Turn back in our Bibles tonight
to the book of Jonah, chapter 4. Jonah, chapter 4. This chapter begins with the word,
but, and I think we need to go back and read verse 10 of chapter
3. And 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. 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 merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest 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 sat on the east side of the city and there made him a booth
and 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 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 the which thou hast
not labored, neither made it grow. which came up in a night
and perished in a 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?" I'm sure we can all agree that
this is truly a strange sight to behold. Here we have a prophet
of God who the scripture says was displeased exceedingly and
he was displeased exceedingly and angry because men had believed
his message. Most of God's prophets are more
at home with the saying of Isaiah when he begins at chapter 53,
who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed. But here was a prophet of God
who was displeased and angry because his message had been
believed and the people repented and God did not destroy the city
of Nineveh. Now tonight I want us to look
at three things in this chapter. First, look at what Jonah confessed
that he knew about God in verse 2. 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. Now notice, for I knew. What
did he know about God? For I knew that thou art a gracious
God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. He knew
these things about God. And that begs the question, how
did he know these things about God? And there are three answers
to that I'd like to give us tonight. First of all, from God's declaration
of himself. He had, in the word of God, God's
declaration of himself as being gracious and merciful and kind
as he said that he knew slow to anger. Look back with me to
the book of Exodus chapter 34. How did he know this about God?
Well, he didn't learn this about God by observing the stars. He didn't learn this about God
by observing the seasons. Yes, by observing things in nature,
men may know assuredly there is a God, there is a Creator. This didn't just happen. But
to know something about the Creator, we must come to the Word of God. And in Exodus chapter 34, and
this is of course where Moses had pleaded with God to show
him his glory. And in verses 5 through 7, the
scripture says, And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood
with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now, God's
name is God. God's name is God. His name reveals
who He is. And what He tells Moses and shows
Moses, His glory here, this is God. How did Jonah know this
about God? Because God had declared this
about Himself. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. How did he know this about God?
That God is gracious, that God is merciful. Again, he did not
learn this from observing creation. He learned this from the Word
of God. Aren't you thankful tonight that
God has given us His Word? You know, we could have been
born in a country, and there are countries in this world where
it is a death sentence just to have a copy of the Word of God. And here we live in a country
where you can buy a Bible for just a few dollars in a store,
and there's plenty of them. I'm thankful, aren't you? I'm
thankful that God caused me to be born in a country where we
have His Word, and where His Word is proclaimed freely. This is how, first of all, how
Jonah knew this about God. God declared this about Himself. And you know this about God.
No one in this building can ever claim to be ignorant about this. You know from the Word of God,
God says this. He's gracious, He's merciful,
He's slow to anger, and He's kind. 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. Now, when we read that, hopefully
The first time a person hears that, he might think, or she
might think, I've got a problem. I've got a big problem. He will
by no means clear the guilty. I'm guilty. Yes, he's gracious
and merciful and these other things, but he will by no means
clear the guilty. And I'm guilty. Well, that's
where the gospel comes in, isn't it? That's where the gospel comes
in. God's scheme whereby He takes
a person who is guilty and takes our guilt, our sin, and imputes
that unto His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and takes His righteousness
and imputes that unto us so that in God's sight we are declared
just. Yes, Jonah knew this. He knew
this about God. The Lord God merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. The birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, people are celebrating this, many people
are speaking about his birth at this time of the year, but
his birth proclaims that God is merciful and gracious and
long-suffering and abundant in goodness. Another way that I
say that Jonah knew this, what he confessed to be true about
God, he said, I know that thou art a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness. How did he know this about God?
Well, first of all, he knew this because God had declared this
about himself. Number two, he knew this by the
history of the nation of Israel. He was an Israelite. He knew
their history. And as you read through the Old
Testament, beginning in Genesis, when God called Abraham and from
him he made this nation of Israel, God chose them because he would
love them, the scripture says, in Deuteronomy chapter 7, not
because they were greater, are better than any other nation,
no, God set his love upon them because he said he would do it. And yet, when you read through
the scriptures, the Old Testament, you see case after case after
case where they turned away from God, they did not believe God,
they turned to idols. You read that all through the
Old Testament, yet God continued with them. In Exodus, if you still have
your place there, look at this time in Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32 and beginning
with verse 31. And Moses Exodus 32 and verse 31. And Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made
them gods of gold. Now he's speaking about those
golden calves, isn't he? They had just come out of Egypt.
They had just seen the mighty hand of God. Miracle after miracle
and come through the Red Sea by the mighty hand of God and
here they are wanting a God that they could see. Moses returned
unto the Lord and he said, they have sinned a great sin and have
made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not, he doesn't finish his statement, does he?
If thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written.' And the Lord said unto
Moses, Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Therefore now go, lead the people
unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, mine
angel shall go before thee nevertheless in the day when I visit I will
visit their sin upon them and the Lord plagued the people because
they made the calf which Aaron made and you follow through the
history of the Old Testament through the book of Judges God
would deliver them into the hand of their enemies and they would
cry unto the Lord the Lord would raise up a deliverer And they
would be delivered, and it wasn't any time they repeated the same
thing again. Look with me in Psalm 106. In this Psalm, David kind of
gives a history of the nation of Israel. Psalm 106, verse 6. He says, We have sinned
with our fathers, We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his namesake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up, so He led
them through the depths as through the wilderness. And He saved
them from the hand of Him that hated them, and redeemed them
from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their
enemies, there was not one of them left. Then believed they
his words, they sang his praise. They soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel,
but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in
the desert. And he gave them their requests,
but sent leanness into their soul. And we could read on, but
you know, What I'm pointing out to us here tonight is that Jonah,
what he said that he knew about God, he knew this about God because
of what God had declared about himself and also because he had
the history of the nation of Israel as well. He had that Psalm
106 that we just read a few verses in. But number three, Jonah knew
this was true about God from God's dealings with him. He knew this by God's dealings
with him. He had experienced God's grace
and mercy in calling him and saving him. And he knew by experience
that God was a God of grace and mercy. And as I thought about
this, I thought about the story you may have heard before. It
is a true story, something that happened with William Jay and
John Newton. You know, John Newton was the
one who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. He was a preacher in England
for many years. William Jay was a friend of his,
also a pastor. And one day William Jay visited
John Newton and told him about a man that both of them knew.
that the Lord had saved. And William J. told John Newton,
he said, I had pretty much given up, despaired of that man ever
being saved because he was such a great sinner. And John Newton
responded like this, since the Lord saved me, I have never despaired
of the salvation of any man. And I think that's true of every
child of God. When we look in the mirror and
we look into our heart, And we say that God has saved us, had
mercy upon us. There's no one that he may not
save. Paul said, he saved me, the chief
of sinners. Jonah knew by experience that
God is a God of grace, a God of mercy. You know that, don't
you? If you know Christ, you know
that. You know that. You know that God is gracious
and merciful and kind and long-suffering and patient and will by no means
clear the guilty, but thank God he has provided by sending his
son into this world a way whereby the guilty are declared to be
innocent, made just in God's sight. Now he knew this, Jonah
knew this before he ever left his country. before he experienced
what he experienced in the belly of the fish. He already knew
this about God. Now the second thing I want us
to see is, I want us to look at Jonah's prayer, at what he
prayed in verse 2. 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 now, verse 3, this
is part of his prayer. Therefore now, O Lord, take I
beseech Thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die
than to live. What a difference. What a difference
between this prayer and the prayer that we looked at a few weeks
ago that Jonah prayed in the belly of that fish. And it makes
us realize that when he was in necessity, When he was in need,
he prayed. He prayed a good prayer. He prayed
a prayer of faith. But now, in prosperity, he's
been delivered from the fish, God's blessed his ministry, and
now this is a very pitiful, sorry prayer that he prayed. He now
would presume that he knows better than God It's better, isn't that
what he says? Now, therefore now, O Lord, take
I beseech thee my life from me, for it's better, it's better for me to die than
to live. He presumes he knows more than
God. What a prayer! What an affront
to God! He would be the Lord's counselor
now, telling God what would be the best. There's nothing in this prayer,
not my will, but thy will be done. It's all, this would be
better. It would be better, this is how
he prayed, it would be better that I die rather than live. Think about this. Elijah, he
was a mighty prophet of God, wasn't he? And you remember one
time he also prayed to die. And he did that when he saw his
ministry, it looked like it was barren, that no one believed
him. He said, I'm alone. And he prayed
like this, it is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life. So
there's a prophet who prays that God would take his life when
it looked like his ministry had produced no effects. And here's
a prophet and his ministry it looks like had been blessed greatly
and he too prays to die. And that makes me say this, and
I just repeat what the psalmist said, Man at his best state is
altogether vanity. Man at his best state. That's
you, that's me, that's the prophet of God. At our best state, we're
altogether vanity. Less than nothing. That's what
that means, isn't it? Verily, verily, man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Jonah thought it was better for
him to die. He had declared, now he went
into Nineveh and as far as we know he had one message. That's
all we're told that he preached. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. Well now he says that's not going
to happen. And what about his reputation?
What about his reputation as a prophet? He had declared in 40 days this
place is going to be overthrown. And now he sees that's not going
to happen. Would this not mark him now as
a false prophet? According to what God had told
the Israelites, here's a way you may know a false prophet.
If he prophesies and says something is going to come to pass, and
it doesn't come to pass, paying no mind. Now, Jonah's reputation
as a prophet, he saw, had gone down the drain. And the more
I thought about this, what may have been Jonah's problem, it
became more obvious to me. It was unbelief. Unbelief. And isn't that at the root of
every sin? Every sin that you and I commit,
every sin that men commit, the very root, what's at the bottom
of that sin is unbelief. We don't believe God. Couldn't
God take care of his reputation? Didn't God send him to Nineveh? Didn't God give him the message? Of course He did. Does anyone
today think that Jonah was a false prophet? Our Lord didn't. The Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't
call him a false prophet. Listen to these words of the
Lord. He said, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. Not at the sign of the false
prophet. No, at the sign of the sign of
the prophet Jonas. God was able and God did assure
his reputation as a prophet of God, though Nineveh was not overthrown
in 40 days. Now the third thing I call our
attention to, look at our Lord's question. Doest thou well to
be angry? In verse 4. Then said the Lord,
Doest thou well to be angry? Well, as far as we see here,
Jonah doesn't appear to answer his question, so the Lord asks
that same question a second time, if you look down in verse 9.
And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry? And Jonah
did answer this time, and his answer was, Yes! Yes! I do well to be angry, even unto
death. The question God said, Doest
thou well to be angry? Jonah said, Yes, absolutely. I do well to be angry, even unto
death. Jonah, what are you angry about? What are you angry about? I'm
angry because this gourd As some commentators refer to it as a
weed, because this weed died. That's why I'm angry. I'm angry
because this weed, this gourd, died. You know, Jonah had gone
out of the city and built himself a little booth for shelter. And
he was going to sit there and see what the Lord would do to
that city. I'm sure he picked up some limbs
of trees, if he could, or whatever, and stacked them up in a few
branches, and that would give him a little shade. And no doubt,
we've all seen pictures of that part of the world. It is hot
over there. I mean, it is hot. I remember
when the U.S. forces invaded Iraq, we were
hearing there was temperatures of 135 degrees. That's hot, isn't
it? That's hot. That sun beating
down upon him, and he made that booth to give him just a little
shade. And then the Lord mercifully
and miraculously prepared a gourd to grow and cover what Jonah
had made. Now that was a miracle. He saw
that. That gourd grew up and covered
over what he had made, and it shadowed his head, and that relieved
at least his body from some of the pain and suffering that the
sun would cause. And of course, when his body
was relieved, that would help his spirit to some degree. And Jonah, he was exceeding glad. Oh, he was happy. He had a shouting
fit, didn't he? I mean, praising God for this
gourd. What a blessing. What a blessing
it was. But then, the next morning, God
prepared a worm to cause the gourd to wither and die. And
I imagine he was sitting there and those leaves just started
withering away and being dry, maybe falling off. And not only did the worm destroy
the gourd, but the scripture here says the Lord prepared a
vehement east wind. That word vehement in the marginal
is silent. A silent wind. And there sits
Jonah, the sun beating down on his head, that silent wind. Here we see puny, weak man. Not just Jonah, but all men. We like to boast of all of our
abilities and all of our power. And yet, here's a man who's brought
to wish that he could die by the work of a tiny worm. How big is a worm? Most worms
are not very big, are they? Not very big. Some say this was
a grub worm. I don't know about that. But
a grub worm that I've seen are not very big. And yet, this tiny
worm. was able to work in such a way
that it caused this man to pray and wish to die. How strong is
man? How weak is man? How weak is
man? Yes, Jonah said, I do well to
be angry. And we see his insolence in that
answer. What great kindness do we see
in our God. Jonah, it was as though the Lord
said, Jonah, you have pity on a gourd, on a weed. Something that you did not plant.
I tell you what, when I plant tomato plants in the spring,
a cutworm, if you don't Prepare, a cutworm will come at night
and you'll go out the next morning and your little tomato plant
will just be turned over. Cut. Get angry. I planted that. I paid for it. I bought that.
Johnny, you didn't plant that gourd. You didn't water it. You didn't cause it to grow.
You did nothing. Nothing. And yet you have pity
on that gourd, that weed, and here's this city, this great
city of Nineveh with maybe 600,000 people, and because I have pity
upon it, you're mad at me? You're angry? How foolish. How foolish. You think that gourd
is worth more than this city. What are some lessons for us
to learn? Well, let me give you four quickly. First of all, does this not witness
to us of the inspiration of the Scriptures? We believe, I believe,
I know you do too, the Bible, the Word of God, All 66 books
are inspired. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And all the commentators almost
all believe that Jonah wrote this book. Do you think a man
would tell this on himself if the Word of God was not inspired
by God the Holy Spirit? Man writes his autobiography.
He leaves it out, you know. He leaves out the things that
might not make him look so good. Jonah, he writes this book. Without the Holy Spirit's inspiration,
do you think we would have ever read about Moses getting mad? You bunch of rebels! Must I fetch
water for you out of the rock? Do you think we'd ever read about
Moses? If the Word of God was not inspired,
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Do you think we
would have ever read about David's adultery and having the woman's
husband killed in battle if the word of God was not inspired? Of course not. And we would not
have read about Jonah's behavior if God the Holy Spirit was not
the author of the scripture. Number two, that's one lesson
we learned. Number two, does this not witness to us that there
has only been one perfect prophet? Jonah was a prophet of God. So
was Moses. So was David. But again, I say,
there's only been one perfect prophet. Only one of whom it
may be said, I do always those things that please Him, that
please God. John the Baptist said of him,
for he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth
not the spirit by measure to him. There's only been one perfect
prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our prophet, he's our priest,
and he's our king. He's the one mediator between
God and man. Number three, does this not witness
to us of God's restoring grace Now it's true, we do not have
a thus saith the Lord about Jonah being restored, but surely he
was. Surely when he went back to his
country, he was a different man. He was a different man, maybe
kind of like Isaiah, you know, in the first five chapters of
his prophecy, how he repeatedly says, woe is thee, woe is thee. When he comes to the sixth chapter
and he sees the Lord high and lifted up now, It's no longer
woe is thee, it's woe is me. And I believe Jonah went back
to his country, still a prophet of God, but he was a changed
man. And number four, does this not
witness to us that God's purpose all along, all along was to call
the Gentiles. This has been God's purpose.
He foretold Christ would be a light to the Gentiles. And this here
is just a forerunner, or first fruits of what God intended and
what God has done. Because for the last 2,000 years
almost, mainly those who have been saved have come from the
Gentile nations. The Israel of God, yes, the spiritual
Israel of God, but still Gentiles. I pray that the Lord would bless
this lesson to all of us here tonight.