If you're a visitor this morning, we are typically in our morning service working through the book of Revelation, but I've decided today to complete our study in the book of Jonah, which is our evening sermon series, so we're going to do that this morning from Jonah chapter four, so I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Jonah chapter four, and if you're looking for that that is found on page 984 in your pew bibles 984 this particular text is meant to challenge us convict us but also to keep in mind the great intention of the lord is to show mercy and help to jonah himself so keep that in front of you this morning as you hear what is being said to us in the particular chapter, chapter 4. This is the word of the Lord. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. It's talking about the repentance of Nineveh. And he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster therefore now oh lord please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live and the lord said do you do well to be angry jonah went out of the city and he sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there he sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city now the lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and he asked that he might die and said it is better for me to die than to live but God said to Jonah do you do well to be angry for the plant he said yes I do well to be angry angry enough to die and the Lord said you pity the plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow which came into being in the night and perished in the night and should I not pity Nineveh that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle. And there ends this morning the reading of God's word and the book of Jonah. Well, Jonah has been a wonderful book to study to challenge us about priorities. It really is. It's been helpful in that regard and so many other themes that have been helpful looking at this little book in the Old Testament. I think, of course, what has been most painful about it is to see in the bigger picture how this book is showing us the failure of Israel to respond to all the advances of the Lord. The advances of grace to them. That was Jonah's ministry under Jeroboam II when the borders were restored to a rebellious, idolatrous people that the Lord was constantly sending his prophets to call them to repentance and faith and they weren't listening it's a helpful book because it exposes the real problem that happens on in the hearts of those who dwell in the inside what do I mean by that well this book is not for the prodigal son Nineveh the prodigal son Nineveh who ran and got involved in all kinds of bad things this book is for the older prodigal son who lives in the house and has yet to respond and has yet to come home it's a remarkable book in that way a theme that is so prevalent in the scriptures that it really does require our attention so that we don't do the same thing that israel did this is this was paul's great thing in telling us in first corinthians 10 to study the nation of israel um a people who have yet to understand the immense blessing of living in the house jonah's the kid who grew up in the house and had everything handed to him on a silver platter he's the ungrateful son that really doesn't care about the father just that he gets to live off the father he's yet to come and rejoice in the father's goodness to him and it shows in a very bitter spirit it's a book that deals with the dreadful problem of a people who are god's people who have no appreciation for their god that's that's that's the sense we're getting here as we close out this book his grace to them just an outward attachment to the whole thing devoid of a heart that has really yet to be taken by the gospel just an outward attachment to this and that's it that's the extent of it and it's going to show up it's going to all be exposed this morning that's what the intention of jonah four is when we see jonah's story this way what begins to to really shine as we have that unfold before us is the marvel of the character of the father in all of this and i'm using this as the background with the prodigal we'll do that a little bit the marvel of the character of god who shows uh to his people such long suffering and such patience to israel he's showing love to israel through this he is so wonderful in this that they might come through provoking and bringing in the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. At least that's how Paul applied it in the New Testament. Chapter 4 is really ending with the display of the character of God and we have it captured here in this struggle that goes on between God and his prophet. Everyone could study this and see the struggle right here. You could see the problem right here. That the prophet was not understanding nor treasuring how the relationship even worked how it was even possible we see it all uh come out today as jonah levels a and i think the word bitter is right didn't you just see a bitter prophet here a bitter complaint against god and then of course he gets a remarkable lesson from god doesn't he and we'll look at this lesson that god teaches him all of this leaving us with a probing question that is left unanswered for us to discern and answer ourselves it's a really simple outline and simple flow of this text bitter complaint a remarkable lesson and a probing question chapter three gave us a beautiful scene of Nineveh's repentance this was a city in its heyday that reached over a million strong at this point you'll notice there's 120,000 people in this place after Jonah had been of course very disobedient God had given him wonderful grace hadn't he he had pulled him out in chapter 2 of the bottom of the pit on the bottom of the ocean after Jonah himself had displayed one of the worst rebellions in direct defiance against what God told him to do he bolted the other way and said forget it I'm not doing that I'm not going to Nineveh to preach and one of the greatest moments in the entire Old Testament here as Jonah was then sent back after that whole episode to Nineveh he begins to walk through the streets of Nineveh preaching and calling them to repentance and lo and behold guess what happened they repented it was a mass conversion of the entire city history has not seen such a thing i made this point last time that i've yet to find in the scriptures a greater mass repentance than the book of jonah and the particular city of nineveh in this particular time and place it's really remarkable has history ever seen it jonah walks into the city jonah simply speaks the words God gave him, the word of God, and the city responds. They hear it. They proclaim a fast. They put on sackcloth from the least of them to the greatest of them. The king hears it. Gets off his royal throne. Makes a public declaration. Takes off his robes. Sits himself in sackcloth and ashes. He puts ashes on himself off in the dirt. And he tells everyone by public declaration, not even the animals can eat today. Nobody can put a bite of food in their mouths. Let everyone humble themselves and turn away from their evil ways and their violence and let them call upon the name of the Lord. Maybe, just maybe, he'll show mercy to us. It's remarkable, isn't it? It's a wonderful story in the Old Testament. Maybe we won't perish. And lo and behold, these infidels took it seriously. They took it seriously. And they repented. And it's probing here at this point, knowing the heart of the book and what we've learned so far, to ask the question, is that kind of response happening among the righteous? Is that kind of response happening among the righteous? Or had the righteous grown complacent, cold, full of idolatry, unrepentant, hardened to the Word of God, not taking God very seriously, making worship a show? This is the book of Jonah. Well, it just happened in mass response and in repentance, and that's where we pick up this morning. We have chapter 4, and we begin with this very bitter complaint, this very bitter prophet with a bitter complaint. You'll notice there, looking at verse 1, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? That's why I made flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, relenting from disaster, abounding in steadfast love. It really should stand out in verse 1, the emphasis here, that it could literally read, to Jonah, this was a great evil and it burned him. He was burning on the inside. He was furious. This was evil. That's what this was. you want to pull back the veneer and get into somebody's heart. This is what chapter 4 does. It just rips open Jonah's heart and we get to dissect it and study it. That's one of the benefits of this. He is burning angry. At who? At who? God. It's not hard, is it? He is furious at God. Ah, Lord, I told you why I didn't want to go. Listen to the tone. That's how it was. I told you why I didn't want to go. I knew. And then he uses scripture as a direct jab. I know you're merciful. I know you're gracious. I know you're long-suffering. I know you're slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. I knew that. That's why I didn't want to go. he's borrowing from exodus 32 after the golden calf event isn't he which you'd think he'd stop and say that would have been bad had not been god not been that for israel right he's borrowing from joel 2 a return to the lord your god for he is a gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and he relents over disaster they knew prophets knew he is absolutely resentful to god for mercy at the british museum you can go into the british museum and they have all these pictorial representations they've dug out over there of ancient nineveh and they've unearth this stuff and it's really fascinating at the british museum and you you have real depictions of ninevite warriors at just this period with heaps of heads all around their feet heaps of heads of their enemies sound familiar this is like a preacher being told to walk into the stronghold of isis you told me to do that you think i'd want to go do that walk in the stronghold of isis go into isis and start preaching against their violence against what they've done to women and children we don't even have an idea the extent of it but we know about it what they do to their enemies and cutting off heads calling them to bow the knee to jesus denounce allah and get on their faces and call out mightily to the Lord to cry out for mercy you do it you go because you don't want to end up at the bottom of the ocean of course right and God forgives them all of all of it he just let go all of the violence they did and he didn't destroy them some of Israel's children were involved in that I can't believe you I cannot believe you furious over grace you're supposed to be a just god that's soft on sin that's what that is no doubt jonah if you asked him are you a sinner he said sure i'm a sinner but that's the cream of the crop when it comes to wickedness that's the cream of the crop that's a that's a hitler-like nation for us the irony here is that Jonah has this sees this response of Nineveh and he says just kill me go for it the irony is you didn't kill them so just kill me because over my dead body would I rather join them in the kingdom if you're going to show love to them I don't want anything to do with you you get you get the sense of all this now you get the struggle i hope so i don't think it's that hard to figure out i would rather die i can't help but to see that this was one of the biggest issues uh that jesus dealt with among the jews in his day when he walked on the earth uh it was constantly what he was dealing with we find it in in some major parables of his of course the first one that i've mentioned being the prodigal son where you know uh the younger son wanted dad's inheritance he didn't love dad he just wanted the inheritance and stayed around till he could get it and once he got it it was gone and he bolted and he ended up in the pigsty doing the worst of things i mean this is the worst of behavior putting it in our terms it's it's everything we would think of right as the worst of murder homosexuality everything we could categorize as the bad stuff and the older son stays in the house and he keeps working for that dad he's been there since day one he's put in all the hours and all of a sudden here comes this bum home repentant i refuse to go inside to your party for him i refuse that's that's number one i thought there's another one there's number two there's the parable of the workers in the vineyard where the first workers in the vineyard came in and they've been slaving away in the vineyard since since six in the morning working hard in the vineyard and they put in all the hours they built the kingdom they've done everything and working hard for the father and this father let in somebody at five o'clock on that work day and paid him the same you kidding me that's number two then there's number three i've got a big debt oh king i can't pay it my debt is millions will you please forgive it yes and he goes out and he sees someone who owned a much lesser of a debt and he grabs him by the neck and he says you pay me right now please show mercy please show never never see see how all these parables are really showing us the same problem here all of this in the common thread of jesus's parables and these are some pretty potent parables. The subject of the parable did not know how to show grace. He didn't appreciate grace for anyone else. He didn't understand it because they didn't appreciate grace. Look how it showed up in the way that he was responding in life. You could put it this way. There was still a theology of the little bit. It is a real struggle of grace and works here, isn't it what they did is just worse i i don't want that saved by grace do you understand that do we i'll tell you the problem it boils down to a failure to appreciate and recognize and be thankful for the great depths to which god has gone to to pull you up out of it for some they they've forgotten they were ever even in a pit they're now above the pit they're doing well what do you mean a pit i'm not in a pit the irony here is that jonah had experienced the worst rebellion um direct defiance against the express will of god in chapter one and and what did god do to him for him when he cried to him well he uh he forgave the debt he let it go he pulled him up out of the bottom of the ocean and he he he let him free to go do as well and then he goes and puts his hands around Nineveh's neck you see it showed that his life in that repentance that was described of Nineveh they they believed the word they humbled themselves they turned from their sins they cried out to the God in total seriousness they didn't they didn't walk away from the word and just just laugh it off or have a bitter spirit to it off they took it so seriously they got on their knees and already that's foreign to the life of jonah already from chapter 2 to 4 that's foreign something's still wrong if you confronted his life and he felt pressed to turn from his ways in worship by the word of god he would have left a bitter complaining son now that that challenges us doesn't it of course it does what we actually need at points like this in life are real experiences to teach us things because you can say things conceptually and you continue to preach things, but God does intervene often with real life experience to train us and instruct us. I can conceptually teach these things all day. You're saved by grace, not of works. That should produce this, not this. That should make us respond this way, not this way. But sometimes we need a different kind of intervention, don't we? Of course we do. It won't really come about until you've actually experienced in trial what i'm talking about and that itself is an act of mercy that's what we have to see here that's the marvel of the lord in all this i'll come to this here in a minute the marvel of the lord is he's so good and long-suffering compassionate to jonah he's not he's really not giving him what he deserves jonah should have been put out right now huh but but look at him look at your lord but i'm getting ahead of myself so what does god do well uh jonah has to have some kind of personal experience to learn something so you notice what happens in verse five as god begins to train him and teach him jonah goes out on the city and he sits on the east side of the city there he made for himself a little booth little booth and sat under it in the shade it's there's irony here there's play here it's the word for tabernacle god meets with me right we learn why in the next breath that jonah has done this to see what would happen to the city well god already told us at the end of chapter three that he relented from the disaster that he said he would do um the language here is the same language of sodom and gomorrah so that uh when god told lot to leave and to not look back jonah goes and sits out and looks back for the show. We just traveled earlier in the summer to I-40 Meteor Crater. My kids like that better than the Grand Canyon. And this meteor struck the earth I don't know how many years ago, and it's a mile long. It is just impressive. Some of you won't pay the money to see it, but I was forced to. Jonah, I want to see Meteor Crater fall on Nineveh, and I'm waiting for this to happen. I'm going to sit here until it happens. So he builds himself a little house out there. He's not leaving until this happens. He's sitting on the east side. What a mess of a prophet, huh? This is God's prophet. The most amazing thing happens is that it gets blistering hot out there, God, out of his sheer kindness, sees that Jonah is really having a hard time in the heat. So he prepares a plant for Jonah. It comes over Jonah, it grows up. It must have been a wonderful plant. Jonah sees this plant, and Jonah is absolutely taken by the plant. This vine, and the verb here is really interesting, this vine saved him, it says. Saved him. Interesting. all the purposeful word discomfort from the heat but the first time we get joy in the prophet this is one happy prophet now this is the first time we get a real joyful prophet it says in verse six he rejoiced with great joy over the plant he loves this plant he has really he's got a little desert oasis out there he's just built for himself and actually god has made it better for him i'm sure he felt so blessed of the lord at this moment you notice how happy you can get over something new new home new car you know you know the effect you know how you feel it's it's it's exciting it's happy it's it's made life easier it's made life exciting for you here came the lesson the next day god prepared a worm he's been preparing everything in this book by the way which should give us some perspective on the sovereignty of God. He had prepared the whole book. He had prepared in the sovereignty the storm. He prepared the fish. He prepared the plant. He's prepared the worm. And now he's about ready to prepare a wind. We're not deists. He's very much involved in our lives. It says that the next day, this worm is appointed by God to come and eat the plant. So the sun comes, and now comes this blistering hot sun, and God now appoints a wind. This is like a Santa Ana out in the desert, in the hot desert, and you've got a 70-mile-an-hour wind coming at you. Next breath, I want to die. Give me death. I can't deal with this. Better for me to die than to live. And here comes the first question from the Lord. Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? Yes, and it's right for me to be angry even to death. That's right, you kill me. Put me out, put me out of my misery. You ever notice how much attention you give to your booths? I mean your houses. God daily loads us with benefits, doesn't he? He's so good to us. He gives us so much to enjoy in this life. we don't deserve a lick of it but he does we give so much attention to those homes we love our homes oh we love our homes our happiness really is bound up there isn't it we've lived so well under blessing and i'm not disparaging i'm not criticizing that god is so good gives you all that to enjoy he gives you things to enjoy don't judge another man for another man's home he gives that he gave that to him to enjoy, right? We do this stuff all the time. Don't do that. God gave it to him. What happens when we live so well under that blessing? We become completely hardened to the greatest blessing. Our necks get stiff. You know what we have here? Jonah, looking in the mirror, this is me. I'm this kind of prophet. This is you. It's a mirror for those who have only known in their life the blessing of the Lord and can trace that back a long time. Baptize, Christian this, Christian that, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian. Got it all. What's the attitude exposed here? I saw a video this week of two kids in Chicago, probably seven, walking the streets, no mother. One pulls out a gun. The other has drugs he's selling. Seven. Are we better? Because we can shelter our kids from all that? So we overload, and we've got all this blessing. We have everything given. cars, college, everything. Are we taught to be thankful? At least do we teach our kids to be thankful for what matters the most? The Lord? When God prepares a worm in a wind, the heart is exposed, isn't it? And what did it expose? What happens if in one day an east wind came from God and everything was taken? What would it expose? It happened to Job. Isn't this where Jonah is? Mad at everything. Bitter at everything. And yet he had everything. Explain that. All of it showed in a heart that was intensely bitter toward the Lord. Bitterness, bitterness, bitterness. A root of bitterness, the Bible says, springing up. one pastor said experience shows that self-centered people are the most unhappy they constantly complain they're never satisfied they take no joy out of life they give little joy to others and precious little glory to the lord unless our hearts become consumed with something which causes and glories in something far greater than that of self we waste our gifts and calling and sit miserably under the beating son of the world's trials wishing we could die and all of that takes us to the heart of god's question is it right for you to be angry about the plant you trim that vine didn't you you love that vine don't you i mean that is a wonderful luxury god's given you out in the oasis in the desert as you're heading home but you didn't make it nor did you make it grow it came up one night and it perished in the next which is by the way our lives see the question your happiness is bound up there with these things that i graciously gave you you didn't deserve it and notice how how wonderful the lord is notice he's not slamming his prophet he's instructing him he loves him i just can't get over it you didn't deserve any of this you had no corner on my mercy everything you have has been by grace it always will be everything i've given you and i took away your plant for an hour look at you look at you what is this exposed all of the goodness that you've enjoyed for me. You've taken and forgotten your greatest need. Let's get to the context of the book. You've forgotten your greatest need. Do you think life is about booths? Do you think life is about resorts? I give those to you to enjoy, but do you think that's what this is all about? Now translate to Israel. Israel would say, ah, for what great, what great nation is there that god has so near to it that the lord our god is to us for whatever reason we may call on the lord our god and he answers us but they forgot to call on the lord for mercy themselves you know we need it every day i have a theory i have a theory if you can say everything's just perfect in your life everything is perfect your family your money you got a good job beautiful home everything is perfect except this one lingering thing that makes you bothered and gives you a root of bitterness called the church if everything's perfect except that area of your life that's a test that's exposure it's if it's the one source that bursts the largest complaining and bitterness that is a good gauge of where you are it's then that you need a worm and a wind sent to you to remember what this is all about i need mercy and you need mercy that's what i'm saying we all need mercy that's the point of this and i love after this painful confrontation and all exposes here's your god here's your god listen to the listen listen to his question jonah you rejoiced over a plant you didn't even create you didn't even work for it but it's just a plan i gave you so should i not pity nineveh that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons people made in my image who can't discern between their right hand and they're left in much livestock what a picture huh should i not you're worried about your little desert oasis and all your comforts of life and you didn't make any of that you didn't prepare any of that you're running around worried about all that that that's what i give you i gave you all that and take it away in the night nineveh has all kinds of people entrapped in their sins and I made them I made those people don't you care I made a mistake last sermon I said it was Obadiah that spoke of Nineveh but it's actually Nahum I was thinking of Nahum and and and just listen to the oracle against Nineveh just for a second in Nahum the book of the vision of Naaman of Elkosh, the Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. Jonah would have said, Amen! The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. his way is in whirlwind and storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet he rebukes the sea and makes it dry he dries up all the rivers bashan and carmel wither the bloom of lebanon withers see his control over everything the mountains quake before him the hills melt the earth heaves before him the world and all who dwell in it who can stand before his indignation who can endure the heat of his anger his wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken into pieces by him you care about your plant isn't that a big problem and the lord's saying here we can remedy that we can remedy this we can satisfy this justice but that's why i'm sending you, Jonah. That's my plant too. Nineveh's my plant too. You're not the only plant. You're not the only plant. They don't know how to get out. So if that reality is wrath and judgment, and they don't know how to get out, why do you think you're here? They're helpless. Don't you think this is bigger than you? If you've known mercy and you've known pity, shouldn't this be your concern? because it's my concern remember when you went down to sheol you described it in the belly of the fish and you said that was that was awful that was like being it was separation from god being barred off forever surely they matter more than a plant jonah why why does your bitter anger what is your bitter anger against me really say what is your bitter anger against my house i've given you and a people and a flock what does that all really say you're mad at grace you're discontent with life and you're bitter at me and for what reason you see God gave us a much greater gift a much greater than Jonah God gave us of his best he gave us his son he didn't look out for his interest at all when he came here he denied himself he was concerned with one thing he went willingly down down down think of jonah down down down all the way into hell for us he faced separation my god my god why have you forsaken me and then he was raised for our justification The great thing that the Father has given you, the greatest gift, is a son. A son who was so concerned when he came here that he said, all that the Father has given me, I will never cast out. For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me, but raise it up on the last day. That's what he's concerned about. He's going to get the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He's fulfilling Psalm 80. but this book functions as a call to Israel in the midst of this it's time to wake up to your God there's a big project going on in the world it's time for you to wake up to your God that's the effect of this book he's calling you but it shows something of the incredible character of God doesn't it that's why I love this he's just and he can't tolerate sin but he desires what instead of judgment mercy if you know this then you know the most amazing display of the intention of god to give mercy and not judgment has been shown to you those whom we think have done the most ruthless things he looks at them and says look at the people all around they're mulling around they're running through life they don't know their right hand from their left and much cattle they they they don't know they have no direction in life you sit there and say how could it be that people act that way they don't have any direction sometimes we're so buried with our lives we never see it and look at the love for jonah here in the midst of all this conviction is a love for jonah a desire to help even him this is us but in all this remember what was said to us in Chapter 2, that salvation is of the Lord. It was Jesus who came to seek and to save that which is lost. He will get them. He is our Jonah. He went to the depths. He rose to give us salvation. And such a merciful God with hands outstretched should then cause us to respond like Nineveh responds. Right? Isn't that one of the main points here? I heard that. Say that again. Amen. Such a good, merciful God. Outstretched arms should drive us this way. When he gives us booths and he gives us plants and he gives us houses and he gives us all this blessing to enjoy. Or when he gives you a worm and a wind. We should in every circumstance remember what this book has taught us, right? Salvation is of the Lord. We're needy just as much. We're beggars just as much. We realize our great purpose here is to care for other beggars like us and to show them with joyful hearts the gospel that we confess, that we believe. It's amazing. I'll close with this thought. The book of Jonah ends with that great question to Jonah. Should I not show mercy to them? Well, he did. And guess what they did? They repented. Did Jonah repent? Well, history doesn't tell us. I think God left that wide open for Israel and to always be a teaching point for us. If you've known the incredible knowledge of God in his gospel that he's made known to you all your life, how much more then, as we turn from our sins and show that we love the Lord Jesus Christ by responding in true faith, how much more should we desire it to be shown in a world that doesn't know its right hand from its left? and much cattle. Show whether we really understand how gracious God has been to us. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we praise You this morning. And as You have struck us with conviction, we realize we need it. But it's not to throw us under the bus. It's to woo us to You because You've been so good, so long-suffering, so merciful, so kind. And so as we enjoy all these blessings from you in life, may we never forget the biggest blessing that we should respond to the message of salvation that's preached to us in repentance and faith too. And that's bound up with part of our witness. We know. For the world needs to see that. A people responding to the Lord. And so Lord, thank you for instructing us in your will. And help us then to fulfill as the Israel of God the purpose you have us here in the earth and we pray for your mercy as we have enjoyed today in Christ to be shown to the ends of the earth for your praise and glory for it's your plant it's your building it's your project for we all know and say with a joyful heart salvation belongs to the Lord in Jesus name we pray amen