Well, in the book of Numbers,
in chapter 20, God commanded Moses to speak to the rock so
that the rock would bring forth water to water the people's animals,
the Israelites' animals, and give water to the people in that
desert place. And you've got to remember that
Moses was that one that spoke with the Lord face to face. was
a very special prophet in that sense, and the prophet was used
to deliver the people out of Egypt. But Moses disobeyed the
Lord in that place, and he struck the rock twice with his rod,
and I'm so thankful for this picture, this picture that we
see. Moses disobeyed and yet we see
that the Lord maintains his loving relationship with Moses. I'm so thankful for this picture
of Nineveh that we see in the scriptures. And we see that mercy
comes unexpectedly. The Ninevites in their wickedness
were not seeking God. Were they? They weren't seeking
God. We weren't seeking God. And the truth is none of us were
seeking God. The Apostle Peter having been
a close companion of the Lord for all those years, found himself
at the end of that ministry cursing and denying the Lord, didn't
he? And I'm so thankful that the
Lord has not hidden these accounts of these men, these servants
of the Lord. Everything's laid bare before
us in the Scriptures, isn't it? There's nothing hidden. The weakness
of every child of God, the rebellion of our flesh against everything
that's holy, And we have this record of men called by God,
ordained by God, and given instruction of God, who have often rebelled.
Moses and Aaron rebelled against the Lord when they struck the
rock, but they belong to the Lord. Their names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, and their rebellion is covered by
the blood of the Lamb. And as we enter Chapter 4 of
the Book of Jonah, what do we see? We see a man who in Chapter
1 receives command of the Lord to go to Nineveh. A man of God's
own choosing, God's prophet, called of God to declare the
Word of God. A man saved by God. A man whose
life in the scriptures is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
recall the Lord said, for as Jonah's was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And so we
have the Lord's mention of Jonah as a type in the gospel accounts. And here we have four chapters
in this book of Jonah, but there is another reference to Jonah
in the scriptures. One other reference, and it is
found in 2 Kings chapter 14 verse 25. just one verse and we read
how Jonah was an advisor and a prophet to the king, King Jeroboam
at the time. And in that verse we learn an
amazing detail about Jonah, a detail, a picture of Jonah as a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ and it emphasizes it even further. In 2nd Kings we learn that Jonah
was the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of a place called Gathheba. Gathheba. And where was Gathheba? Gathifa was located at the southern
end of Galilee, where our Saviour would conduct His ministry about
700 years later. Some would say coincidence, wouldn't
they? But our God doesn't work on chance. He doesn't work on
coincidences. Everything He does is with absolute
purpose, and these things are by divine providence. But from
the beginning of the book, Jonah is set on disobedience against
the Lord. I've entitled this message Man's
anger and God's mercy. Man's anger, God's mercy. The Lord commanded him to go
to Nineveh, but he bought that ticket on the ship of destruction
to go in the opposite direction, to escape the presence of the
Lord. And we always need to be reminded again and again, the
entire human race descended from that first man and woman are
guilty, are guilty of the same thing in the garden, in that
treasonous act. of unbelief, what did we do? We called God a liar and we went
our own way. We called God a liar, didn't
we? And we went our own way. And that verse from Isaiah is
so true, isn't it? All we like sheep have gone astray,
have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord said to Adam and
Eve, in the day you eat of that tree, you are going to die. And
when Eve was deceived and Adam transgressed with her, all the
descendants of this world were in them and transgressed as well. and we called him a liar. We
went that way of destruction. Destruction would be a good name
for that ship, wouldn't it, that Jonah stepped onto? And destruction
would have been the lot of every man and every sailor who was
on board with that man. But we saw those men spared,
didn't we? Why were they spared? Because God's man was on board.
God was looking to that man for justice and that man would take
the fault. Jonah instructed them, as we read, to throw him into
the raging ocean, the picture of the wrath of God, one man
as a substitute for the lives of many. And the truth is, though,
that God must deal with the rebellion of men, the crimes that we committed
in the garden, the crimes that we committed against God and
called Him a liar and went our own way. Such things cannot go
unpunished by an unjust God. For God to remain just, transgression
must be judged and punished. Our God is and must be without
injustice. He must be. If God is found to
be unjust, he's no longer God. He can't let the guilty go free.
One of our many problems is we have no idea how deeply we have
offended a holy God. It hinders us from understanding
the sinfulness of sin. It's like trying to explain the
beauty of this world to a person born blind. It's like trying
to explain to a deaf person how deaf they are. Or trying to explain
anything like that, anything spiritual to a carnal man. This
is why the Lord says we must be given ears to hear and eyes
to see him. But of course we're talking spiritually,
aren't we? This sin so entangles us. and obstructs our understanding. It dulls our sense of righteousness
and hinders our awareness of sin. The truth is we are largely
ignorant, aren't we? We are largely ignorant of how
far we've fallen. This is why the scriptures are
so important for us to read. We need to be taught these things
in the Word. They don't come naturally. The
carnal man is completely ignorant of the things of God and we would
have no idea of the sinfulness of sin apart from the revelation
of God. And by revelation I mean the preaching, the preaching
of God's Word. But that truth, the truth of
the preaching needs to be applied, doesn't it? It needs to be applied
by God, the Holy Spirit to the hearts of His people. This book
is a revelation that declares the nature of God and the nature
of man. And if the Lord grants us repentance,
we'll see no greater contrast in this world. God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all. But man is darkness, and
in him is no light at all. God must give a man light, otherwise
he would just continue in darkness, and he'd have no idea even what
that light was. God is righteous. Men are unrighteous. God is holy. and men are evil. You could think of every attribute
of God and there would be an opposite contrast in man. And
when the sinner is made to see this truth, the glory of God
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner says what
Peter said to the Lord, having seen just a glimpse of his glory,
when he calmed that storm in front of him, he said, Lord,
go away from me. Go away from me, for I am a sinful
man. Peter had a glimpse of the glory
of God, didn't he? The natural man has no idea of
the glory of God. He sees creation, but he doesn't
know God. But the Lord is also terrifying. He's a terrifying, he's a consuming
fire. God will not be mocked. The day
is coming that God will judge the sins of men everywhere, every
man. He'll judge it either upon you
or he'll judge it either upon you or upon the substitute. Jonah stepped onto that ship
to go his own way. But we need to remember that
the Lord is never, never ever frustrated by the will of man.
His purpose is always accomplished, isn't it? Regardless of whether
men are compliant or not, our God is going to get the glory,
especially when man raises their fist in their rebellion. There
is a psalm that says, in Psalm 76, the verse that says, Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. The religious leaders who
plotted the murder of the Lord Jesus Christ and carried it out
had no idea that God would use such vile wickedness for his
glory and the salvation of his people. In chapter 1, verse 12,
Jonah says, take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall
the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this
great tempest is upon you. So they took up Jonah and cast
him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. All
the souls on that ship of destruction were saved by the substitute.
And Isaiah speaks of this so wonderfully, a verse that is
so familiar to us. The prophet declares these words. Listen to these words. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. And in chapter
two we saw that awful descent of Jonah in the belly of the
fish, into the belly of hell. suffering the horror of all the
sins of all God's people combined. And after those three days, the
fish vomits him out. Have you ever tried not to vomit? That urge overcomes us so easily,
doesn't it? Hell couldn't keep our Lord contained.
It had to vomit him out. This earth had to vomit him out,
just as the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ couldn't contain
him. Jonah was in the belly of that fish three days. And likewise,
our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, on
the third day. And then in chapter three, we
see how Jonah finally goes to Nineveh, that city which represents
all God's people, to preach the word of the Lord to them. And
in verse five, we read that the people of Nineveh believed God,
believed God. And that's my hope for us, as
always, that we would simply believe God. And the scriptures
make it clear that all the children will believe God. All the children
will believe God. All the saints will believe God.
All the chosen, all the called will believe God. Chosen before
the world began. All that the Father gave the
Son before the world began will believe God. They cannot not
believe God. Why? Because our God cannot fail. It's impossible for our God to
make mistakes. His will is always done. What does the scripture
say about the will of God? It says, This is the will of
God, that all the Father gave the Son, none shall perish. Not a single one shall perish. They who believe God cannot be
lost. The reputation of God depends on it. If he loses even one soul,
he's lost. He's lost that soul and he's
failed. He cannot fail to say. But in our walk towards Chapter
4, let's not pass over that wonderful picture here in Chapter 3 before
we enter. Chapter 3 verse 6 says, For word
came unto the king of Nineveh. and he arose from his throne,
and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth
and ashes." I hope you can admire this beautiful description of
our Lord Jesus Christ as King, the King of Nineveh, the King
of His people. arose from his heavenly throne,
and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth
and sat in ashes. That is, he put aside his glory,
he became flesh, and he entered into this world and dwelt among
us." What an amazing thing that is. The God of this universe
came into this world and dwelt among us. that God would condescend
and enter into our world is amazing. To glory himself in the salvation
of his particular people. And in verse 10, God saw their
works. What works were they? Their works
were the works of their king. The people believed God and they
looked to their king. That's what believers do, isn't
it? There's a proclamation from the king sent out, and his people
received that proclamation. And so we are looking to our
king who sacrificed everything for our good and his glory. It
must be a sacrifice. I was watching a honeybee just
a few days ago, and I'm sure most of you will know this. When
the honeybee stings, soon after, it dies. It sacrifices its own
life to save the colony. One life given for many. And
this is a judgment. There is a judgment coming upon
all wickedness. The wickedness of men draws the
judgment of God like a magnet. And we aren't it. We aren't it.
The scripture says the wages of sin is death. We need to be
reminded that we are not instant victims. We are fully deserving
of the judgment of God. And if there is no sacrifice,
all that remains is judgment. There must be a sacrifice. Hebrews
tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sins. Because the soul that sinneth, it must die. So God
spared this generation of Ninevites for himself and so as we've seen
Nineveh is a picture of the church of God and these Ninevites were
saved just as every child of God is saved. God sent them a
preacher in Jonah and they believed God and that's the simplicity,
that's the simplicity of the gospel. When the gospel comes
to a man he just believes what God says. There are no ifs, no
buts, no maybes, and contrary to what false religion teaches,
there is no offer to take it or leave it. God comes with invincible
power, doesn't he? And the stubborn will of man
is no match for the will of God. There is no payment required
from men. You can't buy your way to heaven.
He paid it all. There's no work required. He
paid it all and He did it all. And if you present your works
to God or try to merit yourself to God by works, you disqualify
yourself from grace, the grace of God, because the only grace
there is is free grace. It is the free, sovereign grace
and mercy of God found only in His Son. Christ and Him crucified
is our message. And that message will effectively
call and save every child of God out of this world, from the
least of them to the greatest, as we've read here in Jonah.
God saw that they turned from their evil way, not evil ways. They turned from their evil way.
That term is singular, isn't it? God saw that they turned
from their evil way. Chapter 3, verse 10. This is
not simply a matter of trying to be good. This is not a matter
of looking at themselves and marking out every sin that they
thought they had and then trying to eradicate every sin that they
thought they had. That's what works religion does,
isn't it? So truth is that salvation is
by grace alone, not of works. And we need to preach that again
and again because we're so prone, so prone to forget and we're
so prone to works. What is that evil way? That evil
way is unbelief, isn't it? They turn from that evil way,
they believe God and God repented of the evil that he said he would
do unto them. But the Lord would still make good on that word,
that judgment. His judgment did indeed fall
upon Nineveh, but not in that generation, not in this generation. Nineveh fell to the Babylonians
about 150 years later, and we read of that terrible judgment
in a previous message recorded in the book of Nahum. You can see the ruins of that
city today. They're visible near a city called
Mosul in Iraq. And so chapter three ends with
this great high point. Jonah went as God commanded him
to preach to the Ninevites, and his ministry was gloriously successful. A city of hundreds of thousands
of men, women, and children believed God. What a remarkable thing. They believed God from the greatest
of them even to the least of them. But now as we enter chapter
4 we see something unfold that seems to sour this great success
of Jonah, this great success that God had accomplished. Hundreds
of thousands of souls hearkened to the word of the Lord. But
verse 1 of chapter 4 says, It displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was very angry. The greatest number of people
recorded in the scriptures to receive the word and believe
God. He went to the most unlikely
people, didn't he? And he went with them with a
word from the Lord. And they responded in a way which
is almost unimaginable. And here, immediately after such
an amazing response, this response that would normally cause any
preacher to rejoice, Jonah is angry. The Lord said, Heaven
rejoices over one sinner that repents, but there is no joy
in Jonah. There's no joy. Who was Jonah
angry with? He was angry with the Lord, wasn't
he? Why was he angry with the Lord? He was angry because the
Lord was merciful to these people of Nineveh. And so we have to
ask this question, how do we understand the mind of Jonah?
Why would he despise the mercy of God upon these people of Nineveh? And perhaps we should know, in
a previous message I recalled the terrible antagonism that
existed between his people, the Israelites, and the people of
Nineveh. The Assyrian kings were ruthless enemies of Israel and
perhaps there were atrocities committed against his people
because the Assyrians were known for their brutality and they
carried many of Israel away captive. And so we can see that, in effect,
Jonah has been called, hasn't he? Called to prolong the life
of a people considered his long-term enemies. And he resents the fact. He resents the fact that God
should make him do this. But Jonah knew from the start,
didn't he? Knew from the start that when the Lord called him
to go preach, that the Lord intended good to those people. He sent
his prophet. He sent them a preacher. What
a great mercy of God, one which we are thankful for here in this
church. But Jonah was reluctant to do it. Look at his prayer
in verse 2 of chapter 4. And he prayed unto the Lord and
said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was
yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto
Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Jonah was saying, I knew you were going to be merciful to
my enemies. I have no doubt that the pride of Jonah was stirred,
stirred deeply in him. What would his countrymen think
of him, having gone to their enemies with a word of warning
of the coming judgment? No doubt, along with Jonah, his
countrymen would think and wish that the Lord's judgment would
fall on them. Perhaps Jonah feared being called
or named a false prophet. Remember, he went through Nineveh
pronouncing 40 days, and Nineveh shall it be overthrown. And 40
days came and went. And so perhaps pride and humiliation,
explain his cry in verse three where he says, therefore now,
O Lord, take take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better
for me to die than to live. Jonah is angry with God for showing
mercy to a people he considers unworthy of mercy. In a minute we'll be turning
to Luke chapter 15, but let's have a short break and we'll
come back and we'll finish this off.