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James Gudgeon

Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah 4:4
James Gudgeon • May, 17 2026 • Video & Audio
262 Sermons
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James Gudgeon
James Gudgeon • May, 17 2026
262 sermons
The sermon centers on Jonah's rebellion and spiritual pride, illustrating how his anger toward God's mercy toward Nineveh reveals a heart self-centered and resistant to divine sovereignty. Though Jonah had experienced God's grace firsthand—being delivered from the fish's belly after repentance—he failed to extend that same mercy to others, revealing a hypocrisy rooted in self-justification and a distorted view of justice. The Lord confronts Jonah through a series of divine lessons: first, the gourd that provides shade, then its sudden destruction by a worm and scorching wind, exposing Jonah's shallow concern for a plant over the lives of 120,000 people. This culminates in God's piercing question: 'Doest thou well to be angry?'—a challenge to every believer to examine whether their anger stems from righteous indignation against sin or from personal disappointment when God's will diverges from their own. The sermon calls for humility, repentance, and submission under God's sovereign hand, urging Christians to reject self-righteous anger, avoid letting wrath persist into the next day, and instead reflect Christ's meekness, who forgave even in suffering, so that His will—not ours—may be done.

Sermon Transcript

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Seeking once again the help of the Lord, I'd like you to turn with me to the second chapter that we read, Jonah chapter 4, and the text you'll find in verse 4. Then said the Lord, doest thou well to be angry? All of you no doubt are fully aware of the behaviour of Jonah, the prophet of the Lord, who was called to go to Nineveh and yet ran away from the command of God. And as he ran away, he tried to get as far away from Nineveh as possible and rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And as he sailed there to Tarshish, the great storm came and the sailors were afraid but we find Jonah asleep in the hull of the boat without a care in the world.

As he's woken, he is brought up and they cast lots and they find that the reason for the storm, the reason that this great fear had come upon them was because of Jonah. He was the reason why that they were all passing through this difficulty. And Jonah comes up with the plan that they should throw him overboard. And when they were to throw him overboard, there was going to be a calm. And so after reasoning with him and struggling and toiling and rowing a bit longer, they decided that that was the only thing that they could do.

And they threw Jonah into the sea. 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.

Jonah confesses to the Lord that the reason why he ran away from God, the reason why he ran away from from going to Nineveh was because he understood that the Lord was gracious and merciful, of slow to anger, and of great kindness, and that he would repent of the evil that was done in Nineveh. And so the motive that he had, that his excuse for running away was that God was merciful. And in the life of Jonah we see the mercy of God, that God displayed great mercy not only upon the people of Nineveh but also upon this rebellious prophet. a man who should have known better, a man who knew the character and nature of God, that God was merciful, knew that God had a great understanding of who God was, who knew that there was no way that he could actually run away from God, yet hid all of his knowledge of God away and sought to flee from the presence of the Lord. Jonah had to pass through the consequences of his rebellion, not only himself but also those other people with him on the boat, and then he had to experience loneliness down in the belly of the fish to come to his senses. It was only when he came to the realisation that he was going to die, he believed that he was going to die in the belly of the fish, that it's there that the Lord met with him, that it was in that realisation that his life was coming to the end, that prayer was squeezed out of this rebellious prophet and that the Lord vomited him up, the fish vomited him up on the on the seashore and he had to go back to the work that the Lord gave him to do.

And so Jonah knew the mercy of God. not only in the letter, but also by experience. It is said that his prayer that he prays in chapter two is so filled with extracts from the Psalms scattered all over the place that it is very obvious that Jonah had a full knowledge of the scripture, that he was well acquainted with the Psalms and the character of God. Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the belly of the fish and said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest me.

And so Jonah was brought to the extremity of human experience in order to help him to understand the mercy and the goodness of God. He had to be brought to the very edge of his life that he believed that this was it. his life was going to end and so he cries unto the Lord in his trouble and hoping that the Lord would deliver him out of the belly of hell and often that is how the Lord works. when we have to be taught a lesson, we have to be brought to the end of our tether, we have to be brought to the end of our ourselves. The cup of self has to be completely emptied before we truly cry unto the Lord in desperation in our trouble.

The other day when I was at East Peckham, I spoke from the Lord Jesus as he walks on the sea to his apostles in the storm. And the scripture says, in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. The fourth watch was the last watch of the night from three o'clock till six o'clock. It was the coldest and darkest time of the night when they're waiting for the sun to rise, when the human body is extremely tired. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ sent them out before the night came while he went up into a mountain to pray.

And the Bible says that he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary to them. The wind was against them. And yet the Lord Jesus left them for nine hours, struggling by themselves. Why did he do that? so that they would come to the end of themselves, the end of human ability, human resource. Their bodies were broken and then the Lord Jesus Christ appears. coming to them, walking upon the storm, that thing which they had been so afraid of, that thing which was so contrary to them, stopping them from making any progress whatsoever. The Lord Jesus Christ comes walking above that, demonstrating His authority, His power over the elements of this world, demonstrating that they had no reason to fear. because the Lord Jesus Christ was watching them and he was with them and as he comes into the boat in the other time and they say, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? And so Jonah had to come to the same place. He had to come to the end of himself that I'm going to die. I've lost all ability. I'm in now the hands of God. He says, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. Remember what did...

What did Solomon say? When my people, they turn towards this temple and pray, then that the Lord would hear in heaven his dwelling place and forgive them of their sin. Jonah, he says, I turn to thee, the holy temple, asking for forgiveness. He comes then to his senses. He says, they that observe, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. My prayer came in unto thee in thine holy temple. When his soul fainted, when he was, when his cup was emptied, when he was completely without strength, then he cried to the Lord.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. That's what the Lord was bringing him to understand. that God is sovereign, that salvation, whether physical or spiritual salvation, it belongs to God.

And Jonah had to learn that lesson in the depths of the sea, in the belly of a great fish. And it was only when he came to that, then it was the time for him to be vomited up onto the dry land. And and to go back to his journey. Yet, this prophet that had experienced such mercy did not want anybody else to experience the same mercy that he had experienced. He wanted judgment to fall upon the people of Nineveh. He did not believe that they deserved mercy. He believed that he deserved it, but they did not. And so Jonah appeals to the truth of God's nature as to the reasons why he fled away. that he knew that God was merciful and slow to anger and of great kindness and that he repented him of the evil that Nineveh would have done.

Look at the difference between Jonah and Jeremiah. You think Jeremiah, how long he preached? How many people did he see listen to his message? nobody, yet he longed for them to hear. He said in Jeremiah 9 and verse 1, O that my head were waters, and mine eyes were fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

He had that desire that they would see salvation. He had that desire that the Lord's people would turn from their sin and acknowledge their sin, repent from their sin and yet he saw the judgment of God come and we have the lamentations of his mourning as he looks over Jerusalem, as he looks at the destruction and yet we see Jonah A man with whom a whole city turned to the Lord and yet he has no compassion whatsoever in his heart for them.

It just makes him angry. It makes him angry. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. was angry that God displayed mercy rather than judgment. The Bible tells us that God was exceedingly angry with Nineveh. The Bible tells us that God is angry with the wicked every single day and yet he does not act upon that anger to bring judgment, he is patient and long-suffering with the sinfulness of this whole world. But Jonah is angry.

In Romans chapter 9, It tells us there, from verse 17, for the scripture says unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will harden, whom he will he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then unto me, why dost he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? But nay, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? And so as he quotes from the Old Testament, that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, he says, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

And here we find Jonah. He is resisting the will of God. He's a prophet of the Lord. If you remember the other Wednesday, the messenger of the Lord, he is the Lord's deacon. He is under the Lord's authority. He's given a message to go with. Jonah is a prophet of God. He's sent with the word of God to go to a people with a message that they would turn from their sin. That's the work that he's been given to do. Jeremiah has that same message. He goes with love in his heart, seeking for those people to turn from their sin. Jeremiah goes with judgment in his heart.

He believes that they do not deserve that mercy and when God does not do what he wants him to do, he becomes exceedingly angry. He forgets that God is merciful. He forgets that God is the sovereign. He forgets that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy, and whom he hardens, he will harden.

And he says, why then do you find fault? Why are you finding fault in the will of Almighty God? Why are you resisting his will? Why are you not accepting what he has chosen to do? that he has chosen because of his gracious character, not to bring judgment upon the people of Nineveh, but to act in mercy and to demonstrate a restraining of his just judgment and to show great kindness and to turn away from the judgment that he said that he would bring. Who are you, O man? That replies against God. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus, or why have you done this?

Who do you think Jonah is? As I look at Jonah, I see a sulking prophet. I see an adult having a tantrum. You see, if you take this and you bring it now to our day, and you read the behavior of Jonah, and you look at a little child, maybe two years old, he wants something.

Mom and dad say, no, you're not having it. You are not having your will. So what does the little child do? He is inflamed with anger. He stamps his feet. He says, I want that biscuit. I need that biscuit. Give me that biscuit. They throw a tantrum because they can't get their own way.

And this is what we have with Jonah, a prophet of God, Because the Lord did not act in the way that he wanted him to act, he throws a tantrum. And he sits sulking on the side of a mountain, waiting for God to bring judgment upon the people, but the Lord does not do it.

Who are you, O man? As the king Nebuchadnezzar, as he says, no man can stay his hand and say unto him, what doest thou? You see, when your children try and tell you or try and resist you, it's almost comical. as they grow up, say two or three, and they begin to embolden, they begin to get their own will and express themselves, and they think they are strong and powerful, and yet they're completely weak and feeble, and you can just pick them up and hold them.

And who is Jonah? To tell God what God should be doing. How great is God, heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. Who is Jonah but a worm before a mighty God, the God who gave him life, the God who raised up a fish specifically to deliver him from the waves and to bring him back to his work. Who is Jonah? He's nobody.

And yet he seeks or he has the audacity to question an almighty God and to use God's holy character as an excuse for his sinful behaviour. I knew that you were gracious and merciful and spoke to anger and of great kindness and repented thee of the evil, therefore I ran away. Because I don't think that these people deserve any judgment, any mercy.

And so God gives him a lesson. as we looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and how he takes those practical lessons and he uses them to express the inner workings of the people's hearts. We saw this morning with the dropsy, that illness, that disease that takes place within the heart and that manifests itself upon the body. And so the Lord, now God, gives Jonah a lesson. I'm going to show you, Jonah, what's going on in your heart.

And he causes a gourd, a flower, a plant to grow up and to cover him. the Lord demonstrates some mercy towards him, that this plant miraculously grows up over the night, in the night that offers him some shade. And Jonah now is exceedingly glad. Verse six, he goes from being exceedingly angry because nothing is going his way, to now being exceedingly glad because the Lord has done something for him. And so he's only happy when things are going his way.

It's all about Jonah. As long as it's all right for Jonah, then his life is perfectly happy and his relationship with God is perfectly okay. But as soon as God doesn't do what Jonah expects him to do, he gets angry. I don't deserve this. How dare God act in a merciful way to these people? How dare God act contrary to my will? But now he's done something good for me. He's provided me with this nice shade and so now I'm happy. It's all about Jonah, as long as he's being blessed. Everything is okay. He has no concern whatsoever about anybody else.

In verse 11, the Lord says to him, and should I not spare Nineveh, that great city whereon are more than six score thousand or 120,000 people that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. In that city of Nineveh, there were people Now the writers don't really know if he's speaking specifically about 120,000 children that don't know between their left hand and their right hand, you know, like under five years old, they haven't come to that full knowledge yet, or whether he is speaking about those who the city has 120,000 people in it that do not know the truth of the word, they're spiritually immature. What is sure is that the Lord is speaking about people and that Jonah is only happy about this plant. All he's concerned about is that he, number one, has got some shade and is not concerned whatsoever about the 120,000 people that he wishes would be removed from the face of the earth because they deserve judgment even though he had received undeserved mercy and grace of God.

It was all about him and so the Lord comes now and takes this gourd away. God prepares a worm. So we have the Lord preparing a great fish, we have the Lord preparing a gourd, we have the Lord now preparing a worm that comes and eats the roots of this gourd and it withers away. And then the Lord prepares a wind.

And it came to pass when the sun did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah and he fainted and wished himself to die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said unto Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the God? And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death. What a solemn state to get to. This man of God, when it all turns around, it doesn't go his way, he now expresses anger. Not because of anything great. Not because that God has really done anything bad.

It's that God has just taken away a plant that rose up one night and then went away the next. And he is so angry that he says, it is better for me to die than to live. The anger had so consumed him that he wishes that his life would be taken away. And so the Lord teaches him a lesson that you, Jonah, have had pity upon a plant. That plant has caused you to be sad because the shortness of its life was there for just a moment. It came up in the night and it went away in the night. And because it's gone, you're sad. Shouldn't I have pity upon this city of 120,000 people?

And so the Lord exposes Jonah's heart. that all he was concerned about was himself. And as long as everything was going well for him, he was happy that his experience existed, his spiritual joy and his positive thinking was only surrounded by providential blessings. And as soon as those providential blessings were taken away, Jonah's joy crumbles and he wishes he could die.

You could say what a failure of a prophet. Jeremiah, how he continued faithfully under so much opposition, thrown into prison. His joy was not providential, but his joy was in the work of the Lord, in continuing in the labours of the Lord. Got the Apostle Paul and the experiences that he passed through. His joy was not providential, but his joy was in Christ Jesus. He delighted to see those saved.

If you think of Saul, you think how he changed, how he was filled with anger, how he was filled with this righteous anger against the believers. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest. He was filled with this anger, this indignation that these Christians were multiplying and multiplying. And he felt that he was one of the lords, the prophet of the Lord, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, to go and deal with these Christians.

But then the Lord met him. changed his heart like we saw this morning and this zeal, this religious zeal and anger is now changed, is now channeled in a right direction for the cause of Christ and the advancement of the kingdom and if only Jonah had had that attitude. If only the anger that he had felt, we could say if he had had righteous anger due to the sins that were being taken place in Nineveh, he would have that love for the people in that they would be changed and turned from their sin and come to trust in the true and living God. But his anger was not a righteous anger. It was an anger against the person. and against God, that God should have done what he wanted him to do.

Doest thou well to be angry? Are you angry this evening? Is it right for you to be angry? What are you angry with? Who are you angry with? Anger. Jesse and I went to a breakfast meeting yesterday and Gavin Peacock was speaking and he spoke on anger. and that men especially have anger, we all have anger within us and that anger should be channelled correctly and restrained in the life of a Christian and we are to examine ourselves as to what makes us angry and why it is that we become angry? What is the cause of our anger? And one writer sums anger up is that in its simplest terms is, I'm against that.

Jonah was against the will of God. He was against the way that God was dealing with the situation that was before him. And that made him angry. It caused his passions to inflame. And he outpoured words against God. Jonah was angry against God. Is it ever right for a Christian to be angry against God? To be against what God is doing? And we would say no. Although things may not go our way, as things didn't go Jonah's way, and we may feel like disappointed in what the Lord is doing. Yet for us to be inflamed by anger against God and accusation, accusing God as Jonah did, it is sinful.

And that our anger should be repented of and turned away from. We look at God's anger. So I said already that God is angry with the wicked every single day. He hates sin. Sin is against him. Yet he does not act upon that anger. He is patient and long-suffering. God is right to be angry because sin demands justice and sin demands judgment. But God is ultimately waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when all will stand before the Lord Jesus and justice will be done. And so there is a righteous anger.

It was said yesterday that Adam, in the Garden of Eden, failed his role as protector. But as the head of Eve, he should have risen in a righteous anger and demonstrated an anger against the temptations of Satan in the Garden of Eden. And he should have done what the Lord Jesus Christ did by bruising the serpent's head. He should have acted with a righteous anger over sin that was creeping in to the garden.

And so there is a righteous anger. but an anger against a sin, not an uncontrolled explosive anger, but a controlled anger. We see with the anger of God against sin moved him. to bring about a means for salvation, to make a way for sinners to escape his judgment. And here with Nineveh, that he may show mercy upon whom he will show mercy, that he provided Jonah to go there and to preach and to warn them against their sin and to turn from their sin. As the scripture tells us, faith comes by hearing. And so God in his mercy, although he is angry with sin every single day, although he is angry with my sin and your sin, yet he has made a way of escape that his justice may fall, not upon you, but upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That Christ experienced the full force of the anger of God, the emptying of the cup of the Lord's anger for sin. So there is a righteous anger that we may have. Everybody, because of sin within, expresses times of anger.

Some people we say have a short fuse. But no Christian is to be tainted as an angry man or an angry woman. That is not to be the defining word that describes our character. As we saw this morning, that the Christian is following the Lord Jesus Christ. They have the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to enable them to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh. In Ephesians 4 it tells us there's part of which we read this morning In verse 26 it says, or we'll go from 25, wherefore putting away lying, speaking every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. And so here he tells us about anger, be angry. This is obviously not an explosive, uncontrolled anger where we have already been warned that we are not to be angry. That our character is not to be the defining feature of that Christian person.

But there are times when we must exercise a righteous anger, maybe in rebuking a brother or sister in Christ, or maybe rebuking some injustice that has been done in the world. we are brought to a position of anger because we have been moved by some indignation, some problem, then we are not to continue in that state.

How many of us have got angry and we've gone to bed at night and we've said to ourselves there is no way that I am saying sorry. There is no way I am going to be the one that backs down to this. You roll over in your bed and that's how you've gone to sleep. You've gone to bed angry. But the scripture says, do not let the sun go down upon your wrath.

I read an account of a religious leader many years ago, and the king issued a decree. And that decree affected quite a lot of the poor people. And this religious leader, he became inflamed with anger. And he burst into this king's room, and he barged open the door, barged into his presence, laid into him, told him what he thought, then stormed out and went to bed. This king, he waited, he waited, waited to the evening and still nothing, until he called for someone to get a piece of parchment and he wrote on it, the sun is setting. and he sent it to this religious leader and the man read it. Obviously the words touched him, the sun is setting, meaning don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. It convicted him and he went to the king and he asked for a reconciliation and their friendship was restored.

That's humbling work. The believer has the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very, very easy, isn't it, to stand there in your, like Jonah, in yourself, justifying yourself that you're right. Everybody else is wrong. There's no way I'm going to back down to this.

I am right to be angry. You are not right to be angry. And even if you are right to be angry, then you should seek also to bring about a restoration. Be angry, but don't sin. Don't let your anger bubble over to make you act in a sinful way. And do not let the sun go down upon your wrath. Why? because it will leave a chink in your armour. And what happens with the chink in your armour? Satan will get in. Neither give place to the devil. When you are inflamed, you're vulnerable. When you've lost control, you're vulnerable. And Satan will exploit that situation and make it worse and worse and worse. Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah was angry with God because in Jonah's little world, everything revolved around him. And as long as everything went well for Jonah, Jonah was happy. But as soon as God came and exercised his own will, that was contrary to Jonah's will, Jonah became angry. Was it right for Jonah to be angry?

No, not at all. Submit yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time. That's how Jonah should have reacted. Maybe you have anger in your heart this evening. What should you do with it? Turn from it. Ask the Lord to bring peace into your heart. Ask the Lord to give you strength to overcome and to break down that anger. You can't blame anybody else. That's what we say, isn't it? They made me angry. It's not them that's made you angry. You have become angry. You have allowed anger to manifest itself in your life. The Lord Jesus Christ, what did he do? He could have been extremely angry because of the injustices that were done to him, but he opened not. his mouth. Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.

Well pray for that ability to be more like Christ, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time. And if we feel that we do have the spirit of Jonah, that we are displeased with the way God is leading us in our life, pray that the Lord will give you true repentance and true submission to his will nevertheless not my will but thy will be done that our will might be incorporated with the Lord's will whatever the Lord thinks best that will be good enough for me well may the Lord add his blessing and help us each day by day amen Let's sing our final hymn today from Gadsby's number 1048, 1048. We've no abiding city here, this may distress the worldling's mind, but should not cost the saint it's here, for hope's a better rest to find.

Number 1048, tune 348. Please make it true, for the world is mine. Lord, show not false passage until you answer me. ♪ We speak the truth ♪ It shines with me. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now and for evermore. Amen.
James Gudgeon
About James Gudgeon
Mr James Gudgeon is the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Chapel Hastings. Before, he was a missionary in Kenya for 8 years with his wife Elsie and their children.
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