WEBVTT 00:00:03.206 --> 00:00:05.552 We're going to be talking with Jonah 4 today. 00:00:05.552 --> 00:00:13.106 We're picking up the story right after what Kelly preached on last week, jonah 3, where all of Nineveh repents. 00:00:13.106 --> 00:00:14.865 It was an amazing thing. 00:00:14.865 --> 00:00:21.553 And we have this beautiful chapter 4 where Jonah responds so perfectly. 00:00:21.553 --> 00:00:25.289 That's called sarcasm, by the way. 00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:29.971 Let's pick up the story in verse 1 of Jonah, chapter 4. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:41.572 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:00:41.572 --> 00:00:53.389 That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. 00:00:53.389 --> 00:00:59.645 Therefore, now, o Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. 00:00:59.645 --> 00:01:02.252 Drama queen. 00:01:02.252 --> 00:01:07.308 And the Lord said do you do well to be angry? 00:01:07.308 --> 00:01:13.566 Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. 00:01:13.566 --> 00:01:18.703 He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. 00:01:18.703 --> 00:01:26.751 Now the Lord, god, appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade over his head and save him from his discomfort. 00:01:26.751 --> 00:01:30.269 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 00:01:30.269 --> 00:01:39.191 But when the dawn came up the next day, god appointed a worm that attacked the plant and so that it withered. 00:01:39.191 --> 00:01:51.409 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. 00:01:51.409 --> 00:01:56.231 But God said to Jonah Do you do well to be angry for the plant? 00:01:56.231 --> 00:02:02.052 And he said yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. 00:02:02.052 --> 00:02:12.231 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 a night and perished in a night. 00:02:12.231 --> 00:02:13.894 And should not? 00:02:13.894 --> 00:02:24.385 I 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. 00:02:25.941 --> 00:02:28.729 Father, we are so grateful for your word. 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:37.127 And, father, one of the things we've come to understand as we walk and as we read your word, that your word is a mirror to our souls. 00:02:37.127 --> 00:02:46.514 And, father, as we read this chapter and as we begin to dig into this word that was preserved in Jonah 4. 00:02:46.514 --> 00:03:02.901 Father, I pray that we would have a heart to hear and that we would have the courage to look in the mirror that scripture provides us to see how we might need to change our hearts to fall in line with your heart. 00:03:02.901 --> 00:03:12.491 So, father, I just pray that all of our hearts would be open for that and our minds would be open, and I just pray this in Jesus' powerful name, amen. 00:03:13.741 --> 00:03:19.706 Well, we're nearing the end of our series on Jonah and you might say well, scott, you're covering the last chapter. 00:03:19.706 --> 00:03:27.545 Well, there's one other mention of Jonah in the New Testament and Tyler's gonna to be talking about that next week at Easter. 00:03:27.545 --> 00:03:28.688 I'm looking really forward to that. 00:03:28.688 --> 00:03:42.548 But we've come to the last chapter and we're finally going to hear the real reason why Jonah bugged out and took off and tried to find the fastest boat he could for Tarshish. 00:03:42.548 --> 00:03:49.423 We're going to find out the fastest boat he could for Tarshish. 00:03:49.423 --> 00:03:49.984 We're going to find out. 00:03:49.984 --> 00:03:59.532 And this morning, what I want to do is share two very important truths from this final chapter in Jonah that I believe all of us can learn as we carry the gospel, like Jonah was supposed to carry the gospel to a broken world. 00:03:59.532 --> 00:04:04.623 So in case you haven't been here before, or maybe you've missed one or two of these. 00:04:04.623 --> 00:04:09.288 So, in case you haven't been here before, or maybe you've missed one or two of these, let's just do a real quick rehearsal. 00:04:09.308 --> 00:04:09.829 So Jonah 1. 00:04:09.829 --> 00:04:12.312 Jonah, of course, a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel. 00:04:12.312 --> 00:04:16.915 God tells him which God tells prophets to do stuff all the time. 00:04:16.915 --> 00:04:27.476 He said go to Nineveh and tell them that unless they repent, I'm going to destroy them. 00:04:27.476 --> 00:04:29.382 He says no, and of course, mark did such a great job. 00:04:29.382 --> 00:04:31.065 Jonah said no. 00:04:31.065 --> 00:04:35.134 God said whoa, you know, if you recall that. 00:04:35.134 --> 00:04:40.992 And he took off, got a boat and he went the exact opposite direction. 00:04:40.992 --> 00:04:47.288 God, of course, sends a storm, because I don't know, if you know, if God wants you to do something, good luck trying not to do it. 00:04:47.288 --> 00:04:49.713 God sends a storm. 00:04:50.052 --> 00:04:51.322 The sailors are freaking out. 00:04:51.322 --> 00:04:55.863 They try everything, they pray to every God they know about and they finally figure it out. 00:04:55.863 --> 00:04:57.730 It's the guy that's sleeping downstairs. 00:04:57.730 --> 00:04:58.841 They bring him up. 00:04:58.841 --> 00:05:00.305 He says yeah, it's me. 00:05:00.305 --> 00:05:09.459 Toss me overboard, I want to die anyways me. 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:10.463 Toss me overboard, I want to die anyways. 00:05:10.463 --> 00:05:11.367 Well, they throw him overboard. 00:05:11.367 --> 00:05:12.511 Big fish comes along, swallows Jonah. 00:05:12.511 --> 00:05:15.761 For three days Jonah's in the belly of the fish and somehow he finds religion. 00:05:15.761 --> 00:05:34.867 He spit out on the shore and now he begrudgingly goes to Nineveh and he preaches to Nineveh One of the shortest messages, five Hebrew words, and all of Nineveh repents, all of Nineveh repents. 00:05:34.867 --> 00:05:36.083 How wonderful is this? 00:05:36.083 --> 00:05:37.507 This is great. 00:05:37.507 --> 00:05:38.850 This is wonderful. 00:05:38.850 --> 00:05:44.612 This pagan city king, all the way down to the animals, are in sackcloth and ashes and repenting. 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:55.487 And now we read Jonah's response to that and it's a little shocking, because you would think he'd be happy, but he was the exact opposite. 00:05:55.487 --> 00:05:58.612 So let's pick up in verse one three. 00:05:58.612 --> 00:06:00.685 We'll read this again and kind of unpack this. 00:06:00.685 --> 00:06:09.908 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:06:09.908 --> 00:06:20.165 That is why I made my 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. 00:06:20.165 --> 00:06:25.795 Therefore, now, o Lord, please take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live. 00:06:25.795 --> 00:06:36.153 You know, wow, I mean, if you knew nothing about the Bible, nothing about God, and you read this section and you came to this. 00:06:36.153 --> 00:06:37.404 You would literally just go. 00:06:37.826 --> 00:06:38.067 What? 00:06:38.067 --> 00:06:39.562 This is? 00:06:39.562 --> 00:06:40.567 A prophet of God. 00:06:40.567 --> 00:06:44.689 He's preaching a message of repent, turn back to God. 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:48.040 And they do Well, turn to God. 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:48.682 They didn't know this. 00:06:48.682 --> 00:06:51.086 God right, they repent and then he says kill me. 00:06:51.086 --> 00:06:59.225 And by the way, just so you know, the Hebrew here that's used is very strong. 00:06:59.225 --> 00:07:08.915 I mean he literally there's a connotation that he was burning with a murderous rage, murderous rage. 00:07:08.915 --> 00:07:13.403 He was totally out of control and you can tell by the way. 00:07:13.403 --> 00:07:15.009 He's talking to the Almighty God. 00:07:17.641 --> 00:07:23.627 And, it's interesting, his true motives are starting to come out for why he didn't obey God in the first place. 00:07:23.627 --> 00:07:28.706 Because he says is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:07:28.706 --> 00:07:34.305 So we know when God first came to him and said go to Nineveh, preach this message. 00:07:34.305 --> 00:07:36.370 Now we know why he didn't. 00:07:36.370 --> 00:07:43.663 In fact, he told God at that time I don't want to go because I know you're probably going to have mercy on them, they're probably going to repent. 00:07:43.663 --> 00:07:45.389 He literally said that and then left. 00:07:45.389 --> 00:07:51.024 We don't know that until now which I think is by design, by the way we didn't know that. 00:07:52.040 --> 00:08:01.310 But now he's laying it out totally in front and it's interesting that he reminds God. 00:08:01.310 --> 00:08:03.675 You remember what I told you, like God couldn't remember, right that he reminds God. 00:08:03.675 --> 00:08:05.762 You remember what I told you Like God couldn't remember, right? 00:08:05.762 --> 00:08:19.740 I mean, jonah is literally telling God that his Jonah's worst case scenario came true, that 120,000 people and their cows repented. 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.939 That was his worst case scenario. 00:08:22.939 --> 00:08:25.307 I mean what's going on here. 00:08:25.528 --> 00:08:33.389 And, by the way, the ironic part of what he says is that he actually identifies very correctly part of God's nature, doesn't he? 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:43.445 Because he says this, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abound in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. 00:08:43.445 --> 00:08:48.562 Now, before you give Jonah too much credit, those weren't his words. 00:08:48.562 --> 00:08:57.004 He was actually quoting something that the Lord revealed directly to Moses in Exodus 34. 00:08:57.004 --> 00:09:05.034 So the scenario is a couple of chapters before Moses goes up onto Mount Sinai guess what happens? 00:09:05.034 --> 00:09:07.124 He's up there too long, according to the Israelites. 00:09:07.124 --> 00:09:09.269 They get a golden calf. 00:09:09.269 --> 00:09:10.111 They're worshiping that. 00:09:10.111 --> 00:09:15.629 Moses comes down, there goes the tablets, you know all that stuff. 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:17.351 And now we're in chapter 34. 00:09:17.351 --> 00:09:32.191 Moses is back up on the mountain and now God is coming down to the mountain to reveal it says to really reveal himself to Moses, but it's interesting in verse 6, what he says. 00:09:32.191 --> 00:09:35.682 This is the Lord saying this directly to Moses. 00:09:35.682 --> 00:09:45.482 The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:09:45.482 --> 00:09:49.490 Verse 7, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving. 00:09:49.490 --> 00:09:50.270 We're going to stop. 00:09:50.270 --> 00:09:57.811 We're going to stop because that's where Jonah stopped. 00:10:01.061 --> 00:10:05.272 Jonah said this part of you, god, I don't like. 00:10:05.272 --> 00:10:07.725 I don't like it. 00:10:07.725 --> 00:10:16.559 I like the other part, but this is the part I don't like, because look how God continues to reveal himself to Moses. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:26.765 He says but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation? 00:10:26.765 --> 00:10:39.510 God is giving Moses this beautiful, very comprehensive view of who he is A God abounding in mercy and gracious and steadfast love. 00:10:39.510 --> 00:10:49.467 And all you have to do is read Exodus and you realize he has steadfast love to a people that didn't deserve it, to you and I, of course. 00:10:49.467 --> 00:10:55.672 But Jonah only saw that as a problem. 00:10:55.672 --> 00:10:58.971 He saw that as a problem. 00:10:59.455 --> 00:11:09.770 Jonah was literally saying to God that he was extremely upset and angry to the point of death because God showed that merciful and gracious part of him to the Ninevites. 00:11:09.770 --> 00:11:12.943 Because the Ninevites, of course, were pagan. 00:11:12.943 --> 00:11:15.291 They weren't the Israelites. 00:11:15.291 --> 00:11:24.832 And when God first told him to go to Nineveh, he had that sinking suspicion in the back of his head You're going to do something merciful fishing in the back of his head. 00:11:24.832 --> 00:11:27.778 You're going to do something merciful, aren't you? 00:11:27.778 --> 00:11:28.320 I'm out of here. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:33.889 And he took off. 00:11:33.909 --> 00:11:36.019 I mean, jonah wanted God to do what Jonah wanted done to the Ninevites. 00:11:36.019 --> 00:11:45.317 He was saying, in essence, my judgment is better than your judgment, god. 00:11:45.317 --> 00:11:46.841 How else can you pull that? 00:11:46.841 --> 00:11:47.602 What else can you pull out of there? 00:11:47.602 --> 00:11:48.104 That's what he's saying. 00:11:48.104 --> 00:11:51.452 I'm angry to death that these people have repented. 00:11:51.452 --> 00:11:53.157 Therefore, kill me. 00:11:53.157 --> 00:11:58.063 I would rather die than to see this city, this pagan city, repent. 00:11:58.063 --> 00:12:10.216 Wow, wow, here's Jonah, this very human, flawed and obviously an emotional rollercoaster. 00:12:10.216 --> 00:12:13.626 Jonah, he's exceedingly happy, he's exceedingly glad. 00:12:13.626 --> 00:12:14.870 He's all over the place right. 00:12:14.870 --> 00:12:22.452 He thinks that his judgment on Nineveh was the right one and God's was wrong. 00:12:22.452 --> 00:12:25.749 It's almost ridiculous. 00:12:25.749 --> 00:12:33.068 It's like he was saying, god, I really wanted you to burn these people and I wanted to sit there and watch it. 00:12:33.068 --> 00:12:36.206 I mean, let's really get down to the heart of it. 00:12:36.206 --> 00:12:40.090 He wanted to see them destroyed. 00:12:42.461 --> 00:12:56.714 My first point from this passage is that Jesus is the ultimate judge over all of his creation, and it's a role we shouldn't try to take away from him, because that's what Jonah was doing. 00:12:56.714 --> 00:12:59.666 Jonah was saying no, no, no, no, no. 00:12:59.666 --> 00:13:02.533 You made a decision, but it was wrong. 00:13:02.533 --> 00:13:05.750 And since I can't change your mind, just kill me. 00:13:05.750 --> 00:13:09.028 I mean, that's how strongly he felt about it. 00:13:09.581 --> 00:13:17.690 And, by the way, let's just be honest, there are reasons Jonah had this belief and this slant towards the Ninevites. 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:41.120 They were Assyria, right, obviously they were Assyrians and, as we've had pointed out in other messages, they were asyrians and, as we've had pointed out in other messages, they were a violent people and they were cruel and they were powerful and he, coming from Israel, was very concerned that they were going to come into his backyard and in fact, 60 years later they did. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.332 By the way, after Jonah, roughly 60 years later, the Assyrians did come in. 00:13:46.332 --> 00:13:51.789 But what's really interesting about this is so he's afraid. 00:13:51.789 --> 00:14:01.784 We understand that he's afraid, but I think there might have been something in the back of his mind knowing that there was an impending judgment coming against Israel. 00:14:01.784 --> 00:14:22.068 Obviously, he would have known some of what was said before and prophesied before, but he saw the condition of the kingdom, the northern kingdom of Israel, which, by the way, jeroboam II was the king at the time of Jonah, and that's a guy you don't want tattooed on your arm. 00:14:22.068 --> 00:14:25.707 I mean, this guy was bad. 00:14:25.707 --> 00:14:31.548 He was one of the worst kings of Israel and so he probably had this thing in his mind. 00:14:31.548 --> 00:14:41.192 God might be using these guys to do this, but regardless, jonah allowed those feelings he had about Assyria go too far. 00:14:41.192 --> 00:14:44.903 He let them go too far. 00:14:44.903 --> 00:14:47.070 He let them go too far. 00:14:47.070 --> 00:14:57.394 Jonah's attitude towards sinful people, by the way, is not uncommon in the scriptures by other people who love the Lord, and it's interesting. 00:14:57.475 --> 00:15:02.841 As I was putting this together, I immediately thought of James and John, the sons of thunder. 00:15:02.841 --> 00:15:16.937 Luke 9, jesus is heading slowly, making his way back to Jerusalem, and in verse 51, the story goes like this when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 00:15:16.937 --> 00:15:24.416 And then 52, it says and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him. 00:15:24.416 --> 00:15:28.980 But the people did not receive him because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:35.941 And when his disciples, james and John, saw it, they said Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them. 00:15:35.941 --> 00:15:38.398 And he turned and he rebuked them. 00:15:40.650 --> 00:15:42.457 You know, I've read this scripture many times. 00:15:42.457 --> 00:15:47.822 There's something I never caught until the last couple of weeks as I was preparing this. 00:15:47.822 --> 00:15:53.700 They didn't say, lord, rain down fire on them. 00:15:53.700 --> 00:16:03.923 They didn't say that, lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? 00:16:03.923 --> 00:16:08.514 They wanted to be the ones. 00:16:08.514 --> 00:16:14.004 They wanted to be the ones to rain fire down on this Samaritan village. 00:16:14.004 --> 00:16:16.253 Do you see that? 00:16:16.253 --> 00:16:17.416 Do you see the heart? 00:16:17.416 --> 00:16:19.341 It's the same heart that Jonah had. 00:16:19.341 --> 00:16:22.714 It's the same heart that Jonah had. 00:16:22.714 --> 00:16:26.322 They wanted to be the ones to burn these people alive. 00:16:26.322 --> 00:16:32.222 They wanted to be the judge and the executioner, and they were simply asking Jesus for permission for them to go. 00:16:32.222 --> 00:16:35.015 That's what they wanted to do. 00:16:35.015 --> 00:16:37.642 What a terrible heart. 00:16:40.291 --> 00:16:52.921 Well, I think the application for us today is very simple, because the same mindset that was in Jonah and that was in James and John at the time that Jesus rebuked can easily slip into our hearts as well. 00:16:52.921 --> 00:16:59.052 You know, you look at the godlessness of our culture and it literally makes you sick to your stomach. 00:16:59.052 --> 00:17:07.777 You know, a couple, three weeks ago, we had the video from the Street Hope, and some of the stats in there were. 00:17:07.777 --> 00:17:11.662 Just, they were just terrible to watch and to read. 00:17:11.662 --> 00:17:19.006 I was, I remember one time I don't know where it was, but I saw a video of a woman that was in a bar. 00:17:19.006 --> 00:17:20.992 She was having a party and all her friends came. 00:17:20.992 --> 00:17:21.815 You know what? 00:17:21.815 --> 00:17:24.721 She was celebrating Her 10th abortion. 00:17:24.721 --> 00:17:30.297 She was celebrating her 10th murder. 00:17:30.297 --> 00:17:38.026 I mean, that makes you sick. 00:17:41.320 --> 00:17:43.890 The Assyrians made him sick. 00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:47.711 The problem was he stepped over a line. 00:17:47.711 --> 00:17:50.775 He stepped over a line, and it's easy for us to do the same thing. 00:17:50.775 --> 00:17:52.856 We should hate sin passionately. 00:17:52.856 --> 00:18:00.084 However, we cannot allow our desire to see justice cause us to step into hate and judgment. 00:18:00.084 --> 00:18:03.366 Amen, and it's easy to do. 00:18:03.366 --> 00:18:07.790 It's so easy to do. 00:18:07.790 --> 00:18:34.446 You know, we should be moved by sin, we should desire the kingdom, we should desire to see people repent and turn their back, but when we go from hating sin to hating people which, by the way, is a very small line sometimes we step into the area that Jonah had stepped into, and it's an extreme case, by the way. 00:18:34.446 --> 00:18:36.428 I mean literally. 00:18:36.428 --> 00:18:37.327 It's extreme. 00:18:37.327 --> 00:18:41.742 We're reading this, but it's so true. 00:18:41.742 --> 00:18:46.326 Hate can come into the heart so quickly. 00:18:47.010 --> 00:18:54.381 And, by the way, as I was studying this, one of the things hit me, and that is I think Jonah may have gotten mercy and leniency mixed up. 00:18:54.381 --> 00:18:56.932 Have you ever thought about that? 00:18:56.932 --> 00:18:58.737 So what's leniency? 00:18:58.737 --> 00:19:11.144 Well, let's say, for instance, let's say you get pulled over by a police officer and you were going 60 and a 45 or something, and he says you know, I'll tell you what. 00:19:11.144 --> 00:19:13.451 I'm just going to give you a warning, I'm going to be lenient with you. 00:19:13.451 --> 00:19:16.676 Now, did I deserve a ticket? 00:19:16.676 --> 00:19:20.344 Yeah, sure did, but I didn't get one. 00:19:20.344 --> 00:19:28.691 He was lenient with me, meaning I will never have to pay for that penalty of what I did because he was lenient. 00:19:29.732 --> 00:19:33.421 That's not what God's mercy is, if you think about it. 00:19:33.421 --> 00:19:43.076 Leniency is minimizing sin and the elimination of the judgment in sin or for sin, but mercy, on the other hand, does not exclude judgment. 00:19:43.076 --> 00:19:44.221 You might say how is that? 00:19:44.221 --> 00:19:50.818 Well, the gospel is clear Everybody will be judged, every sin will be judged. 00:19:50.818 --> 00:19:52.363 We know that. 00:19:52.363 --> 00:19:53.885 Romans 14, verse 10. 00:19:53.885 --> 00:19:57.277 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? 00:19:57.277 --> 00:19:58.741 Why do you despise your brother? 00:19:58.741 --> 00:20:01.451 For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 00:20:01.451 --> 00:20:02.614 Who's he talking? 00:20:02.614 --> 00:20:04.356 To Believers in Rome? 00:20:04.356 --> 00:20:13.840 Okay, so this is to us Verse 11, for it is written and he quotes the Old Testament, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. 00:20:13.840 --> 00:20:15.703 And then he goes back to saying so. 00:20:15.703 --> 00:20:18.556 Then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 00:20:18.556 --> 00:20:22.242 Mercy does not mean that there will not be justice. 00:20:22.242 --> 00:20:25.784 There will be justice for every sin you've ever committed. 00:20:25.784 --> 00:20:28.935 Every sin I've ever committed will be called into account. 00:20:28.935 --> 00:20:29.838 You guys realize that. 00:20:29.898 --> 00:20:34.153 I think, unfortunately, this is not a message that a lot of churches like to say. 00:20:34.153 --> 00:20:37.000 But it's true, we will all be. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:44.300 Here's the difference when you stand before God and are judged. 00:20:44.300 --> 00:20:45.282 Here's the difference. 00:20:45.282 --> 00:20:48.832 I don't know how long your scroll of sin is going to be. 00:20:48.832 --> 00:20:52.121 It won't be a competition, let me just tell you that. 00:20:52.121 --> 00:21:01.211 But in the end the blood of Christ will be applied to yours and those sins will all be forgiven. 00:21:01.211 --> 00:21:07.483 But that's justice, because a penalty was paid and it's different from leniency. 00:21:08.349 --> 00:21:13.593 And I think sometimes, when we look at this, we look at people like they're getting away with something. 00:21:13.593 --> 00:21:15.417 They're getting away with something. 00:21:15.417 --> 00:21:31.099 I remember when I was growing up as a kid, I'd come to school on Mondays and you'd hear about all your friends and the parties they did and all that stuff, and I was like man, they're going to pay the price for that. 00:21:31.099 --> 00:21:33.724 But they didn't pay the price. 00:21:33.724 --> 00:21:39.500 I didn't see them pay the price, but I really wanted to see them pay the price because I wanted to be doing what they did. 00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:45.539 I was just sitting there walking, I was obeying because I was supposed to obey, right. 00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:49.690 But every sin will be paid. 00:21:49.690 --> 00:21:54.496 Well, there'll be a price to pay, whether Christ covers it or not, and that's the difference. 00:21:55.830 --> 00:22:06.699 The question I think we have to stand and we have to ask ourselves this question Is that our role? 00:22:06.699 --> 00:22:11.000 Is that our job to dole out that justice, or is it God's? 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:14.919 Because here's the problem with when we step into judgment. 00:22:14.919 --> 00:22:15.861 That goes too far. 00:22:15.861 --> 00:22:21.454 And just so you're clear, I'm not saying we shouldn't judge things, judge sin all day long. 00:22:21.454 --> 00:22:22.417 You understand what I'm saying. 00:22:22.417 --> 00:22:23.673 I'm not one of those. 00:22:23.673 --> 00:22:24.617 You know opposite. 00:22:24.617 --> 00:22:27.939 No, we need to judge and call sin what it is Sin. 00:22:27.939 --> 00:22:28.681 Here's the problem. 00:22:29.490 --> 00:22:37.520 Have you ever looked at somebody and say that person's incorrigible, that person's gone, they can never repent. 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:41.931 Maybe you won't say that, but maybe you think it. 00:22:41.931 --> 00:22:44.153 I have. 00:22:44.153 --> 00:22:50.102 There are some people I look at and go man, they crossed a line somewhere, they can never repent. 00:22:50.102 --> 00:23:04.255 But I don't know that, because when I say that, when I make that comment and say they can't repent, I have now stepped over into the seat of judgment. 00:23:04.255 --> 00:23:04.817 You understand? 00:23:04.817 --> 00:23:07.603 That's the difference and that's what I'm saying. 00:23:07.603 --> 00:23:20.730 If we start going into that path, we can call sin sin all day long, but when we finally, when we look at people and say, no, you're done, we've now stepped into an area that doesn't belong to us. 00:23:22.356 --> 00:23:24.505 And, by the way, we can talk about false conversions too. 00:23:24.505 --> 00:23:52.260 It's interesting, you know one of the things some churches that conversions and you watch it and it's just like just come and accept Jesus into your heart and there's no mention of repentance, there's no mention of sin and that part of the gospel which is ignored right, because the gospel we take as a whole there's mercy, there's repentance, there's forgiveness, but we don't like to talk about the judgment part. 00:23:52.260 --> 00:23:53.855 That's a big part of it. 00:23:53.855 --> 00:23:58.000 So a lot of people will come up oh just gee, I want Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:59.236 They don't talk about forgiveness. 00:23:59.236 --> 00:24:06.260 But there's other false conversions as well, and those are the ones where people literally get the hell scared out of them. 00:24:06.260 --> 00:24:08.015 That's where it came from. 00:24:08.015 --> 00:24:14.896 I'm going to preach up a message of judgment to scare you so bad you're going to come down here and you're going to repent. 00:24:14.896 --> 00:24:18.836 Repent, but did you repent? 00:24:18.836 --> 00:24:22.298 See, that's a false conversion too. 00:24:22.298 --> 00:24:26.180 False conversions can be motivated from both sides in the wrong way. 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:29.598 We don't censor the gospel, brethren. 00:24:29.598 --> 00:24:40.604 The gospel is the whole package and we have to be careful that we understand that our responsibility is to pray that people will repent. 00:24:40.604 --> 00:24:49.398 Pray that they will repent and guard our hearts from hatred so we don't find ourselves hating people and judging people like Jonah did. 00:24:49.398 --> 00:24:50.622 So that's what he was doing. 00:24:50.622 --> 00:24:52.291 He had stepped over that line. 00:24:52.752 --> 00:24:55.479 Let's pick the story back up in verse five. 00:24:55.479 --> 00:25:01.876 Look how God addressed Jonah's attitude and the Lord said do you do well to be angry? 00:25:01.876 --> 00:25:07.574 I think this is something we should like put on our mirrors in our bathrooms. 00:25:07.574 --> 00:25:08.876 Do you do well to be angry? 00:25:08.876 --> 00:25:12.743 It's a question I think we should always ask ourselves. 00:25:12.743 --> 00:25:16.636 Do you do well to be angry when something really upsets us? 00:25:16.636 --> 00:25:24.657 Because I mean, if you just read what he said to God, it should make you cringe. 00:25:24.657 --> 00:25:34.804 I mean, I know God wants us to be open and all that stuff, but I mean there was such blatant disrespect there and we know the Psalms have some pretty open conversations about God too. 00:25:34.804 --> 00:25:35.872 But it's interesting. 00:25:35.872 --> 00:25:40.493 God's response was not to punish Jonah. 00:25:40.493 --> 00:25:44.676 God's response was to teach him. 00:25:44.676 --> 00:25:57.365 Aren't you glad that God chooses most of the time to teach us rather than punish us? 00:25:57.365 --> 00:26:05.580 Because if you can look in the mirror and say I've never had a bad attitude toward another, then you have something bigger to repent from. 00:26:05.580 --> 00:26:09.155 He wanted to teach him. 00:26:09.155 --> 00:26:12.395 Verse 5, we'll pick it up. 00:26:12.951 --> 00:26:17.836 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. 00:26:17.836 --> 00:26:19.817 He sat under it in the shade. 00:26:19.817 --> 00:26:20.271 Obviously. 00:26:20.271 --> 00:26:23.877 It wasn't enough, by the way, until he should see what would become of the city. 00:26:23.877 --> 00:26:26.135 By the way, have you ever thought why did he do that? 00:26:26.135 --> 00:26:27.800 They all repented. 00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:30.211 Why did he go sit outside the city? 00:26:30.211 --> 00:26:36.077 I don't know, scripture doesn't tell us, but in my mind I'm like he already said kill me. 00:26:36.077 --> 00:26:37.859 I don't like this. 00:26:37.859 --> 00:26:42.565 He already made that clear and I'm wondering if he was maybe sitting back going. 00:26:42.565 --> 00:26:45.387 No, this isn't going to hold these Ninevites. 00:26:45.387 --> 00:26:46.209 This ain't real. 00:26:46.209 --> 00:26:54.900 I'm going to wait for the show, because somebody's going to come up against the king and they're going to stop this whole mess and it's going to fall apart. 00:26:54.900 --> 00:26:57.542 I don't know if that's what he was thinking. 00:26:57.542 --> 00:26:59.285 I just don't understand why he was sitting there. 00:26:59.285 --> 00:27:02.834 Maybe he was just ready to die, you know, but he was literally. 00:27:02.834 --> 00:27:06.082 He said till he could see what would become of the city. 00:27:06.082 --> 00:27:12.231 It's almost like he was waiting to see what was going to really happen, almost like he was waiting to see if it was going to really happen. 00:27:12.251 --> 00:27:20.280 Verse 6, now the Lord appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. 00:27:20.280 --> 00:27:23.763 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 00:27:23.763 --> 00:27:24.965 You love this guy, right? 00:27:24.965 --> 00:27:31.569 But when dawn came up the next day, god appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. 00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:35.713 When the sun rose, god appointed a scorching east wind. 00:27:36.354 --> 00:27:38.276 Is this not a strange, strange set of events? 00:27:38.276 --> 00:27:53.538 Remember God's teaching Jonah something. 00:27:53.538 --> 00:27:58.421 And at first blush, when you read this, you go what is God doing? 00:27:58.421 --> 00:28:02.559 He's doing something very, very poignant with him. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:25.340 He supernaturally accelerates the growth of this plant to bring Jonah who, by the way, is a man in open hostility towards him to bring him shade and comfort, and then he sends the worm to cause it to die by the way that should give us all hope that there might be a way to fight kudzu after all. 00:28:29.530 --> 00:28:37.277 If you missed Tyler's sermon on this, he said the plant was probably kudzu and it's stuck in my head now you need to show me the Hebrew word for that one. 00:28:37.277 --> 00:28:42.938 By the way, of course, if we brought a worm in to kill the kudzu, it would be just like why we brought the kudzu in, right? 00:28:42.938 --> 00:28:44.978 It would then kill all the good stuff, whatever. 00:28:44.978 --> 00:28:48.315 But he sends a worm and he causes it to die. 00:28:48.315 --> 00:28:54.353 And then here's the hot wind blasting on him until he literally is dehydrated and faint. 00:28:54.353 --> 00:28:56.017 I'm assuming that's why he was going to faint. 00:28:56.017 --> 00:29:02.292 But God said to Jonah do you do well to be angry? 00:29:02.292 --> 00:29:02.732 This time? 00:29:02.732 --> 00:29:03.993 He says for the plant. 00:29:03.993 --> 00:29:11.862 And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die this guy. 00:29:11.862 --> 00:29:17.267 He would be turned in to any authority as a suicide case. 00:29:17.267 --> 00:29:19.076 This guy wanted to die. 00:29:19.076 --> 00:29:21.298 He was so angry. 00:29:21.298 --> 00:29:26.997 But it's interesting when you pull this apart and say why was he this way? 00:29:26.997 --> 00:29:29.252 Why was he so angry about this whole thing? 00:29:29.252 --> 00:29:37.396 Well, I think it's pretty clear what he's doing. 00:29:37.396 --> 00:29:44.817 He's setting Jonah up for a lesson and everything he just did was like an object lesson to Jonah. 00:29:45.305 --> 00:29:50.097 Remember, the book of Jonah is about Jonah. 00:29:50.097 --> 00:29:59.553 It's about a servant of God who wasn't serving and wasn't obeying God and God's training and teaching of him to show him this right. 00:29:59.553 --> 00:30:06.327 Yes, there's subplots of what happened with Nineveh and everything else, but this is the focus. 00:30:06.327 --> 00:30:12.251 And the Lord said he's lowering the boom now, in verse 10 to 11. 00:30:12.251 --> 00:30:23.260 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 a night and perished in a night, and should not. 00:30:23.260 --> 00:30:34.675 I 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 Boom. 00:30:36.786 --> 00:30:41.057 God, in his infinite wisdom, now hits Jonah with the truth about Jonah's heart. 00:30:41.057 --> 00:30:53.480 You see, the whole plant thing and the wind and the worm and all that was to show Jonah his heart through Jonah's response to those things. 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:56.372 See, jonah pitied the plant. 00:30:56.372 --> 00:30:58.373 Why did Jonah pity the plant? 00:30:58.373 --> 00:31:02.032 Because it served his purposes. 00:31:02.032 --> 00:31:12.266 You see that the plant was providing him shade and he liked that. 00:31:12.266 --> 00:31:13.489 In fact, it said he was exceedingly glad. 00:31:13.489 --> 00:31:15.953 Everything he does is a hundred thousand percent man. 00:31:15.953 --> 00:31:17.537 He's exceedingly glad. 00:31:17.537 --> 00:31:18.439 Oh, I love this. 00:31:18.439 --> 00:31:20.769 He was just like all over this thing. 00:31:21.171 --> 00:31:30.988 And then, of course, when the plant died, back but God was showing him, said you, you were so in love with this plant because it was giving you something. 00:31:30.988 --> 00:31:36.157 And when it died you were mad and you wanted to die again. 00:31:36.157 --> 00:31:37.038 Right? 00:31:37.038 --> 00:31:44.211 But God contrasts that heart with his heart for Nineveh. 00:31:44.211 --> 00:31:47.877 And look what he says he said. 00:31:47.877 --> 00:31:49.500 Well, we read what he said. 00:31:49.500 --> 00:32:01.882 He literally is offering mercy to 120,000 people who can give him nothing, nothing. 00:32:01.882 --> 00:32:06.890 No, they can turn to him and they can repent and they can worship him. 00:32:06.890 --> 00:32:11.574 Yes, but he's not getting anything back in the way Jonah was. 00:32:11.574 --> 00:32:25.448 And that's really important Because, as he's comparing Jonah's selfish motives to his motives, he's helping Jonah. 00:32:25.448 --> 00:32:28.836 See, your heart's wrong, your heart's broken. 00:32:30.684 --> 00:32:41.131 And, by the way, the phrase those who do not know their right hand from their left you know there's no other phrase in the Bible that exactly says this same thing, but there's lots of references to the right hand and to the left. 00:32:41.131 --> 00:32:48.717 In Ecclesiastes 10.2, it says a wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but the fool's heart to the left. 00:32:48.717 --> 00:32:55.415 Now we could start making political jokes about this, but let's just focus on what it's talking about. 00:32:55.415 --> 00:33:01.452 So, the right hand and the left hand is often used to compare that Not knowing and then knowing and wisdom. 00:33:01.452 --> 00:33:07.258 And most biblical scholars will tell you that probably what God was saying here was these people. 00:33:07.258 --> 00:33:11.455 They don't know right from wrong with regards to in the light of God's laws. 00:33:11.455 --> 00:33:21.296 They didn't know God's law, they didn't know who Yahweh was and he's saying I haven't had a chance to teach them who he was. 00:33:21.665 --> 00:33:24.605 By the way, if you thought it was odd, here's Jonah. 00:33:24.605 --> 00:33:26.435 Of course it's not odd, knowing his heart. 00:33:26.435 --> 00:33:26.858 Here's Jonah he pre. 00:33:26.858 --> 00:33:27.502 It's not odd, knowing his heart. 00:33:27.502 --> 00:33:30.470 Here's Jonah he preaches his five Hebrew word sermon. 00:33:30.470 --> 00:33:33.355 Everybody starts to repent and he leaves. 00:33:33.355 --> 00:33:41.356 Was this not a perfect time to say let me tell you who Yahweh is, let me teach you the law of God? 00:33:41.356 --> 00:33:42.145 He didn't do any of that. 00:33:42.145 --> 00:33:44.310 He just bugs out, he just takes off. 00:33:44.310 --> 00:33:48.631 You know it was terrible, he just totally missed it. 00:33:50.645 --> 00:33:51.852 So what can we learn from this? 00:33:51.852 --> 00:33:58.273 Well, the second lesson from Jonah 4 is that we must have the heart of God when it comes to our view of the lost world. 00:33:58.273 --> 00:34:05.244 Jonah was all about judgment, all about judgment. 00:34:05.244 --> 00:34:09.474 There was no mercy or grace or any part of that. 00:34:09.474 --> 00:34:10.797 He was all about judgment. 00:34:10.797 --> 00:34:16.378 He saw nothing worth redeeming in the people of Nineveh, nothing. 00:34:16.378 --> 00:34:25.369 He did not share God's heart for the people of Nineveh and, by the way, that should lead us to ask the question about what is God's heart for the lost? 00:34:25.369 --> 00:34:30.346 From perspective of today, what's God's heart for the lost? 00:34:31.389 --> 00:34:38.228 Well, I like to look at Jesus, because Jesus, I think, epitomized, of course, the Father's heart. 00:34:38.228 --> 00:34:41.822 And if you look through the life of Jesus, it's interesting. 00:34:41.822 --> 00:34:49.065 You see Jesus talking about love and mercy and you see him talking about judgment, the whole gospel, right. 00:34:49.065 --> 00:34:50.148 Everything. 00:34:50.148 --> 00:34:52.592 He was not about just one side or the other. 00:34:52.592 --> 00:35:01.458 Jesus was the Son of God and we know from Scripture that the judgment that is on everybody ultimately falls in his hand. 00:35:01.458 --> 00:35:03.307 He will be the judge of all. 00:35:03.307 --> 00:35:15.737 Right, luke 9 is really interesting because today is Palm Sunday, right, and this scripture Luke 9, talks about Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. 00:35:15.737 --> 00:35:17.427 But it's really interesting. 00:35:17.467 --> 00:35:19.090 You pick up the story in verse 41,. 00:35:19.090 --> 00:35:24.208 Something really significant happens here, verse 41 of Luke 19,. 00:35:24.208 --> 00:35:36.811 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it saying Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. 00:35:36.811 --> 00:35:54.211