, God shows him
this great measure of mercy.
Beloved, our God is a gracious God.
He is merciful.
If we are in Christ,
He has been abundantly,
aboundingly merciful to us.
And I think we too often forget that.
In some way,
we begin to believe
that we deserve God's grace to us.
And deserve grace ceases to be grace altogether.
We were the Ninevites.
It seems that as Jonah repents
and is spit out on the shore,
and it makes this long journey
he would have had to make to Nineveh,
that the desert crossing
dried up his affection for God.
Jonah obeyed God.
This is of great importance.
Good for Jonah.
He obeyed God.
The repentance of the Ninevites come
as a result of God using Jonah's preaching.
His obedience was important,
but God wants not only our obedience,
but He wants us.
He wants all of us.
He doesn't want us just to immediately
go through the motions
of doing the things
that we're supposed to do.
He wants us to do those things
because we have a heart for Him.
Because those things are meant to be
acts of worship for Him.
We are not to be concerned
with the appropriateness
or the inappropriateness
of the outcome of our obedience.
We are to be concerned
with the obedience
and our trust
in God's good and merciful purpose.
We are to go and share
the good news of Jesus Christ.
The destruction of God
being the bad news.
The good news of Jesus Christ.
That there's a way back to God.
There's a way to avoid that destruction.
There's a way to be saved
from the wrath to come.
This is a command given to all believers.
It's not reserved for a few.
It's not reserved for the trained professional.
It's for all of us to go
and to do this thing
and to trust God with the result.
To go where we're called to go.
To preach the good news.
And to do so in a desire to honor Him.
To bring glory to His name.
To praise Him amongst the peoples.
And then God will do what He will do
with our obedience.
Now in Jonah's sinful anger
he did three things that we should note
and we should filter our own thinking through.
Firstly, Jonah tried to justify
his previous action.
Look in verse 2.
He prayed to the Lord and said,
Oh 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 were a gracious God,
merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from disaster.
He says to God,
See, that's why I didn't want to come.
I was right in what I did before.
Because the very thing that I feared would happen,
the repentance of the Ninevites,
has happened.
So he starts to try to justify it.
And when we walk in sin,
we always think that we're right.
And we will not be convinced otherwise.
Do you know people that are like this?
You do if you know me.
I'm so often this way,
so convinced that I'm right
in the way that I should walk.
I need God's intervention in my life
to show me otherwise.
We become the standard of what is right and true.
And this is such a dangerous,
dangerous thing.
Try to justify our actions.
There's such a great deal of value
in self-awareness.
And I will tell you that as you mature as a Christian,
you will begin to trust yourself less.
You'll begin to understand
just how deceptively wicked
your heart can be.
Praise God that I am not
the standard of what is right and true.
When I talk to professing believers
who don't believe in the inerrancy
and the sufficiency of Scripture,
it frightens me.
Because if I can't believe that God's Word
is completely true
and that it is enough
to teach me how it is
that I should walk
all of it
in its completion,
then suddenly I become the standard.
What a scary thing.
If you've not found yourself in that place yet,
it's coming.
Just live life a little while longer.
I can remember being in my late 20s
and thinking that I had a lot figured out.
I thought,
I kind of got this life thing sorted out.
And then I had kids
and I realized that I didn't know anything
about anything.
And that's still where I'm at today.
I think I'm beginning to learn
some of the things that I should learn.
But right now I know nothing.
And so I have to go to the Scripture, right,
for the way to live rightly.
I've got to be here
that I might walk in the way
that pleases God.
Jonah tried to justify his previous actions.
Secondly,
Jonah tried to use Scripture against God.
Now this is a bit subtle,
but I want to show you what I mean
and I want to show you the danger of this.
Right?
So in verses 2,
I guess it's just 2, isn't it?
Yep.
Just in verse 2,
he quotes loosely
from Exodus 34, 6, and 7.
The Lord passed before him
and proclaimed.
This is when God hides Moses
in the cleft of the rock
and lets his glory pass,
lets him see the back of God.
Passed before him and proclaimed,
I am the Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding
in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
You see that loose quotation of that
in 4.2 of the book of Jonah.
Let me read to you the rest of verse 7
from Exodus 34.
But who will by no means clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children and the children's children
to the third and the fourth generation.
So God is this God
abounding in steadfast love,
keeping this love for thousands,
for a multitude,
forgiving iniquity and transgression of sin,
but also storing up wrath,
and visiting wrath on those who are guilty.
You see that Jonah didn't believe
that the Ninevites should be recipients
of the first part of Exodus 34, 6, and 7,
but rather he preferred the second part of it.
He saw himself as the arbiter
of God's merciful character.
He goes preaching this judgment that will come,
and it's as if he says,
had I not preached your judgment,
then you would not have had to act
according to your mercy.
If I hadn't said it,
you wouldn't have had to do it.
The Ninevites shouldn't receive your mercy,
therefore I was right in fleeing to Tarshish.
He leverages God's character against him
to try to justify his activity.
Can you think of another attempt in the Scripture
to do the same,
to pick up the Scripture and use it in a way
that it's not meant to be used?
Matthew 4,
Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness
where Satan tempts him.
And Satan uses the Word of God to tempt him.
He warps it to meet his purposes.
And Jesus so brilliantly responds with Scripture
and a right understanding of it.
And in this way,
Jonah acts as a progeny of Satan.
You can see this as an offspring of Satan,
using the Scripture to meet his ends,
to find the justification
for why he didn't want to preach
to the Ninevites.
This happens all the time
in Christian circles.
How have you used the Scripture
to justify your own position?
The Scripture is not a neutral thing
that you pick up
and you make your case from it.
This is God's Word.
God condescending
to become an author
through the hands of many men
across many, many years
to tell us something.
And we too often stand over it
in judgment of it
rather than being under it.
Humble.
God has spoken.
What has He said?
Let me give you an example.
Turn to Matthew 7.
Mark Jonah for me.
We're going to go back into it.
But turn to Matthew 7.
There are many common examples
of this being done.
Jeremiah 29 11.
Amen?
Those of you know
what I'm talking about?
Misused.
All the time.
You walk into somebody's church building
in the southeast,
and Jeremiah 29 11 is on the wall,
and walk back out.
Okay?
Because they don't understand the Bible
and they don't use it properly.
I'm going to use
a less controversial example.
Take my foot out of my mouth.
All right.
Matthew chapter 27.
It's the end of the Sermon on the Mount,
verses 24 through 27.
Everyone then who hears
these words of mine
and does them
will be like a wise man
who built his house
on the rock.
And the rain fell
and the floods came
and the winds blew
and beat on that house,
but it did not fall
because it had been founded
on the rock.
And everyone who hears
these words of mine
and does not do them
will be like a foolish man
who built his house
on the sand.
And the rain fell
and the floods came
and the winds blew
and beat against that house
and it fell
and great
was the fall of it.
I have heard
countless
people use this.
I have heard
many sermons
using this text
to talk about
if you found
your life
on Christ
that your life
will be really good.
There's this
subversive
prosperity gospel
being taught
in so many places.
This morning
being taught
in so many places
that says,
hey,
we're Americans,
we've got a pretty good life.
If you add Jesus to it,
it's going to get
a little better.
Texts like this
being used for that.
The beginning
of verse 24
says,
everyone then
who hears
these words
of mine
and does them.
Here's this
preaching of the gospel
from the Sermon
on the Mount
which ends
just before this
with a number
of warnings
about final judgment.
This is not about
good happy life
that Jesus is talking
about here.
This is about
where does your
foundation sit?
In this day
they would have had
to dig down
through layers
and layers
of sand
to hit bedrock.
It was a lot
more work
to do that.
He's saying
that the Christian
life is a life
of sacrifice,
of following
Jesus Christ
so that
in the final day
the house
stands.
This is not
about
some version
of kumbaya
that Jesus
gives to us.
A gospel
preached here,
a text used here
in a way
that can't
apply everywhere
in the world
is being taught
improperly.
So many places
in the world
if we did this
on a Sunday
morning
we would be
gathered up
as we left
this place
and jailed
or beaten.
This is not
consistent.
Right?
Your earthly
life could get
worse by following
Jesus Christ.
It could become
miserable
in human terms.
but we have
Jesus.
We have
eternal joy.
We're looking
to the reward.
So we use
Scripture in this
way
quite often.
I tremble
that I do it
sometimes.
I pray
that I don't.
Your job
as the congregation
to hold me
accountable.
If I begin
to do that
I begin
to use
the Scripture
to justify
some opinion
that I have
or some
behavior
that I do
oh charge
me with it
please.
We're meant
to exegete
the Bible.
We're meant
to see what
the Scripture
says.
What does
the Bible
say?
What is it
communicating?
What does
the text
mean?
And how does
it change
the way I
live?
We're not
meant to
eisegete
or read
into it
the things
we want
read into
it.
We are
to read
the Bible
in order
for it
to read
us.
Proverbs
18.2
speaks of
us so
often
and of
Jonah
here
says a
fool
takes no
pleasure
in understanding
but only
in expressing
his opinion.
I on
Sunday
mornings
have
nothing
to say
to you
if I
don't have
the Scripture.
I mean
I gotta
just pat
them on
the back
the men
that can
get up
and preach
and just
talk
and talk
and say
nothing
from the
Bible.
How do
they have
so much
to say?
If
my Scripture
was to be
a couple
of verses
that are
going to
get displayed
on a screen
when it's
convenient
for what
I'm trying
to say
to you
I would
clam up
and run
off the
stage
every Sunday
morning.
the Word
of God
is powerful
and it
speaks
and it
moves
and it
works
in us
if we
pick it
up
rightly.
Don't
use the
Word of
God
to justify
your behavior.
And then
thirdly
Jonah wished
he were
dead.
I just
want to
point out
that he
is a bit
ironically
he wished
he was
dead
earlier.
He was
asked to
be thrown
overboard
into the
sea.
He's
fleeing from
the presence
of God.
Just throw
me into
the sea.
I might
as well
die here.
Here's
saying
verse 3
Therefore
now
Lord
please
take
my
life
from
me.
God
has
just
preserved
his
life
and
saved
him
in
this
most
remarkable
way
for it
is
better
for me
to
die
than
to
live.
He
is
so
angry.
He
is
so
extremely
dissatisfied
with the
repentance
of the
Ninevites
that he
just
wants
to be
dead.
So
that's
the sin
of Jonah's
regret.
Let's
look at
God's
merciful
response.
Never
fear,
we're
more than
halfway
there.
God's
merciful
response.
God
asked
Jonah
three
questions
beginning
in
verse 4
the first
question
and the
Lord
said
do
you
do
well
to
be
angry?
And
it
seems
to
be
a
rhetorical
question.
We
don't
have
a
vocal
recorded
response
to this
question
in the
text.
God
is
saying
as he
asks
this
question
we
are
both
looking
at
the
same
situation
you
and
I
Jonah
but
we're
looking
at it
in two
very
different
ways.
Who
has
the
correct
perspective?
Is the
correct
perspective
the one
of the
prophet
of God
or
of
God
himself?
Do
you
do
well
to
be
angry
with
the
purpose
of
God
in
your
life?
Jonah
should
have
had
the
mind
of
Paul
in
Romans
3
4
he
says
let
God
be
true
though
everyone
were
a
liar.
We
get
some
response
to
the
question
not
vocally
but
in
verse
5
it
says
he's
in
the
city
and
he
has
this
temper
tantrum
first
few
verses
God
asked
him
the
question
do
you
do
well
to
be
angry?
And
verse
5
says
Jonah
went
out
of
the
city
I
imagine
that
he
huffed
out
of
the
city
and
he
walked
out
of
the
city
and
he
sat
to
the
east
of
the
city
and
made
a
booth
for
himself
there
now
a
booth
would
have
just
been
a
crude
structure
it
wouldn't
have
been
anything
fancy
maybe
sticks
maybe
a
bit
of
tunic
or
something
that
he
was
able
to
hang
to
give
a
bit
of
shade
obviously
the
shade
isn't
ample
because
God
brings
him
more
shade
but
a
bit
of
shade
he
gets
he
goes
out
he
sits
under
it
in
the
shade
till
he
should
see
what
will
become
of
the
city
that
is
fascinating
because
it
appears
that
he
still
wants
God
to
destroy
the
city
of
Nineveh
40
days
is
have
repented
the
text
says
that
God
relented
of
the
disaster
Jonah
may
not
have
known
this
at
the
time
he
marches
out
of
the
city
and
he
sits
up
on
the
hill
to
see
what's
going
to
happen
to
the
city
and
in
so
doing
he
errs
in
three
ways
first
he
quits
sharing
God's
word
here
are
these
people
that
have
just
repented
!
They
just
turned
from
their
sin
and
he
is
peacing
out
right
Jonah
could
have
been
the
great
pastor
of
the
city
of
Nineveh
part
of
the
largest
revival
in
history
the
first
great
megachurch
and
he
marches
out
of
the
city
his
message
seems
to
end
with
yet
forty
days
and
Nineveh
shall
be
overthrown
and
quits
secondly
he
builds
a
booth
or
you
can
think
of
it
as
a
private
retreat
a
place
of
shelter
and
there
was
plenty
of
shelter
to be
found
in
this
three
day
wide
city
and
its
surrounding
suburbs
Jonah
kind of
seems
to
launch
a
separatist
movement
there's a
whole
city
of
people
who
have
said
we
want
to
follow
the
one
true
God
we
want
to
turn
from
evil
ways
look
we're
repenting
sackcloth
ashes
all of
that
like
we
really
want
to
follow
this
God
and
he
goes
nope
I've
got
other
ideas
a
different
denomination
one
that
will
destroy
you
for
sure
he
builds
a
booth
and
thirdly
he
becomes
a
spectator
he
ceases
to
be
involved
in
the
things
that
are
happening
there
do
you
do
well
to
be
angry
now
there's
a
second
question
before
God
asks
the
question
he
creates
a
scenario
to
prepare
Jonah
for
the
very
question
that
he
asks
in
verse
six
the
Lord
appointed
a
plant
and
made
it
come
up
over
Jonah
so
it's
a
very
rapidly
growing
plant
God
says
later
that
this
plant
was
made
in a
day
and
destroyed
in a
day
if I'm
getting
that
right
it
doesn't
matter
it
came
up
very
quickly
that
it
might
shade
over
his
head
to
save
him
from
his
discomfort
and
we
get
the
first
little
glimpse
four
so
Jonah
was
exceedingly
glad
because
of the
plant
miserable
prophet
the
preacher
of
potentially
the
greatest
revival
in all
history
is
really
glad
for the
plant
and it
just
highlights
the
extremity
of
Jonah's
selfishness
here's
an
entire
city
turning
their
hearts
toward
God
and he
is
happy
he's
got
a
little
shade
when
dawn
came
up
the
next
day
verse
seven
God
appointed
a worm
that
attacked
the
plant
so
that
it
withered
when
the
sun
rose
God
appointed
a
scorching
east
wind
coming
across
the
desert
hot
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
again
he's
asking
for
death
is it
better
it is
better
for me
to die
than
to live
but
God
said
to
Jonah
do
you
do
well
to
be
angry
for
the
plant
or
do
you
do
well
to
be
angry
that
the
plant
was
destroyed
and
he
says
yes
I
do
well
to
be
angry
enough
to
die
!
And
anger
we saw
at the
beginning
of chapter
four
he's
angry
at
God
he's
angry
at
the
mercies
that
God's
working
amongst
the
Ninevites
anger
so often
takes
this
type
of
diminishing
form
it's
foolishness
that he
would be
angry
over
this
plant
he
moves
from
angry
at
God
to
angry
at
the
death
of
a
plant
almost
as a
side
note
if we
are
angry
by
nature
the
very
littlest
things
set
us
off
James
Montgomery
Boyce
wrote in
his
commentary
on this
chapter
first we
are angry
with
God
next we
express
our
anger
at
circumstances
then
minor
circumstances
finally
our
shoelace
breaks
one
morning
and we
find
ourselves
swearing
the way
his
anger
just
is he's
so
frustrated
in general
that he's
mad that
this plant
that gave
him shade
for a
day
is now
withered
and gone
and then
verse
10
and the
Lord
said
you pity
the plant
for which
you did
not labor
nor did
you make
it grow
it was
just
there
which
came
into
being
in a
night
and
perished
in a
night
there
it is
and the
last
question
the third
question
and should
I
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
and
I
believe
what
he's
expressing
here
is this
vast
number
of
people
and
God
saying
shouldn't
we
at
very
least
pity
the
cattle
and
not
destroy
all
of
them
and
not
destroy
all
the
little
children
the
ones
that
can't
differentiate
right
from
left
yet
so
he's
speaking
to
the
scope
of
the
city
but
he's
also
simply
just
saying
should
we
not
have
least
of
the
offenders
in
all
of
this
and
he
just
leaves
it
hanging
it's
such
an
interesting
story
in
that
way
you
want
to
know
you
want
to
hope
Bob
and
I
this
morning
were
talking
about
what
may
have
happened
to
Jonah
did
Jonah
stay
on
Nineveh
wasn't
destroyed
obviously
did
Jonah
stay
on
and
begin
to
help
and
to
lead
I
hope
so
doesn't
seem
to
be
the
point
of
the
story
though
it
seemed
to
see
Jonah
as
the
whiny
prophet
I
think
in
so
many
ways
it
becomes
distracting
to
the
main
point
that
it's
primarily
a
story
of
a
merciful
God
who
is
working
his
purpose
through
feeble
people
so
as we
relate
to
Jonah
we
can
take
a
great
deal
of
comfort
in
the
fact
that
God
works
his
certain
promises
to
his
church
through
the
work
of
feeble
people
so
many
of
us
this
congregation
who
hold
a
particular
soteriological
persuasion
and if
you don't
know what
that means
that's
okay
I'm
actually
happy
that you
don't
if
you
know
what
it
means
I'm
talking
to
you
we
hold
a
particular
soteriological
persuasion
and I
think
we
too
often
focus
our
thoughts
on
the
judgment
of
God
particularly
as we
seem
to see
so few
around
us
really
faithfully
following
him
and for
me at
least
I hope
for you
this
story
so
readily
highlights
for me
has really
caused
me to
really
consider
the
mercy
of
God
to
remember
that
he
is
abounding
instead
fast
love
let
take
you
to
another
text
in
closing
Matthew
chapter
12
beginning in
verse 38
18
then some
of the
scribes
the
lawyers
of the
day
and
pharisees
this would
have been
the religious
elite
answered him
saying
teacher we
wish to
see a
sign
from you
do
something
miraculous
to show
us that
what you're
saying
is true
but he
answered
them
an evil
and adulterous
generation
seeks
for a
sign
but no
sign will
be given
to it
except
the
sign
of
the
prophet
Jonah
so
hear
what I'm
saying
to you
this is
Jesus
speaking
about
this
story
so
many
of us
are
running
around
looking
for
a
calling
some
kind
of
a
sign
to
turn
from
our
evil
ways
and
turn
to
God
whether
you're
outside
the
faith
you've
never
placed
believing
faith
in
Christ
or
if
you
have
pay
attention
to
the
story
of
Jonah
for
just
as
Jonah
was
three
days
and
three
nights
in
the
belly
of
the
great
fish
so
will
the
son
of
man
be
three
days
and
three
nights
in
the
heart
of
the
earth
isn't
that
fascinating
that
Jonah
is a
type
of
Christ
being
the
anti
type
this
prophet
is
a
type
of
Christ
Jesus
himself
is
saying
that
right
here
the
men
of
Nineveh
will
rise
up
at
the
judgment
with
this
generation
and
condemn
it
for
they
repented
at
the
preaching
of
Jonah
and
behold
something
greater
than
Jonah
is
here
the
men
of
Nineveh
repented
at
the
preaching
of
Jonah
they
had
not
heard
the
preaching
of
Christ
something
greater
is
here
the
good
news
of
Jesus
Christ
the
person
of
Jesus
Christ
there
is
a
hymn
which
says
there
is
a
wideness
in
God's
mercy
like
the
wideness
of
the
sea
I
like
that
line
we
can't
see
the
other
side
of
the
ocean
you
can't
see
the
other
side
of
the
Atlantic
you
can't
see
the
other
side
of
it
and
so
to
think
in
those
terms
that
there's
a
wideness
in
God's
mercy
that
we
can't
even
quite
fathom
but
even
still
I
think
that
expression
falls
short
just a
little
bit
it's
not
quite
wide
enough
the
real
measure
of
the
wideness
of
God's
mercy
is
found
in
the
outstretched
arms
of
Jesus
Christ
on
the
cross
this
is
the
measure
of
the
effort
of
the
love
of
God
for
you
and
I
that
sacrifice
made
on
our
behalf
how
can
we
having
experienced
the
love
and
mercy
of
God
to
us
in
Jesus
Christ
not
be
loving
and
merciful
how
can
we
not
share
the
vastness
of
God's
mercy
with
others
why
should
we
not
with
all
the
strength
that
God
provides
present
God's
love
to
the
world
this
is
the
natural
and
normal
thing
to
do
in
response
to
the
truth
of
the
gospel
what
is
stopping
you
from
doing
that
draw
your
attention
to
the
front
of
your
bulletin
in
closing
I
don't
put
quotations
from
famous
old
saints
on
the
front
of
the
bulletin
to
flex
the
fact
that
I
read
books
in
fact
most
of
them
you'll
notice
are
Spurgeon
quotes
because
my
wife
bought
me
a
book
of
Spurgeon
quotes
and
I
can
go to
the
table
of
contents
and
look
at
it
and
go
read
a
bunch
of
Spurgeon
quotes
in
a
matter
of
moments
I
do
this
because
we
include
myself
even
primarily
myself
have
lost
a
mastery
of
the
English
language
to
say
things
in
such
beautiful
and
impactful
ways
that
some
of
the
saints
of
old
did
I
also
do
it
because
I
want
to
be
reminding
us
that
the
church
exists
as a
global
reality
and also
exists
as a
reality
through
time
our
brother
Charles
Spurgeon
right
and we
have
access
to
them
to
their
minds
and
their
writing
and
that's
such
a
beautiful
thing
so
I
hope
you
enjoy
it
I
try
to
read
the
quote
and
have
it
there
for
you
so
you
!
so
listen
to
words
of
Spurgeon
ah
if
we
did
but
love
Christ
better
my
brothers
and
sisters
if
we
lived
near
the
cross
if
we
knew
more
of
the
value
of
his
blood
if
we
wept
like
him
over
Jerusalem
if
we
felt
more
what
it
was
for
souls
to
perish
and
what
it
was
for
men
to
be
saved
if
we
did
but
rejoice
with
Christ
in
the
prospect
of
seeing
the
travail
and
being
abundantly
satisfied
if
we
did
but
delight
more
in
the
divine
decree
that
the
kingdoms
of
this
world
shall
be
given
to
Christ
I
am
sure
we
would
all
of
us
find
more
ways
and
more
means
for
sending
forth
the
gospel
of
Christ
let's
pray
together