Jonah chapter 4. Lord willing,
we'll finish up Jonah this evening. The title of my message is, An
Angry Believer. Angry Believer. I ask you this
question. What won't a believer do? I hope you all stay with me this
evening. We might learn something. The
Lord may teach us something. What won't a believer do? We're shocked so easily, aren't
we? I can't believe they said that. I can't believe they did
this. I can't believe they thought that. What won't a believer do? I want us to remember as we look
at this fourth chapter of Jonah. Remember, Jonah was the Lord's
prophet. When Christ spoke, he said, no
sign shall be given to you save that mean old man Jonah. No,
he said the prophet Jonah. Christ said he's a prophet. This
is the Lord's prophet speaking. And God always corrects His children
when we err, when we do something wrong. The Lord chastens His
children. He corrects us. He teaches us.
And He keeps them forever that are His. He always keeps us. He sustains us. Now in chapter
1, we see Jonah as that rebellious child. A picture of a first Adam.
The Lord spoke to him and He said, You go to Nineveh. They've
offended me greatly." And Jonah went to Joppa and he booked a
ticket. There was a ticket available.
We'll see that again later. You think the Lord could have
closed that ticket office? There was a ticket available to Tarshish.
And he bought the ticket. It come at a price. And he got
on that boat, and he headed the opposite way. He headed to Tarshish,
that picture of damnation, of hell, instead of Nineveh, that
picture of the Lord's church throughout time. And then he
spoke to those mariners, because the Lord prepared a storm. God prepared a storm. And he
spoke to those men on that boat, and he told them about God, told
them about man. And they said, what are we going
to do to get these waves to stop? We're all going to die. And he
said, if you want the wrath of God to stop, you cast me overboard. You put me in that wrath. He
preached Christ to them. There's a picture of Christ.
And they fought against it. They didn't want to offend God.
They tried to row as hard as they could, and they made no
headway. And so they threw Jonah overboard, and the seas ceased
immediately. That wrath was consumed. And
then in chapter 2, we see Jonah praying out of that fish's belly,
the fish that the Lord prepared. God prepared a fish, prepared
a storm and prepared a fish. And Jonah prayed the prayer of
our master from that. Something we can barely enter
into. And he said, Lord, I'm yours. I've done this evil in
thy sight. Salvation's of the Lord. Be merciful. I'll pay that which I have bowed."
Only the Lord could say that. And the fish vomited him up on
the dry land. The place where there was no
wrath. There was no ways. And in chapter 3, Jonah goes
into Nineveh. The Lord's spoken to him a second
time. Talked to him a first time. Spoke
to him again. And he said, you go to Nineveh. And he went to that great city,
60 miles across, and he had a day's journey into it. He walked 20
miles into that city preaching all day. 40 days and destruction's
coming. Nineveh's going to burn to the
ground. The Lord's going to destroy it. 40 days. That's the message
that was recorded. Now did Jonah preach more to
him? I don't know. But I know the
word that we are given says 40 days. Destruction is coming. Death is coming. And then we
pick up there in chapter 3 in verse 5. So the people of Nineveh
believed God. and proclaimed to fast and put
on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least." Every
one of them in this town, this great picture of the Lord's church,
they all put on sackcloth and ashes. Why? Verse 6, 4, Word
came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne.
He laid down his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth
and set in ashes. That king humbled himself and
that's why his people followed him. And then there in verse
8 we see the king's decree. What does king tell those people?
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from
his evil way. Not ways. Way, you turn from
unbelief and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can
tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce
anger that we perish not? Who can tell? Lord might just
save us. We don't know if He will. You
repent anyway. Believe Him. Bow to Him anyway. Then verse 10, God saw their
works that 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. The Lord took pity on them. He took pity from his
judgment that he declared. That's the repenting of Eve.
The Lord didn't change his mind. He took pity on, he sighed from
his judgment that they had earned, every one of them. And he said,
I'll take all that judgment for you and I'm going to put it on
my son. As Jonah was just a picture of
in chapter 2, Christ is going to bear every bit of that wrath
of this physical city Nineveh that Jonah went and preached
to. That's how we're saved. He is just and the justifier.
Those people were justified. And it's the same with all of
spiritual Israel throughout time. It's what happens to every one
of us. The Lord sends His messenger and He makes His word effectual
in their hearts. We turn from our evil way. us
and we turned to Christ, our propitiation, the one that bled
for us. Now all Jonah had been through.
The Lord sent that storm, put him in a whale's belly for three
days, sent him into this massive city of enemies. They hated Israel. You can read all about that.
Multiple times they fought with them. by himself, alone. Walked through that city, preached
to them, and God saved the whole city. That's the largest revival,
I hate to use that word, that man's ever seen. About half a
million, a million, we don't know. There's 120,000 little
babies. Moderately used of God. Used
of the Lord. Now in verse 1 of chapter 4,
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, And he was very angry. God's
prophet. Just used to be a picture of
Christ. And that fish that God purposed.
Just used to save an unnumbered people. Massive amount of people. Greatest revival the world has
ever seen. He's mad. Angry. Why was he angry? He's a believer. That's God's prophet. How could
he be mad? Have you ever been mad at God? Have I ever been mad at God?
We can slick our hair back, straighten my tie up, and I say, I've never
been mad at God. What arrogance. Turn the news
on. I can be just a good little boy
And I turn that news on and about two and a half seconds later,
I'm mad. Who am I mad at? I ain't mad at that guy up in
Sacramento. That may be whose name I'm saying. I'm mad at God. He put him there. That's the Lord's providence.
We are angry at the Lord's providence. That's how he saves his people. I love hearing the stories of
how the Lord drew people to hear of Christ. It fascinates me. And everyone's unique, and it's
just beautiful. And sometimes your truck breaks
down in front of a church on a Sunday, so I'll just go over
there. That truck didn't just break down, it's God's providence.
Well, them O-rings were manufactured by a bad company. God put them
O-rings in that motor, that's why it broke down. God sent a
plague throughout time, and people call it a plague nowadays, and
it ain't, but right now, the Lord's calling His people out
this year. There have been more baptisms I've ever heard of.
Was I mad at it? The stuff I had to do? It's God's providence. He called
His sheep out. That's how He does it. He brings
us to know Christ through His purpose and His will. But Jonah
was mad. He was angry. You know, he had
a positive ministry. It might be 20 or 30 years before
I say I have a ministry. I don't think I do. I hope someday
to serve. But Jonah served and there was
a great number of people that heard him. The Lord used him
mightily. Elijah served. And he begged
God, he said, Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've tore down
your tabernacles and your temples, and I'm the only one left. Kept
preaching, and the Lord said, I reserve 7,000 of myself. But
he had a positive ministry, but he was angry. Why was Jonah angry? Why do I get angry? Pride. That's the first thing the Lord
hates, isn't it? Proud look. Pride. Why do we have unbelief? Why
do we say, no God? I don't believe that. Why do
we have unbelief? Pride. Jonah had pride. He walked through that town and
he said, 40 days, God's going to burn this place to the ground.
If that was his message, that's all we have recorded. If that
was his message and that's all he said, he was prophesying to
those people. What does the scriptures tell
us? about recognizing a prophet. If someone prophesies, they say,
God's going to do this. You know how you know they're
a false prophet? When God doesn't do it. The Lord said, you go
tell what I tell you to say. You go through that town and
you say, in 40 days I'm going to destroy this city. And Jonah
went and told them. And God said, oh, I repented
from that evil I meant to do to them. Jonah was probably going
to make him look bad. Jews will think I'm a false prophet.
He had pride because he hated those Gentile dogs. He had pride
of grace. His whole, he was an Israelite.
They were the Lord's people. They're the ones that had the
tabernacle and the feast and the ceremonies. Outwardly, we
had this. These are Gentiles. He'd go preach to them. He didn't
magnify his office like Paul did when he preached to the Gentiles,
did he? No, he's angry, he's mad. These enemies that attacked
Israel. And I got to go preach to them?
That's our enemies. He had pride because of Israel. Israel had
all these things in form and in fashion like we saw this morning.
They worshipped God. The God. They didn't mind I worshipped
him in the hearts, but they had all these things and they didn't
hear. Jonah walked through that town and preached one time. And
the whole city bowed to God. They didn't have all the stuff
we had. Pride. Pride. And he had pride in his labor.
The work that he did. To be an Israelite. Turn over
to Luke chapter 15. He didn't want these Gentiles
ruling over them and having a place over them. Let me get there. Luke 15. I'll try not to... I
know Bob's almost here, so I won't comment too much. Luke chapter
15, verse 11. There's a parable of that lost
son. Luke 15, 11. A certain man had two sons, and
the younger of them said to his father, Give me the portion of
goods that falleth to me." And he divided unto him his living.
Give me my inheritance. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together, and he took his journey into
a far country, and there wasted his substance with righteous
living. He squandered everything. And
when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that
land, and he began to be in want. He was hungry. And he went and
joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him
into the fields to feed swine. He said, I'm broke. I have no
living. I'm starving to death. He got a job feeding pigs. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. And no man
gave unto him. He was eating hog feed. And nobody
gave him anything. Who's that? Nineveh. There they
are. Nothing. There's Gentile dogs
that are eating hog feed, isn't there? Verse 17, And when he
came unto himself, he said, How many hard servants of my fathers
have bread enough to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will
rise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants."
He repented, didn't he? And when he arose and came to
his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed
him. He repented from his evil. from
that judgment. He had pity on him, didn't he?
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven.
He didn't say, I've sinned against you. I've sinned against heaven. There's a heart work done. And
thy sight I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the
father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe. and
put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes
on his feet. You shot him in the gospel. You
give him that stone that's clear, that wedding ring that we're
given as the bride of Christ, and you put him in a robe of
righteousness of Christ. That's a fixed robe. And bring
hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For my son was dead and is alive
again. He was lost and is found. And
they began to be merry. Now his elder son, Who's that? Israelites, isn't it? That's
the Lord's natural olive tree. Now his elder son was in the
field. He was out working. And he came and drew nigh to
the house and he heard music and dancing. And he called on
one of the servants and he said, what's going on there? What do
these things mean? What's happening? And he said
unto him, thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the
fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was
angry. and would not go in. Angry. Your brother's alive. He has
life in him. It's time to celebrate. Heaven's celebrating. Angry. Why? And the father had, I'm
sorry, Therefore came his father out and treated him. Why are
you mad? And he answered and said to his
father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgress
thou at any time thy commandment, and yet thou has given me, yes
thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends.
But as soon as this thy son was come, which thou hath devoured
thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted
calf. I've sat here and done everything you wanted. I've served
the whole time. I've gave my whole life to you.
And now somebody just ran around with harlots, these heathen Ninevehs,
come in off the street and you're celebrating. Pride, that's what
that is. And he said unto him, son, get
out. That's what he said to him. He
said unto him, son, thou art ever with me and all that I have
is thine. I will give him some instruction.
It was meet, it was fitting that we should make merry and be glad
for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost
and is found. Even in that rebellion, in that
error, in that anger, he was the true son, wasn't he? Just
like Jonah was the Lord's true prophet. And he spoke to him
and he instructed him and he taught him. Now let's turn back
to our text. Jonah was mad and he justified
it. Just like that boy did there
in Luke 15. He justified it. Look here in
verse 2. And he prayed unto the Lord.
Says Jonah prayed. He prayed unto the Lord. And
said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was
yet in my country? That's not recorded for us, but
he's saying, before I went to Tarshish, didn't I say this in
my heart? He's going to save these people
anyway. You don't need me. What's he saying? I was right
and you were wrong. That's what Jonah's telling the
Lord. That's how he prayed to the Lord. Not the same prayer he had before,
is it? When he said, Salvation's of the Lord. Well, what a stark
difference. Could that happen? Could a believer
go from just the belly of a whale that God prepared, crying, Salvation's
of you, Lord, to, you should listen to me. What arrogance. I have. I have. Now he, Jonah, prophet, he's
sitting in judgment of God. That's what we do. We try to
justify ourselves before God and what we're doing and our
actions and our thoughts and anything. When we correct the
Lord, we're sitting in judgment of Him. Now the second half of
verse 2, Therefore I fled unto Tarsus, for I knew that thou
art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repentest thee of evil." He knew that. That's true, isn't it? How did
he know that? Let's turn over to Exodus 34.
Exodus 34. Here's when Moses comes down
for the first time with those tablets and he saw them all worshipping
golden calves. He got angry and he broke them
and the Lord gave him another set. Next is 34 verse 5, and
the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and
proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. You gotta be taught the gospel
to understand that. How could that happen? Our guilt
must be laid on Christ. That's how the Lord's gracious,
long-suffering, and merciful to his people. He cannot clear
the guilty. He must remain just. What should
we do when we hear those things? Should we get angry? Look here
what Moses did, verse 8, and Moses made haste and bowed his
head towards the earth and worshiped. That's what we should do. How
often do I not do what I should do? How can he be angry at grace,
angry at mercy, angry at the Lord being slow to anger, angry
at His kindness? Because by nature, we are none
of those things. We're foreigners, aliens, like
we saw this morning. It's alien to us. It's foreign
to us. By nature, we're not those things.
Jonah's living in his flesh, wasn't he? That's almost like
there's two men living there, isn't it? Well, he's got an old
nature and a new nature, don't he? And they're warring against
each other. That's warring on the outside.
Many are angry the first time they hear that. God's gracious
to a people. He's long-suffering to a people,
and He will by no means clear the guilty, because that wrath
and judgment, just like Jonah was a picture of, is taken out
on Christ. They get mad. They get angry.
Now, the prophet, this man chosen and used of God, is mad because
God saved some people. God saved a whole lot of people
in that town. But let's remember, there's no perfect prophet. in
man. Christ is the only perfect prophet. There's no perfect preachers.
Jonah, in my eyes, the Lord would have been just to kill him a
multitude of times, wouldn't he? Go to Nineveh. I'm going
to go to Tarsus. Kill him. Didn't listen to the
Lord. Didn't obey. But he was the Lord's,
wasn't he? Multiple times. I've been thinking lately a lot
about the Lord's preachers and the Lord's prophets. I don't
know a preacher one that ain't been... somebody's tried to run them off. There's
prophets too. Think of David. Think of the
sins David committed. Did the Lord keep him there? Think about Noah and Moses. Things
that they performed. Did the Lord keep them there?
I don't want to be the man that's responsible for running off the
voice of the Lord in a place. Even though my heart thinks it's
deserved. You think John ought to have
got run off? He just saved all them people and he's angry. Get
him out of here. The Lord deals with his people.
The Lord corrects his children. Now back to our text there in
John 4. Verse 3. Therefore now, O Lord,
take, I beseech Thee, my life for me, for it is better for
me to die than to live." I remember he had the opposite ministry
of Elijah. Elijah said that. He said, Lord,
they've killed all your prophets. I'm the last one. Go ahead and
take me home. But why would Jonah be praying, Lord, kill me? I'm
mad. Take me home. He didn't want
to see the Lord be gracious. Through that pride, he didn't
want to see the Lord be gracious. He was going to be angry that
the Lord was equally gracious to these people as he was to
him. Could a believer think that?
Turn over to Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20. We get in verse 1. For the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which
went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he
sent them to his vineyard. And he went out about the third
hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said
unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right
I will give you. And they went their way. He didn't
tell them what it was. He said, whatever's right. And again,
he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise.
And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others
standing idle and saying to them, why stand you here idle all day?
And they said unto him, because no man hath hired us. And he
said unto them, go ye also into the vineyard. And whatsoever
is right, whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. So when
even was come, the workday is over. The Lord of the vineyards
saith to his steward, call the laborers and give them their
hire beginning from the last unto the first. You take those
that just got here an hour ago and you're going to pay them
first and those men that's been working for 12 hours out there
in that field, they're going to watch payroll happen. That's
what's going to happen. That's what by accident. It's
on purpose. And when they came that were
hired about the 11th hour, they received every man what was right.
They received a penny. They received a penny. But when
the first came, they supposed that they should have received
more. And they likewise received every man a penny. And when they
had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house,
saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made
them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat
of the day. But he answered one of them and
said, Friend... He didn't say, I ain't paying
you, get out of here. Lord's patient with his people, isn't
he? He said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree
with me for a penny? Take that as thine, and go thy
way, and I will give unto the last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? He's the master of the Lord of
the field, isn't he? Lord of the vineyard. Is thine
I the evil, because I am good? He's the good master. That's
what Jonah was trying to get out of. He didn't want to see
these people be blessed with the same robe of righteousness
that he was going to receive, because they had just come on
the scene. They came on the 11th hour. He'd been there laboring
the whole time, just like that elder brother, hadn't he? Back in our text. Now we see
the Lord correcting his child. None of it did not correct Jonah.
Not one of them went to him and said, you need to knock it off.
The Lord corrected his child. Verse 4, Then said the Lord,
Dost thou well to be angry? He spoke to him again. That's
the third time. How's that working out for you,
Jonah? Is it doing you any good? Somebody's mad and you go to
them calmly, they get madder, don't they? Is that what happened? How's that working for Jonah?
The Lord just told us we were spread. He does with his own
as he sees fit, doesn't he? Nineveh was his. He did with
his own as he saw fit. And Jonah's his. Me, I'm his. I ain't happy with this. The
Lord does with me as he sees fit. It's easy for me to look
out. It's hard to look in sometimes,
isn't it? Verse five, what'd Jonah do? So Jonah went out of
the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made
him a booth and sat under it in the shadow that he might see
what would become of the city." That's like Elijah there in 1
Kings 19. He was waiting in that cave. He traveled all that way.
And the Lord took him outside the cave. And he said, you go
watch outside. And the winds came, and the Lord
wasn't in it. And the earthquake came, and
the Lord wasn't in it. And the fire came, outside of
that cave, the Lord wasn't in it. Where was the Lord? He was
in the cleft of the rock. He was in that cave. He was in
Christ. Jonah found him something, he
said, we'll go watch. Do we get turned from looking to Christ
to something else? Does that happen to us? Well,
I'm going to see how this pans out. I'm going to go up there on the hill, I'm
going to watch what happens. Maybe the Lord changed his mind because
he prayed to God, didn't he? He said, I'm going to go watch
up on this hill. Maybe the Lord listened to me
and he's going to burn this city down like I said it would. I'm
going to go set up on a hill and watch. We never hear this
booth of Jonah's again. He built himself some shade up
there, didn't he? That's the last we heard of it.
Now, verse 6. And the Lord God prepared just as He prepared
the storm, as He prepared the fish, as He prepares everything. The Lord God prepared a gourd
and made it come up over Jonah that he might be a shadow over
his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly
glad of the gourd. God made it easy on Jonah. And
Jonah was proud of the Lord for giving him a gourd? No. Jonah
was proud of the gourd. Those physical, earthly, temporal
blessings that God gave him, Jonah was looking to that. Not
to the Lord that gave him. How often have I done that? What
can fix that? What can turn Jonah from looking
at that gourd and hoarding it up? Ninevites coming up the hill? I'm going to cut that gourd down. Teach you, Jonah. It's not it. Christ working in the heart of
His people is what turns us. Look here in verse 7. But God
prepared, He prepared something else. He prepared the storm,
the fish, the gourd. God prepared a worm when the
morning rose the next day and it smoked the gourd that it withered. What was this worm and this gourd? I won't have you turn here, I'm
running a little long, but we read there in Isaiah 40, it says,
What shall we cry? All flesh is grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower fadeth. But the word of the Lord remains
forever, doesn't it? That's what the voice told him.
That gourd's nothing but our flesh. It's nothing but the things
of this earth, something that just want to die and go away.
That's all that's there. Well, what got rid of that gourd?
I'm clinging to things in this earth. I can be proud and high-minded
and think that I ain't. But whether it's family or it's
things or it's something, I cling to those things. What can turn
me, loose my grip from that? The Lord has to do it. Christ
has to come into our heart and separate us from those things.
He has to make it wither up. If Psalm 22, our Lord's prayer,
didn't say, but I am a worm and no man, I would dare not say
that. Something tiny as the Word of
the Lord comes into our hearts and it separates us and withers
everything that we hold precious until we look to nothing but
Him. There in our text, in Jonah chapter
4 verse 8, And it came to pass when the sun did arise and God
prepared a vehement east wind and the sun beat upon the head
of Jonah that he fainted and wished himself to die and said,
it is better for me to die than to live. Turn over to Psalm 121
real quick. Jonah couldn't be going through all this and
having that sun beat on him and the wind blow on him. give him
sunburn, and if he's the Lord's child, we have those east winds
here. I can tell when I walk outside from the temperature.
Real quick, too. It's hot. Look here in Psalm
121, verse 4. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. There's been days I've been sunburnt.
I've got windburn before on my cheeks. Jonah's getting burnt
here, isn't he? Physically, we're going to go
through trial? We are, aren't we? Tribulation shall come. Well,
what's he talking about? Verse 7, the Lord shall preserve
thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. Jonah's going through every bit
of this so God can save him. But he's already saved. Today's
a new day. He's going to teach him in his
heart again. Don't look to this world, look to Christ alone.
That's what he's doing. Now back in our text. The working
of Christ in the lives and hearts of his people results in the
persevering of the soul, the preserving of the soul. And we
will be brought to confess our sin of unbelief if we're his. When the Lord works in his people,
we confess we're nothing. Lord, I didn't believe on you.
I looked to myself and I was wrong. We turn from our evil
way. Singular, don't we? Now that sin's exposed, see,
our death is imminent. The Lord speaks to Jonah a fifth
time, here in verse 9. 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. Now sin's exposed, isn't he?
He's wide open. He's about to die. He's just
as evil as he can be. Verse 10. Then said the Lord,
thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored,
neither madest it to grow, which came up by night and perished
by day. You had pity on vanity. It was born at night, it died
at night, you didn't water it, you didn't plant it, and you're
sad over it. I get messages ready, and I think,
I ain't got no message. And then just a couple minutes
before I get up, somebody will read something, or we'll sing
a song, or somebody will say something offhand, and I think,
okay, I think the Lord gave me a message. Drove here, I ain't
got no message. I saw a rabbit in the road. So
I had to run it over and run over its back leg and it was
kicking. It was running in a circle. And you know what I said? Awww. I had pity on a rabbit. Jonah
had pity on a gourd. Why can't I pity the Lord's people
the way I pity a poor rabbit? Verse 11. And should I not spare
Nineveh? Here's what the Lord's teaching
me. That great city, my people. The Lord said, you pitied a gourd.
Don't you think I'll save my people? Wherein are more than
six score thousands persons that cannot discern between their
right hand and their left. That's 120,000 children that
don't know left from right and also much cattle. That's what the Lord told Jonah.
After he pitied that gourd, he said, ain't it right for me to
save my people? Now, how do I wrap this up? You think Jonah did the work
of the Lord? What's the very last punctuation in the book
of Jonah? That's a question mark. It ends in a question. The Lord
asked Jonah a question. Well, how do we know if it's
going to, was the Lord effectual in his people? What did Jonah
do after the Lord asked him that question? He penned his autobiography.
Do you think the Lord spoke to his
heart and made him do something? Who wrote this book? Jonah wrote
it. And he confessed his horrible sins. Do you think he believed God? Do
you think all that stuff was effectual? Him being angry and
the Lord being patient, returning to him daily. That mercy coming
up new every day. How's being mad working out for
you, Jonah? I'm going to make it easy on
you." And he takes the gourd away. Oh, he got madder. Now I'm mad unto death. And then
the Lord spoke to him. And he said, I've sent you to
save my people. Ain't it right for me to save my people? You're
my people, Jonah. I'm going to save you too. Ain't
that right? And then Jonah wrote, Jonah. Paul said, you are my epistles.
He don't need letters from other men, does he? Every believer
that walks the face of this earth, that Christ has done a work in
their heart, we are his epistle. I'm the book of Kevin. I said,
look what the Lord did for me. Look at my sin, what I was. Horrible, wretched thing. and
God have mercy on his people. He's abundant in mercy and grace
and long-suffering. That'll be the message to every
one of his people. I hope that's a blessing to you.