Thank you very much, Sean. That was very kind. It is always a blessing to be able to come down and preach here or just be with you all.
I can't begin to tell you how much joy it brings to me when, you know, the amount of times that Sean and I prayed at King of Grace for what I see now.
So it's an answer to prayer, right? This is a miracle. This is really amazing.
And so I think sometimes, like, I don't even know you and I prayed for you. What a blessing, right?
I mean, yeah, I hope you all are as encouraged to be here on a Sunday as I am to stand here and look at and see you all on a Sunday.
So, yes. All right. He wants me to move on, no doubt. So we're going to be preaching from Jonah today.
And we'll be reading, we'll start our reading, actually, in Jonah 3, 6, and we'll go to Jonah 4, 4.
I'm only going to be preaching from Jonah 4, 1 through 4, but we're going to go ahead and, for context, pick it up a little earlier than that.
If you're not familiar with where Jonah might be, it's after, for instance, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Lamenta, it's after all of those.
It's right after Obadiah, that one pager. And when you get to heaven, Obadiah is going to be there and he's going to say, did you read my book?
Don't walk in the door and say, Obahu. All right. So make sure you read Obadiah's book, too.
All right. So just to give you some background, because we're going to drop it in kind of late into Jonah here.
Jonah initially starts in chapter 1, where Jonah is being called by God to go to preach to the Ninevites.
That's a country, a city in the country of Assyria. They're the enemy of Israel, and Jonah has no interest in following God's words.
So in chapter 1, we see him, instead of going east to Nineveh, he goes west, about 5,000 kilometers.
That's his goal, to a city called Tarshish, and he runs away in the other direction.
That boat eventually, God brings a storm and causes the boat to flounder.
The sailors are trying to keep the boat afloat.
Jonah says, I'm your problem here. Throw me overboard, and the seas will get quiet.
They don't want to do that, but eventually they do. They throw him overboard.
The seas quiet down, and chapter 1 ends with Jonah being swallowed by a fish.
Chapter 2, we have Jonah's little experience in the belly of the fish going down to the bottom of the ocean.
And if you were to pick up in there, in the end of chapter 2 is Jonah's resolution to it.
It says, when my life was fainting away, I remember the Lord, and my prayer came upon you into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I, with a 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 vomited Jonah out onto dry land.
Now, just as a real caveat there to understanding that a little bit, Jonah is kind of saying,
hey, those people out there who worship idols, they don't deserve your salvation.
But me, I do.
Because I follow what you say.
I deserve your salvation.
All right, Jonah 3, he now gets to Nineveh, and God again calls him to cry out to Nineveh.
And he says that he is to call out, in verse 4,
yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Now, unlike every other missionary I have ever met,
the people immediately repent and turn to God.
And that makes Jonah really angry.
We're going to pick up in chapter 3, verse 6.
All right.
Now, the word of the Lord reached the king of Nineveh,
and he arose from his throne, removed his robe,
covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
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 hand.
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 from the disaster
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 not this what I said
when I was yet in my own 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,
therefore now,
O Lord,
please take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live.
And the Lord said,
do you do well to be angry?
May God bless the reading
and the hearing of his word.
Let me pray.
Father,
thank you,
Lord God,
for these words.
Thank you for the book of Jonah.
We thank you for what it reveals
in our own hearts.
Lord,
today,
as we prepare to preach and hear,
Lord,
I just ask
that you would prepare our hearts
to receive the word.
Lord,
give us ears to hear,
eyes to see,
hearts that are soft.
And Lord,
be faithful to your promise
that your word never goes out
and comes back void.
Transform us today.
Conform us to the image of your son.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
So the title of today's message
is,
Do You Do Well?
Imagine
you were to sit down
in your living room
this evening
and God
met you there.
Like,
literally pops up.
Boom.
There he is.
And he says,
Do you do well?
Now,
this is God
asking you.
This is the God
who
nothing under the sun
is hidden from.
This is the God
who sees in the dark
as if it were light.
The God
who has written
all the number
of your days
in his book
before there was one.
This is the God
who knits you together
in your mother's womb.
Who knows
the words
of your mouth
before they
are spoken.
Who knows
the thoughts
of your mind
before you think them.
And who knows
the desires
of your heart
before you recognize them.
Imagine God
our God
enters into
your room
tonight
and says,
Do you do well?
Do you do well,
Stephen?
Do you do well,
Enza?
Do you do well,
Taylor?
Do you do well,
Mike?
What do you say?
This is God.
He's not going
to let you
get away
with this casual
I'm good,
all set.
He's not going
to let you
get away
with that shallow
answer
because he
already knows.
He already knows
that you're not
all good
and you're not
all set.
He already knows
the depth
of your depression.
He already knows
the hopelessness
you feel,
the frustration,
the bitterness,
the anger
that you're experiencing.
He knows
all of those
things already.
See,
he's not going
to let you go
because
he loves you
and he wants
to see you
set free.
he won't
let you go
with that
shallow answer
of all set
because
he is working,
actively working
in your life
to conform you
to his own image.
See,
this is the story
of Jonah.
In truth,
the sailors,
the fish,
even the Ninevites
really,
are background
to what God
is doing
in the life
of Jonah
to conform
him to himself.
God is,
throughout the story,
showing Jonah
his own
personal idols.
That is,
the things
that Jonah
holds more valuable
than God.
Namely,
his love
for his nation
and his own
self-righteousness.
Let me just say
that God
is after something
in every one
of you
as well.
Every one
of us
has things
that keep us
from wholeheartedly
loving
and following
God.
Every one
of us
has,
at some point,
drawn a line
in the sand
and said,
God,
I will follow
you anywhere.
I will do
anything you ask
except maybe
this thing
here
that I've put
in this box.
I don't want
to cross
that line.
But anything
other than that,
I'll do.
See,
you can apply
it in your life
as well,
I'm sure.
You've all,
we've all
drawn that line
and said,
I'm not
willing to go
past this.
We've all
put a box
around something
and said,
I'm just not
willing to give
that thing up.
But I'll do
anything else.
See,
but those
lines you
don't want
to cross,
that box
that you
want to keep
that special
thing in,
those are
your idols.
In the first
three chapters
of Jonah,
we see
some of
Jonah's
idols.
Jonah
runs
from God
because he
does not
want to
take God's
message
to Nineveh.
Why?
Jonah
knew
that if
he declared
God's
message,
the Ninevites
would repent.
And if
the Ninevites
repent,
then God
will have
mercy
and relent
and not
destroy them
as he
promised.
The kingdom
of Israel
hated
Nineveh.
They hated
the Assyrians.
they hated
them because
they were
an empire
that was
going after
the same
lands,
the same
contested
lands that
they were
fighting over.
They hated
the Assyrians
because they
were evil.
They were
violent.
And they
hated the
Assyrians
because they
weren't
Israelites.
Jonah hated
the Ninevites
because they
were not
us.
They were
them.
The Ninevites
were Jonah's
enemy.
And because
he wanted
nothing to
do with
compassion
and mercy
on his
enemies,
he had
run away.
Jonah
wanted the
destruction
of the
Ninevites
and all
the Assyrians.
Jonah drew
a line in
the sand
and it
was called
judgment
and destruction.
God
called him
to step
over that
line and
follow him
into
compassion
and mercy.
Jonah put
a box
around his
thing called
national
interest
and God
asked him
to drop
that precious
box of
national
interest
and embrace
God's
plan
to have
compassion
and mercy
on Nineveh.
National
interest
was an
idol
for Jonah
and God
was calling
him to
throw that
down,
to step
over that
line
and follow
him.
As we
see in
chapter 4
verse 1,
God's
compassion
and mercy
made Jonah
angry.
In fact,
a direct
translation of
that word
anger would
be it made
him burn.
He was
furious with
God.
He was
seething.
Can you
relate to
that?
I can.
Yeah.
In 1991,
February 24th,
remember Sean
said I was
in the
military,
my battalion
crossed into
enemy territory.
We crossed
into Iraq.
We did
everything
that we
had ever
been trained
to do
and our
enemy broke
before us
and ran.
And we
pursued.
When they
stood their
ground,
we fought
and we
destroyed
them.
Just like
we were
trained to
do.
We did
our job
and we
did it
well.
At 8
a.m.
on the
28th,
we're
looking across
a valley.
We prepared
to engage
the enemy
and a
call came
over our
radios and
said,
cease
fire,
stand
down.
It was
over.
The
president
had called
a cease
fire.
We had
completed
his
objectives.
We had
done
everything
he intended
us to
do.
And so
we stood
down and
watched the
enemy move
off over the
ridge line.
and I
was furious.
All I
wanted was
their
destruction.
That is
all I
wanted.
I had no
interest in
mercy or
compassion,
only destruction.
But my
president had
other ideas.
And so we
stood down.
See,
in some
way I
felt like
I had been
cheated.
I had been
betrayed.
My
president had
somehow broken
covenant with
us, with me
personally.
At the time,
I didn't see
the president's
order as
being good.
Him being
faithful to
his word
made me
angry.
In fact, I
felt it was
evil.
In some
sense, this
is what
Jonah felt
as well.
Do you
see in
verse 2
that Jonah
prayed to
the Lord?
Do you
see in your
Bible that
the Lord
is in
all caps,
right?
What that
stands for
is the
word
Yahweh.
Yahweh is
Israel's
personal
name for
God.
When you
see that
personal
name for
God,
that's
Israel's
creator
God.
It's the
God of
Abraham and
Isaac and
Jacob.
It's the
God who
brought them
out of
slavery in
Egypt,
defeated
all of
their enemies
and set
them up in
the promised
land.
God.
This is
the God
of
covenants,
their
personal
God,
the God
who said,
I will
be your
God and
you will
be my
people.
Yahweh
was the
God of
Israel
and Jonah
was an
Israelite.
In
Jonah's
mind,
he was
not the
God of
the other
nations.
God of
the Gentile
nations and
he certainly
was not
the God
of the
Assyrians.
To
Jonah,
showing
mercy and
compassion
to the
Assyrians
was a
breach of
contract.
It was a
breaking of
covenant.
To
Jonah,
to relent
from
judgment
and the
associated
destruction,
to show
mercy and
compassion
on the
Assyrians
was to
allow
the enemy
of God's
chosen people
to grow
strong
and threaten
Israel.
To
Jonah,
God's
mercy and
compassion
on the
Ninevites
was not
good.
It was
evil.
And it
made Jonah
furious
with God.
in your
Bible,
verse 1
says,
but it
displeased
Jonah
exceedingly
and he
was angry.
Now,
if you have
footnotes
in your
Bible,
that footnote
may tell
you there's
an alternate
reading of
that first
part.
The alternate
reading would
be,
but it
was exceedingly
evil to
Jonah
and he
burned.
Jonah
was
displeased
with God's
mercy
and compassion.
It made
him angry.
But I
think it
was much
deeper
than that.
See,
Jonah
saw
what God
did as
exceedingly
evil.
And so
he burned
with anger.
He was
so angry,
verse 3
tells us
that he
prayed to
God to
take his
life and
take it
now.
Can you
identify with
that?
Can you
identify with
that sort
of anger?
Have you
been in the
place where
you felt
like God
broke the
contract?
Have you
been in that
place where
you could
not see
any good
God's
need to
do it?
In what
God had
done or
was doing?
In what
he had
allowed to
happen?
Where
somehow,
in truth,
it felt like
what God
was allowing
to happen
was just
evil.
Have you
been so
angry that
you would
just rather
die than
deal with
that situation
or bear
the consequences
of it?
I have.
Most
recently,
and I
give you a
lot of
examples of
this.
Is this
anger thing
seeming repetitive
for me?
Anyway,
most recently,
last May,
not so long
ago,
I had to
decide to
close our
church in
Salem, a
church I
had planted
four years
earlier.
It felt
like God
had made
promises to
me.
I was quite
sure of
it.
I had
people that
prayed with
me.
I got
green lights
from all
sorts of
places.
Four years
earlier,
we had
gone into
Salem and
planted.
I felt
like God
was somehow
breaking
his promises
now.
It felt
like God
was betraying
me in
some sense.
In truth,
it felt
like evil.
I was
angry,
and I
struggled
mightily.
And friends,
I know,
though,
at this
point,
I can look
back and I
say that as
long as I
have idols
in my heart,
even good
things that
I hold
dear,
that I
hold more
tightly maybe
than God,
he will,
in his
goodness and
mercy,
ask me to
give up.
in love,
he will
smash those
idols so
that I
can more
fully follow
him.
So Jonah
cries out
in verse
two to
God,
O
Lord,
is this
not what I
said when I
was in my
country?
that is
why I
made haste
to flee
to Tarshish,
for I
knew that
you are
a God,
gracious
God,
and merciful,
slow to
anger,
and abounding
in steadfast
love,
relenting
from
disaster.
Here,
Jonah is
partially
quoting,
partially
paraphrasing
God's word
from Exodus
34,
6,
and 7.
The actual
words of
God,
and he's
speaking to
Moses here,
are,
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.
But who
will by
no means
clear the
guilty,
visiting
iniquity
of the
father
on the
children
and the
children's
children
to the
third and
fourth
generations.
Jonah
left out
the second
half of
that verse.
Jonah
left out
God's
justice.
Jonah
chose to
see the
truth that
he wanted
to see.
Jonah
chose to
take parts
of the
passage that
he wanted
to use,
parts that
supported his
version of
the truth,
and give
them back
to God.
Jonah
didn't apply
the whole
truth.
He didn't
apply the
whole truth
of Scripture,
only what
was convenient
for him.
Let me
just say,
church,
that cherry
picking the
truths of
Scripture is
a dangerous
business.
Thomas
Jefferson,
one of our
founding fathers,
our third
president,
was known
for this
actually.
He had
created his
own biblical
text.
He went
through the
Bible and
meticulously
cut out
the parts
that he
thought were
good,
trustworthy,
the parts
that he
liked,
and he
pasted them
on paper
and created
a relatively
comprehensive
or at least
readable,
coherent text
of the story
of Jesus
and his
teachings,
but then
leaving out
the things
that he
disagreed
with.
Now,
how many
of you
use
highlighters?
This isn't
a gotcha.
I use
them.
I write
all over
my Bible.
I mean,
they fall
apart by
the time
I'm done.
I hate
to get
rid of
them because
there's so
many notes
in them.
Now,
imagine
you've got,
some of you
probably use
a lot of
different
color
highlighters
too,
the pretty
ones,
and your
Bible's
very colorful.
Thank you
for artsy
people.
Now,
I only
use a
yellow one,
but imagine
you've got
your highlighters
out there
and you're
using your
highlighter.
Oh,
this is so
beautiful.
I love
this.
This truth
is so
wonderful to
me.
I don't
particularly
like what
that one
says.
Where's
that black
Sharpie?
Oh,
yeah,
there it
is.
Imagine
that's how
you did
your Bible
and took
the black
Sharpie
on the
parts you
don't like,
highlighted
on the
parts you
do like.
What's
left,
right?
It's a
Bible full
of half
truths.
That's what
Jefferson did.
That's what
Jonah is
doing.
And if
we're not
careful in
truth,
it's what
many of
us do
as well.
When God
relented of
the destruction
that Nineveh
rightly
deserved,
God's
compassion
and mercy
were seen
as evil
by Jonah.
Jonah could
not see
any good
coming out
of what
God was
doing,
so he
questioned
God's
goodness.
He
questioned
God's
goodness
to the
point of
seeing it
as evil.
Unless we
judge Jonah
too quickly,
I'm not
so different.
And if you
find yourself
ever in that
place of
doubting God's
goodness,
you're not
alone.
I say you're
not alone
because at
the core
of the book
of Jonah
is the
oldest
question
posed
by man
about
God.
Is God
good?
Can I
trust him?
Can I
trust God's
goodness?
It's at the
heart of the
story,
really,
of the fall
of Adam
and Eve.
God
commanded
Adam and
Eve not
to eat
of the
tree of
the knowledge
of good
and evil.
It was
the only,
the only
rule in
the garden.
Now look,
there was
more food
in the
garden than
you can
imagine.
There was
no issue
of food
insecurity
here.
It was
not a
question of
hunger or
any real
need that
they had.
No,
it was a
question of
God's
goodness.
When
Satan tempted
Adam and
Eve,
the question
quietly being
posed in
the background
was why
would God
withhold from
them what
was obviously
good?
A fruit
that looked
good to
eat.
A fruit
that would
make them
like God.
They
couldn't find
a reason.
They
couldn't find
a reason
that the
fruit would
not be good
to eat.
See,
the picture
that Satan
painted for
them was
that God
was petty,
selfish,
and capricious.
The
implications of
that line of
thought,
if we were to
carry it
through,
was that God
is not good
and if he is
not good,
then he is
potentially evil.
In the
end,
they chose
to believe
that God
was not
good.
They chose
to believe
that their
own understanding
of what
was good
was more
right than
God's.
They put
themselves in
God's place
and decided
that they
were the
ones who
were best
able to
determine
what was
good.
Like Adam
and Eve,
we're all
tempted by
this question,
is God
good when
I cannot
see any
good coming
from it?
Is God
good when
my business
fails?
Is God
good when
my child
starts running
with the
wrong crowd?
Is God
good when
I'm unable
to have
children,
when I
can't find
a spouse?
Is God
good when
I get a
diagnosis of
cancer or
Alzheimer's?
The question
that Jonah
was forced
to deal
with was,
is God
good when
he shows
mercy to
my enemies,
the enemies
of me and
my country?
Now,
our personal
questions may
be different,
but you and
I each
have them.
Is God
good when
dot,
and you
fill in the
blank?
Well,
I want to
take a few
moments here
to help us
consider that
question out
of what we
saw in
Exodus 34,
verses 6
and 7.
In that
passage,
God describes
his goodness
in terms of
mercy,
grace,
slowness to
anger,
forgiveness,
an abundance
of steadfast love
and faithfulness.
grace,
but also
in his
justice
and a
remembrance
of justice
across
generations.
For me,
I believe
that the
scriptures teach
that God
is good.
It's my
bedrock
and the
foundation
of my
faith.
But the
scriptures
teach me
other things
about God's
goodness
that help
me understand
it more.
They remind
me that God
is the
creator
of time
as we
understand
it.
And that
moreover,
he is
outside of
that time.
God is
eternal
and he
knows the
end from
the beginning.
You and
I,
though,
are not
eternal.
We have
an expiration
date.
I don't
know what's
going to
happen in
the next
second.
You and
I are
like less
than a
millisecond
of time
in a
millennia.
Yet our
God knows
us by
name,
created us
in our
mother's
womb for
his purposes
which he
will fulfill.
God knew
you from
before time
and he
set his
love upon
you.
While you
were still
his enemy,
he sent
his son
to die
for you.
He
pursued
you
across
time
with
his
goodness.
He
changed
your
heart.
He
opened
your
eyes.
He
softened
you.
He
gave
you
faith
to
believe.
He
set
you
free
from
darkness.
He
forgave
all
of
your
sins
like
we
read
earlier
as
far
as
the
east
is
from
the
west.
He
gave
you
the
faith
to
believe.
He
filled
you
with
his
Holy
Spirit,
called
you
his
beloved,
made
you
his
child,
gave
you
the
hope
of
the
resurrection,
promised
you
an
eternal
inheritance
all
through
his
son.
Why?
Because
he
is
good.
You
are
not
the
recipients
of
those
things
because
you
are
good.
You
are
not
the
recipient
of
those
things
because
you
were
born
in
a
Christian
family.
You
are
not
the
recipients
of
those
things
because
of
your
own
righteousness
and
the
good
things
that
you've
done.
You
are
the
recipient
of
those
things
because
God
is
good.
He
is
merciful
and
gracious,
compassionate,
abounding in
steadfast love,
forgiving sin,
but also
maintaining
justice.
Jonah
wasn't
interested
in
compassion.
He
wanted
justice.
He
wanted
to see
his
enemies
destroyed
for their
evil,
and he
wanted to
see it
now
on
his
time.
Yet
God
is
able
to
do
both.
He
is
able
to
be
both
compassionate
and
just.
So
let
me
give
you
just
a
quick
example
from
history
that
relates
to
this.
The
events
of the
book
of
Jonah
take
place
somewhere
between
782
and
753
BC
under
the
reign
of
Jeroboam
II.
Somewhere
in that
period,
Jonah
preaches
to the
Ninevites.
They
repent,
turn to
God,
God has
mercy on
them,
and instead
of destruction
that Jonah
wanted,
they receive
mercy.
And much
as Jonah
feared,
they grew
strong,
and in
722 BC,
they attack
and defeat
the kingdom
of Israel,
send them
all into
exile.
Israel.
Yet 110
years
later,
the
Babylonians
overrun
the
Assyrians
and destroy
Nineveh
in 612
BC.
The
prophets
will
actually
interpret
both
of these,
the fall
of Israel
and the
fall
of Assyrians
as God's
judgment
for the
evil that
they had
done.
So what
do I
learn from
that?
Why am I
telling you
this?
First,
I learned
that God
is good.
He showed
mercy and
grace to
the people
of Nineveh.
He had
compassion and
forgiveness of
their sin.
That is
evident.
He relents.
Second,
God is
good.
Justice
was given
as he
promised.
God
promised
through the
prophets
that if
they did
not turn,
both Israel
and Nineveh
would be
judged and
destroyed.
And in a
few generations,
Nineveh had
gone back to
being who
they were
as Assyrians.
God's
judgment
came to
Israel
through Assyria
and to
Assyria
through the
Babylonians.
Third,
I am
reminded
that while
God
is good
to us
as
individuals,
we often
have to
step
back
to see
that
goodness
over
time,
over
generations.
In 1981,
my father
was diagnosed
with pulmonary
fibrosis.
If you're not
familiar with
that,
it's a rather
cruel disease.
It slowly
kills you,
it wastes
your body,
and eventually
steals your
ability to
breathe.
you die
of congestive
heart failure
typically.
Now,
my father
had been
a strong
man.
He grew
up during
the Depression,
served in
World War II
as a
paratrooper,
served in
Korea.
He was a
hard man
at times,
but an
incredible
judge of
men and
their
character.
As a
child,
I was
pretty sure
he was
invincible.
So,
at his
death in
1996,
I was
feeling
empty
and angry.
I could
see no
good in
what had
happened.
Yet,
I can
look back
to that
time now
and see
that God
was very
good to
my family.
God
used to
draw my
heart to
God.
God
used that
disease to
draw my
dad's
heart to
him.
My
father became
a believer
in 1993,
about three
years before
he died.
Moreover,
through the
events surrounding
my father's
death,
God led
me to
the place
where I
became a
believer about
four months
after his
death.
What I
could not
see then,
I can
see now.
God
worked to
shape faith
in my
family across
four generations
so that
now,
even his
great-grandchildren,
children.
Some of
those are
believers.
I know
with certainty
that for
all eternity
my dad
is with
his good
and gracious
father.
Friends,
that is a
gift,
and for
those of
you who
don't have
that shirt,
you know
exactly what
I mean.
That is a
gift.
I can
look back
now and
say,
God,
you are
so good
to us.
In
verse
four of
Jonah
four,
God
asks
Jonah,
do you
do well
to be
angry?
In
doing so,
he's
pointing out
Jonah's
failure to
embrace
God's
heart and
compassion
for lost
people of
the world,
even his
enemies.
He was
pointing out
Jonah's
idolatry,
which placed
his love
for his
nation
above his
love for
God.
And finally,
he was
pointing out
Jonah's
deep-rooted
conviction
that God
was not
good.
As you
would see,
if you
continue to
read the
story,
and I
hope you
do,
the rest
of chapter
four,
the story
ends,
really
with that
question,
it's
never
resolved.
Do you
do well
to be
angry?
That's
in the
face,
then,
at the
end of
the story
with
God's
compassion.
Jonah's
anger
and God's
compassion,
and it's
left
unresolved.
But,
friends,
our story
doesn't
need to
end there.
We
don't
need
our
story to
end
unresolved.
see,
this last
question
really is
ours as
well.
Do you
do well
to be
angry?
Do you
do well
to distrust
the goodness
of God?
Do you
do well
to distrust
his mercy
and his
compassion,
his steadfast
love,
and his
forgiveness?
Do you
do well
to distrust
his justice?
Do you
do well
to mistrust
the timing
of his
events?
do you
do well
to be
angry
when God's
purposes
and yours
diverge?
And in
doing so,
the idols
of your
heart
are revealed.
Do you
do well
to be
angry?
See,
Jonah's
response
was,
yes,
I do
well
to be
angry,
angry
enough
to die.
But,
friends,
that answer
is there
as a
signpost
to us.
It's a
signpost
that says,
do not
enter
wrong
way.
That
anger
of Jonah's
was
symptomatic
of a
heart
misaligned
with
God's.
And when
God points
it out,
as he
did with
Jonah,
it's our
opportunity
to repent
to run
to God,
freely
admitting
our
anger
and
throwing
down,
throwing it
down before
the cross,
the things
that Christ
already paid
for,
he already
knows about
it.
You can
run to
the cross,
you can
run to
Jesus,
you can
throw down
that anger
and throw
yourself
onto God's
mercy.
Friends,
if the
question,
do you
do well
to be
angry,
strikes
home for
you today,
as it has,
as I have
prepared this
and actually
preached it
twice now,
both times,
it does this
for me.
if it strikes
home today,
then that is
the Holy Spirit
at work
within you.
It is God's
kindness which
leads you to
repentance,
to mercy,
to forgiveness,
to restoration.
salvation.
So as we
close out
the service
today,
or I close
out this
message,
please don't
leave here
today without
taking time
to repent
of that
anger and
turning to
God.
Take time
while you
are here
to find
someone to
pray with
you.
Look,
I'm not
saying
it will be
all better
immediately,
but today
you can start
letting go.
and start
embracing the
goodness of
God in
faith.
Amen?
Amen.
Father,
thank you,
Lord God,
for your
word today.
We thank you
for the
truths of
scripture.
Lord,
for those,
any of us
who are out
here today
in that
place of
anger,
or through
the kindness
of your
spirit,
would you
begin to
turn our
hearts
towards you.
Father,
as we go
forth in
this week,
Lord,
I pray,
I ask
that these
words would
come back
to us.
Father,
that you
would make
us a
people who
trust in
your goodness
even when
we can't
see it.
Give us
the hope,
the desire,
the strength,
the courage
to turn
towards you,
to trust you
when our
paths diverge.
And Lord,
when we
fail to
do that,
in your
compassion and
mercy,
point it out
to us and
draw us
back to
yourself.
We pray
it in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.