WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 This is God's holy word starting in Jonah chapter 3 verse 10. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:18.000 When God saw what they did, Nineveh's repentance, 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. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:24.000 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:40.000 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 and merciful, slow to anger and abounding instead of fast love and relenting from disaster. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.000 Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:54.000 And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? This is God's holy word. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:03.000 It is so good to be with you tonight and I'm happy to see so many people in the building. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:13.000 We are continuing our series on Jonah. It's only tonight and then one more and then we've squeezed Jonah dry as it were. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:21.000 An individual last week told me I need to bring in more fish-related puns. That's the only one you'll get. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:25.000 Tonight's chapter is all about anger. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:34.000 Anger is something that concerns us all, I think. People have very different ways of expressing anger. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:43.000 There are some people who are really loud and they shout and become aggressive. There are some people who are a bit like a hedgehog and they just try to get away from everyone. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:49.000 But everyone gets angry, we all know it, we all feel it, we all have experienced it. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.000 So I think tonight's passage is important and relevant for all of us. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:02.000 The good thing is that, well, the good thing is not that Jonah is angry, but the good thing is we can learn something from Jonah 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.000 because he is really giving us a how-to-be-angry in a very unbiblical way tutorial. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:18.000 It's a great opportunity to talk about anger, unrighteous anger, where it comes from, what it looks like and how God seeks to redeem it. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 We could preach a whole sermon series on anger if we wanted to. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000 We only have half an hour tonight, so I'll try to get to the core of it. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:36.000 I'll give you some pointers, but by no means will I give you everything you need to know about anger, righteous anger, unrighteous anger. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.000 But we will just get started so we don't lose any more time. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:48.000 In chapter 2, Jonah was in the belly of the fish and he prayed a prayer, a prayer of faith. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.000 He had an experience, an encounter with God, he experienced his faith. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:03:01.000 God saved him from the belly of the fish and when you read the book you think, oh, okay, Jonah has learned his lesson. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 Jonah is fine, everything's good. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:12.000 In chapter 4, after Jonah went to Nineveh and preached and the people in Nineveh repented, 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000 you can actually now see that Jonah is backsliding. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000 He hasn't changed for good. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:24.000 He's still really, really struggling with his big anger issue that he has. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000 He's struggling with the sinful characteristic that he has. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.000 So first of all, first point, what does unrighteous anger look like? 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Let's go to the text, let's have a little look in the text. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.000 In chapter 4, verse 1, it says, 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.000 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 And to be honest with you, that is, it's an accurate translation, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:55.000 but it doesn't really get to the point of how angry Jonah really is. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.000 It says, it displeased him exceedingly. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:04.000 But actually, the Hebrew in this sentence, it says, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:12.000 It was evil to Jonah, very evil, and he was burning hot with anger. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.000 That's what it says, he was furious, he was actually about to explode. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:21.000 I don't know if any of you have seen this animation movie called Inside Out. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:26.000 It's a movie where the emotions in our heads are personified. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000 So it portrays joy and sadness and disgust and also anger. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.000 And anger is this small, short little man with a shirt and tie, 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:42.000 and he has this big red button and just smacks it and his head goes on fire like a reverse rocket. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.000 That's what Jonah is. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:52.000 He is absolutely furious and angry that God had mercy on the Ninevites. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 It displeased Jonah and it infuriated him. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:02.000 And it's very, very interesting, this word evil, it's used throughout the book. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:09.000 God has dealt with Ninevus evil and he has forgiven their evil 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:15.000 and that has now exposed Jonah's evil that he has inside of him. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.000 He burns with anger. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:23.000 So the last words in chapter three is, God relented of the disaster, 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.000 literally God relented of the evil. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.000 And then the next thing it says, but it was evil to Jonah. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:35.000 Do you see the irony? Do you see the contrast that is created in here? 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 Yahweh's anger, God's anger is quenched and Jonah's is kindled. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.000 The same event that calmed God's anger, now kindles Jonah's anger. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:52.000 The same mercy that caused Jonah to praise God now causes him to complain to God. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:57.000 What is good for God, Jonah calls evil. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.000 And what is evil to God, Jonah calls good. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:07.000 And that's really where we get to the root of the problem, who has unrighteous anger stems from. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:15.000 Throughout the Bible we do find passages that say that there are people who are calling evil good and call good evil. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:21.000 And it's very clear, it can be seen in our day and age everywhere, everywhere you look. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:29.000 That precious life, the wish to preserve life is called evil. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:34.000 And getting rid of innocent lives is called good. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.000 We can see that in our society and it's not good. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:43.000 That is actually at the heart of this, calling good evil and evil good. 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:50.000 Righteous anger, righteous anger called good good and evil evil. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Righteous anger gets angry at what actually is evil, not the way Jonah is angry, 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000 where he gets angry at something that is good. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Unrighteous anger, it does the opposite of righteous anger, obviously. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:09.000 It stems from an attitude in our hearts where we say, I know what is right and I know what is wrong. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:14.000 Nobody has to tell me what is right and what is wrong because I know I'm my own God. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000 I can decide. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:22.000 I don't need your Bible, your book, your God to tell me what is right and what is wrong. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.000 But how do we actually know what is right and what is wrong? 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:32.000 If you put God out of the equation, why should I actually be a good person? 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.000 What's the point? 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Why shouldn't I just go and enrich myself and treat people badly if I wanted to? 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Who cares? 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.000 There are no consequences. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:47.000 The truth is we don't know what is right and what is wrong without God. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:53.000 The truth is we are all corrupted by sin and we actually are very much like the Ninevites. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:57.000 Not knowing our right hand from our left. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.000 How do we know what is good and what is bad? 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.000 The word of God. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Reading it, growing in spiritual maturity, we will be able to distinguish between good and evil 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:14.000 because God will tell you in His word what is good and what is evil. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.000 I'm from Germany. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.000 I'm not sure you can hear that in my accent. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.000 In Germany, people shout a lot. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:23.000 That's how they express their anger. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:30.000 I've seen some people shout here as well in Scotland, but some other British people are quite quiet. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.000 It's not that they're not angry. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:38.000 I think the issue of anger really is in our hearts. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:44.000 Maybe you're not aggressive or loud, but maybe you're resentful. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.000 You talk behind people's backs. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.000 There are no consequences to that. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.000 It's easy to do. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:56.000 Maybe you struggle with bitterness like Jonah. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:05.000 Bitterness really is nothing else but a long-term anger towards a person or a group of people that have sinned against you 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.000 and you struggle to forgive them. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Even if they have confessed their sins and repented and God has forgiven them, you struggle to forgive. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.000 That is long-term bitterness. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:21.000 In German, we have a word for this. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.000 Of course we do. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.000 It's called nachtragend. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 Literally, that means carrying something after the other person. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:38.000 See, if you struggle to forgive someone, then it's you actually who is exhausted from carrying all that weight with you. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.000 Jonah, the Ninevites, they're fine. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.000 They've repented. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.000 They've been forgiven. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:46.000 God has forgiven them. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:47.000 There's freedom there. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:48.000 What's with Jonah? 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000 He can't let it go. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 He's carrying this weight with him. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.000 He's carrying after... 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.000 He's walking behind the Ninevites. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.000 He's carrying it with him. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.000 He's walking to God carrying all that weight with him. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:03.000 He can't let it go. 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.000 That's what anger does to you. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.000 It's exhausting. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:18.000 And it actually slowly will make you miserable, resentful, bitter. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:28.000 What is it in your heart, in my heart, that makes you think that you deserve God's grace more than other people? 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:40.000 Why is it okay for you to accept God's grace like Jonah did in the belly of the fish, but you struggle to forgive other people who've done evil as well? 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.000 If you think that you deserve God's grace, that's an oxymoron. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000 It is precisely the problem Jonah has. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.000 So what is unrighteous anger? 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Unrighteous anger calls evil good and good evil. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.000 It is angry at good. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.000 It's indifferent about evil. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.000 It burns hot with rage. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:04.000 It's a strong emotion and it's directed in the wrong direction. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:16.000 If you struggle to call good what God calls good good and what God calls evil evil, then that's not a good sign. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:19.000 That's actually pretty serious. 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:26.000 How do we change that by praying and reading the Bible? 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.000 By aligning our hearts with God's heart. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.000 By becoming people after God's own heart. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.000 By making sure that we love God. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:48.000 Like we read in the call to worship to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your will, with all your mind wholeheartedly. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Becoming more like Him, that will change the way how we see the world, how we see what is good and evil. 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.000 And that's difficult sometimes. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:05.000 And we shouldn't be just pretending that everything's fine just, ah, I read my Bible, but ask the hard questions. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.000 Come to God, talk to Him, tell Him that you're angry. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.000 That will change something. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.000 It's fine. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.000 God dealt with Jonah. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.000 I'm sure he can deal with your questions as well. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.000 That's how we change our attitude. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.000 Coming to God and wrestling through these questions. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.000 Secondly, self-righteous anger versus righteous anger. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:37.000 So we've got unrighteous anger, which is self-righteous anger, and we've got God's righteous anger. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.000 In this chapter we see the first real dialogue between Jonah and God. 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:46.000 So in chapter one, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah doesn't respond, he runs away. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:52.000 In chapter two, Jonah prays to God, but we don't really have a verbal answer from God. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:57.000 In chapter three, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh again and he does it. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:02.000 And now in chapter four there's the first dialogue between Jonah and God. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:06.000 And it is an ironic dialogue. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:11.000 It's supposed to make you laugh a little bit because what does Jonah do? 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.000 Jonah prays to God. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:17.000 But it's so, so different to the prayer we read about in chapter two. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:21.000 Jonah says, Allah's, please God. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:28.000 It's the exact words that were used by the Mariners in chapter one. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.000 When there was a crisis, there was a storm. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.000 They were in danger. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:37.000 And now Jonah uses these words when the crisis is actually prevented. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.000 God has dealt with his anger and the Ninevites. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:46.000 And Jonah comes to God and says, please, why are you doing this? 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.000 Help me. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:51.000 For Jonah, God's mercy is a disaster. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.000 And that's very, very ironic. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:59.000 Jonah went to Nineveh and he preached to the people and they actually responded to it. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.000 He actually repented. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.000 And as a preacher, I read this and I think, what are you complaining about Jonah? 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:10.000 I wish people would respond to my sermons like that. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.000 Be happy. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.000 They're listening to you. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.000 But actually Jonah is not happy. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.000 It's a disaster. 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000 In chapter two he's happy. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:24.000 He's happy that salvation belongs to God as long as it concerns him. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 In chapter four he's angry that salvation belongs to God. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Well, if Jonah is in danger and salvation belongs to God and God saves him, everything's fine. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:43.000 But as soon as it concerns these dirty little Ninevites that he hates so much, it's a disaster. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.000 Jonah is happy to be an Israelite. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:51.000 He's happy to be in the chosen nation of God in Israel unless it becomes uncomfortable for him. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.000 You remember what Israel was chosen for? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.000 It was chosen to be a blessing to the nations. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.000 And there's an application in there for us as well. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:12.000 If we are in the church and the church is also chosen to be a blessing to the nations, a blessing to others, 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000 are we treating it like this? 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.000 Are we simply saying, well, I'm happy that I'm in the church. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 I'm happy that I'm saved. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:20.000 I'm fine. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Salvation belongs to you, God, but actually we don't treat other people with love and in a way where we want them to be saved. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000 Do we have that mindset that Jesus gives us in the Great Commission? 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:39.000 Go and baptize and make disciples. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:45.000 Maybe we are a bit more like Jonah than we initially thought. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:55.000 In chapter 2, Jonah experiences this faith and I'm sure he had that encounter that he needed, 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 but it didn't really sink into his heart. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.000 It shows that ultimately he doesn't really care about the Ninevites. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.000 He cares about himself. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:12.000 Because one thing that I didn't mention when I preached on chapter 2 is that in the whole chapter, 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.000 in the whole prayer that Jonah prays, he doesn't admit guilt. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.000 He doesn't actually confess his sins. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.000 He never actually recognizes the fact that he did something wrong. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:30.000 And that's very common for us Christians as well, backsliding into old habits, 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.000 forgetting so quickly what God has actually done for us. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.000 Reflect on that. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:38.000 It's true. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:45.000 And we need to be very, very aware of that and pray that God might help us. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:52.000 And in light of all of that, it's so ironic that Jonah actually longs for death. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:57.000 You see, in chapter 2 he was in the depths of the water, in the belly of a fish, 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:02.000 symbolically in the realms of death, and he's crying out for salvation. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.000 He's longing for life. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.000 You know, he's high up on a hill, he's in the dry, he's very much alive. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:16.000 God has relented from the disaster and he longs for death. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000 Where does that come from? 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.000 It comes from a distorted view of God's character, 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:27.000 of overemphasizing one side of God's character over another. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:32.000 It's so important that we align our hearts with God's heart. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:37.000 I mentioned already by trying to study God's word, understanding who he is, 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:42.000 and by praying, spending time in the presence of the Lord. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.000 Loving God means loving his plan. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.000 It means loving his will. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Okay, thirdly, how does God redeem this sinful, unrighteous anger? 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.000 He asks Jonah this question, do you do well to be angry? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:07.000 Literally in Hebrew he asks him, is it good for you that you are angry? 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:14.000 Which, it might imply that you can be angry and you can do well to be angry, 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:17.000 and we read that in Ephesians 4 as well, don't we? 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.000 Be angry, but in your anger do not sin. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:25.000 And the verb that I mentioned earlier, that means, you know, burning hot, 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.000 it comes from fire, burning hot with anger, it's used for God as well. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:34.000 And we know that God's anger is righteous anger. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:38.000 So there is a good kind of anger that exists. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.000 Jonah here is a textbook illustration of how not to be angry. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.000 But it doesn't mean that you can't ever be angry at all. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:47.000 That is unrealistic and it's not true, 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:50.000 and there's a reason why we do have that emotion of anger, 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:56.000 but it's important where we direct that anger. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Does it make you angry when you read about war and death and slavery 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.000 and human trafficking and sickness and crimes 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.000 and when a child gets bullied or sexual abuse, 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.000 cheating, lying, all these sins and injustices? 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.000 That's good. That's good anger. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.000 It's important that you feel angry at sin. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000 God feels angry at sin. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:27.000 Jesus, you remember this story when Jesus went into the temple? 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.000 Well, first he cursed a fig tree, he was angry. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.000 Then he went into the temple and he flipped over the tables of the money changers 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:38.000 and people selling animals and so on. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.000 And he's angry. Jesus was angry. He hated sin. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:47.000 He hated when wrong was done, when sin was committed. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.000 It's important to be angry at that. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.000 I've got, because we are so limited in time, 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.000 I've got three questions that you might want to note down 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.000 or listen back to the sermon if you have time 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.000 that you can use to test if your anger is good anger. 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:08.000 First of all, are you angry because you're offended by sin? 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Are you angry because you're offended by sin? 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.000 That's good. That's okay. That's righteous sin. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.000 Thirdly, in the midst of your anger, are you still focused on God 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.000 and His kingdom, His rights rather than yours? 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:28.000 God's peaceful and patient character that he showed you so many times. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.000 Are you focusing on God in the midst of your anger? 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:38.000 Thirdly, when you're angry is the fruit of your anger, godly. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:42.000 Anger always produces fruit. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.000 Most of the time when we are angry, it produces bad fruit. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.000 You're in an argument with your partner, with your spouse, 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:53.000 with your child, with your father, mother, friend, whoever. 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:57.000 Work, colleague, your employer, and you say things you shouldn't have said 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:01.000 if you tell your boss something in your anger, he might fire you. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.000 Bad consequence, bad fruit. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.000 If you are angry at an injustice and you do something against that, 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:09.000 it might produce good fruits. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:13.000 So these are the things. Are you offended by sin and therefore angry? 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.000 In your anger, are you focused on God? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.000 And thirdly, is the fruit of your anger godly? 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.000 Do you do well to be angry? 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:32.000 The world we live in, our sinful nature is funny sometimes. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.000 We often think we have every right to be angry, 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.000 but God is not allowed to be angry with anyone. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.000 Have you ever thought that? Have you ever heard people say that? 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:47.000 Why is God such an angry God? And they sound so angry when they say it. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:52.000 You see, the Bible teaches us that God's anger is always directed at sin, 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.000 is always righteous, is always just, 00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:00.000 which is why Jonah's statement about God's mercy is so interesting. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.000 He quotes something from the Old Testament in verse 2. 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:07.000 He's quoting from Exodus chapter 34, which is, 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:12.000 when Moses wanted to see God's glory and God tells Moses, 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.000 okay, I will show you my goodness. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.000 God's goodness, okay? And what does God say? 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.000 God says this, 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.000 the Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.000 slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.000 keeping steadfast love for thousands, 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.000 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:35.000 but who will by no means clear the guilty, 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:40.000 visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.000 to the third and the fourth generation. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:46.000 Jonah is leaving that whole second part out. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.000 He just omits it. He doesn't mention it. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.000 He only talks about God's grace and mercy. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:59.000 But actually all of this together is God's goodness, mercy, but also justice. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:03.000 God does not forget the sin. He seizes. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.000 That's why Jesus becomes angry. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:10.000 That's why Jesus is sad at the sin and he rebukes people, 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:15.000 yet he ends up dying on the cross for them, for the same people. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.000 That's why Jesus is described as being compassionate, 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.000 more than anything else, any other emotion in the Gospels. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:29.000 B.B. Warfield, the great Princeton professor, he wrote an essay, The Emotional Life of Jesus. 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:39.000 And in it he mentions that the emotion that we read most about in the Gospels of Jesus is his compassion. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:43.000 He weeps. Jesus actually weeps a lot. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:47.000 If anyone ever tells you, real men don't cry, that's a lie. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:51.000 Jesus cried a lot. Why? Because our pain became his pain. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Our sadness became his sadness. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:58.000 It actually hurt him to see us struggling with sin so much. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:03.000 He was so often moved with compassion to his innermost being. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.000 He was angry at everything that is wrong with the world. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:13.000 But ultimately he used his compassion to get rid of that anger, 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:20.000 to take the wrath of God upon himself so that he could forgive us. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.000 And so we could forgive those who have wronged us. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.000 And Jonah is not seeing that. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:34.000 Last week I told this story about Irina Dapazzo, a man in a concentration camp who was treated very unjustly. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:39.000 And if I could I would tell the story again because it's such a powerful story. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:41.000 Instead I have another instance. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:47.000 From a similar time, many of you will have heard of a woman called Corey Ten Boom, 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:53.000 who was also imprisoned in a concentration camp because she was hiding Jews. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.000 She survived it miraculously. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:01.000 And later on she often talked publicly and she preached the gospel of forgiveness. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:09.000 And she tells the story in a book about a church service in Munich 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:14.000 where after she had been up on the stage to speak she saw a former SS guard 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.000 from the concentration camp she was imprisoned in. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:23.000 And this man, he had been especially cruel towards Corey's sister Betsy, 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.000 who later passed away, he tormented her. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.000 And then she writes this about the encounter. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.000 She writes, it was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:41.000 the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower door in the processing center at Ravensbrook. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.000 It was the first of her actual jailers that I had seen since that time. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And suddenly it was all there, the room full of mocking men, heaps of clothing, 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:52.000 Betsy's pain-blanched face. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:57.000 He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. 00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:01.000 How grateful I am for your message, Fräulein, he said. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:05.000 To think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000 His hand was thrust out to shake mine. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.000 And I, who preached so often to the people in Blöhmendahl, 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:14.000 the need to forgive kept my hand at my side. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.000 Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.000 Jesus Christ had died for this man. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:25.000 Was I going to ask for more? 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:30.000 Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:32.000 I tried to smile. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:35.000 I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:40.000 I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.000 And so again I breathed a silent prayer. 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.000 Jesus, I cannot forgive him. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:47.000 Give me your forgiveness. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:50.000 As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.000 From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, 00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:01.000 while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:05.000 And so I discovered that it is not in our forgiveness anymore 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:11.000 than in our goodness that the world's healing hinges but on his, on Jesus's. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:18.000 When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000 These stories are so powerful. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000 It's so difficult. We cannot imagine what she went through. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.000 And last week what Irino DiPazzo went through. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:35.000 But these are examples of the healing power of the grace of the forgiveness we can have 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:42.000 because Jesus hung on that cross where God's mercy and his justice kissed and embraced 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:49.000 and where Jesus, where God himself took the punishment upon himself. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:52.000 God does not rejoice in the death of people. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.000 God is a God of love and God is a God of justice. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.000 That's why Jesus died for you. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:04.000 God dealt with his anger by bearing it himself in Jesus Christ. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.000 That's why Jesus bled on the cross. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:11.000 That's why he was mocked, where he was beaten and why his body was broken. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:16.000 And that is why we remember tonight as we sit around the Lord's table, 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000 as we share that meal of remembrance, 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:27.000 that the righteous anger of God was laid on his only son so that anyone who believes in him 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:31.000 could live and be free and find forgiveness in him. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:34.000 We will soon sing a hymn called, 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.000 Man of Sorrows, Lamb of God, by his own betrayed, 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:42.000 the sin of man and wrath of God has been on Jesus laid. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.000 My question to you tonight is, 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 if God chooses to forgive people for their sins when they repent, 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.000 if God chooses to relent from his anger, 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.000 do you do well to be angry? 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.000 Let us pray. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:01.000 Father, we read this story of Jonah when he was so angry 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:03.000 and you asked him, do you do well to be angry? 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:07.000 And we cannot but take this question and ask ourselves, 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:10.000 are we doing well to be angry? 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:15.000 And it is so, so difficult and we need your strength. 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.000 We need your forgiveness. We need your love for our enemies, 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.000 for those who have wronged us, 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.000 for those who have hurt us and who have sinned against us. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.000 Help us, Father, too. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.000 Forgive them as you have forgiven us. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:46.000 In Jesus' name we ask that. Amen.