Well, our dear brother Jonah
could have used that letter, couldn't he? As we're going to
see today in the book of Jonah, and Lord willing, we'll bring
this book to a close in our studies. We're in Jonah chapter 4. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 10 of chapter 3. reminding us of what we looked
at last week. And God saw their works, and
they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. We looked at how Christ, because
of what Christ did for us, our Lord does not place judgment
upon us. We saw that our Lord turned from
The destruction that he had promised upon us humans, the destruction,
the judgment that we deserve, because of Christ's sake, because
of what he did for his people, he turned from that judgment
for those that he has loved before the world began. Continuing in
chapter four, verse one, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was very angry. 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 a merciful,
slow to angry, and of great kindness and repentance thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take,
I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to
die than to live. Then said the Lord, doest thou
well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city,
and he sat in the east side of the city, and there made him
a booth. And he sat under it in the shadow till he might see
what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd
and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over
his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding
glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when
the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it
withered. And it came to pass when the sun did arise that God
prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head
of Jonah, that he fainted and wished in himself to die, and
said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said
to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he
said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said the Lord,
thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored,
neither made us to grow, which came up in the night and perished
in the night. And should not I spare Nineveh,
that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons
that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand,
and also much cattle? Now again, I am not going to
stand before you and pretend that I know what all of the symbolism
means here. I only want to talk to you about
what God has showed me, what God has taught me personally.
And the first thing that I see here is in verse 1 of chapter
4, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, in that he was very angry. Interesting. I would think that most preachers,
most prophets, most of God's ministers would be happy when
they preach the Word of God and the Lord goes forth and transforms
those people into believing children of God. You would think that
this would bring great happiness to Jonah, but yet Jonah didn't
get happy at all, did he? He was displeased exceedingly.
He was very angry. Jonah was thinking about himself
only. What a strange thing. So my first point this morning
is that all of God's messengers are no more than sinners saved
by grace. Throughout scripture, we see
over and over again God's preachers, God's ordained ministers falling
into sin. We saw where Abraham had the
sin of unbelief, and he took his wife Sarah's handmaiden. We see where David had the sin
of lust, where he saw a woman on a roof and took her and had
her husband killed, sent to the front of the battle so that he
would die. Even the apostle Paul had a thorn
in his side that most believe was a besetting sin, troubling
his conscience. Yet what do scriptures say? Second
Corinthians 12.9, it says, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. All of God's people are saved
the same way, and that is through Christ Jesus, the Lord. In Ephesians
2.8, it says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, as it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any
man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that
we should walk in them. God ordains our good works before
the world ever began, just as he has ordained his people to
be called out of darkness. He says, they will be my people,
and I shall be their God. Oh, how often we put our leaders,
our loved ones, and even ourselves on pedestals, sitting higher
than we should or they should. How about your mom? I put my mom on a pretty high
pedestal. Or your dad. What about your wife? A child? Pastor? Even worse, myself. God's strength is brightest in
the weakness of his people. Have we not seen the mercy our
Lord has for this one who turned from his master, this one who
turned his back on the one that created him, this one that ran
from the clear instructions given to him by God himself? Have we not seen the mercy our
Lord has when we turn from his ways? when we follow after the
flesh? Our Lord and Savior delights
in showing His mercy. And oh, how thankful we are that
our Lord has mercy for Christ's sake. Do we not see that He spared
us from what we deserve, the wrath that is to come for Christ's
sake? Look at how gentle our Lord deals
with this One who is loved, this One that He loved before all
of time, this One that was chosen before the foundation of the
world. Verse 4, Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? You know, when God saw the unbelief
of Israel in the wilderness, what did He do? He opened up
the earth and swallowed a whole bunch of them. Took them out,
right, just like that. Closed the earth right back up. When the Lord saw the wickedness
of Egypt, and let's not forget that the Lord raised up Egypt
for this very purpose. He let Israel cross on dry land,
and then as the Egyptians came through, his wrath came down
and swallowed all of the Egyptian army. You know, if you ask that very
question, doest thou well to be angry? If you ask that very
question of yourself, when anger floods into your being, maybe
God will take you and show you some, remind you of some scriptures.
Some scriptures such as Romans 8.28, and we know that all things
work together for the good to them that love God, to them who
are called according to his purpose. Or maybe from 832 of Romans where
he says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us, for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? Would those words not bring you
comfort? Would it not take your anger and put it where it belongs? How can we be angry at something? And I'm preaching to myself here,
folks, especially with this election year that's going on in our government
that seems to be run by idiots. It's real easy for me to get
angry when you start talking about the political things today. What comfort I must take in these
words, and we know that all things work together for the good to
them that love God. But what about Romans 8 through 33? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth. When I've gotten angry and I...
Oh, wait a minute, John, stop, wait, just... Put it in the Lord's
hands. How can I charge myself with
that own thing when I know that the Lord has taken all my charges
upon Himself? It is God that justifieth. What
about 834, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Or verse 35, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or pearl, or the sword?
Or distress? That's what Jonah's problem was
here. He was distressed because he knew that the Lord was gracious
and slow to anger. But yet he went into this town,
and now he was so afraid that this town was going to call him
a liar. He knew it was God's word to stand before these people
and preach what he did, so he did. And now he's sitting there,
Lord, what did you do that to me for? Who are we to question
why God does things? All things. Even the troubles that come into our life are for
our good. His strength is made brightest in
the weakness of his people. Would these words not bring peace
to the troubled soul? They would and they do to those
that belong to Christ. If you are one of the called,
as it says in Romans 8.28, then those words should bring comfort.
What do we have to be angry about? Our God is in the heavens and
He's doing as it pleases Him. As we bring this lesson of Jonah
to an end, let's give some thoughts to a couple of things. Look back
at chapter 1, verse 2. It says, arise and go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has
come up before me. We see the depravity of all mankind
in this city. Our wickedness came up before
the Lord. And he brought us under the teaching
and the preaching of his gospel. All men are born dead in trespasses
and sin, yet our Lord has mercy. And in His sovereign, complete
mercy, sitting in the heavens, sovereign over all things in
heaven, sovereign over all things on earth, and sovereign over
everything below this earth, verse 4, but the Lord sent out
a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in
the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Chapter 1,
verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three
nights. Chapter 2, verse 10, and the Lord spake to the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land. We see God's mercy. Chapter 3,
verse 10. And God saw their works, and
they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not."
Good works are not what causes God to change his ways. God changing
his ways is what guides us into good works. God coming into our
hearts, cutting away the stone that has no belief in him, giving
us a heart to believe on him, All the way, my Savior leads
me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort. Here by faith in Him to dwell,
for I know whatever befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. Would you stand with me, please?
And I'll lead us in closing prayer.