WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.480 Well, this morning we're continuing our series on Jonah, running from mercy. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:15.359 We have come to Jonah chapter 4, and one of the it's it's if you've not read Jonah 4 recently, it is one of the most uh intriguing chapters and conclusions in all of Scripture. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.239 Uh and if you're just joining us, let me just recap for you. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:26.480 Uh Jonah, the prophet, uh, was called by God to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh, a major city in the Assyrian Empire. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:28.320 But instead he runs away. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.879 God stops him with a storm. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:36.000 Uh he gets thrown into the ocean, swallowed by a big fish, of course, in Jonah. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:42.799 That fish then vomits him back on the shore, where he chooses to obey God, go and go to Nineveh to preach to them. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:54.560 Now, last week Pastor Dave covered chapter three, uh, where we saw Jonah's missionary efforts in a hostile culture, and shockingly, the Ninevites turned from their wicked ways and believe in Yahweh God. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.520 Chapter three ends on a high note in verse 10. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:09.359 We read this: When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:16.079 Now that verse is a majestic picture of God's mercy toward people who don't deserve it. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.760 His mercy and grace are what he offers to us also in the gospel message. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:28.879 This mercy is what all people need to hear, and it is the cause for which missionaries give their entire lives. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:33.120 And that was the story of Mer Merilyn Escher. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:41.680 If you don't know Marilyn, she's a world venture missionary deployed to Senegal, West Africa, uh, focusing on Bible translation. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:46.879 And also, if you're not aware, MBC has a strategic mission focus on Senegal. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:48.799 We've been doing that for over 20 years. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:52.959 Uh, thank you to Paul Wilford for his visionary leadership in those efforts. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:59.519 Um, we have another trip planned, uh, April 1st to the 11th, 2027, so that's next April. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:00.799 Uh, save the date. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:06.400 And if God is nudging your heart this morning or later on to go, uh, please talk with Paul. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.240 He can tell you all the details. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.599 Again, our series on Jonah is focused on missions. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:18.879 VBS is a way to live out our missionary call locally, and traveling to Senegal is a way to live it out globally. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:32.240 In fact, I remember visiting Senegal about a decade ago where I met Marilyn and heard her passionately speak about translating the Bible into the dominant language of Senegal, which is Wolof. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:33.520 Uh, Woloff. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:38.159 Now, World Venture had begun these efforts as early as 1963. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:53.439 Marilyn here joined the team in 1972, and so she's been laboring for over 50 years trying to learn the language and lead a team of translators to bring God's word to the Woloff people in Senegal. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:03:01.680 The Wolof are notoriously difficult to reach for the gospel, and removing that language barrier would help open doors for Jesus. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:09.680 Now that translation, which Marilyn has worked on for over 50 years, was finally completed in early 2026. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.360 And Christians across Senegal have been holding celebrations. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.360 You can see some pictures here. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.000 It's a big deal for missions in Senegal. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:24.240 And Marilyn, now in her 80s, attended these celebrations, marking the completion of her life's work. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:26.960 A huge missional success story. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:30.719 The gospel may now explode in Senegal as a result. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:36.080 Now, how do you picture her reaction at these celebrations? 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.879 I suspect you might think there will be joy on her face. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.000 But what if something different happened? 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:58.479 Imagine for a moment that Marilyn stood up holding the finished translation of the Wolof Bible in her hands, listening to reports about the Wolf people turning to Christ, and instead of joy, she became enraged. 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:03.919 She took the Wolf Bible and threw it out the window and then stormed out of the room. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.560 Would you find that startling? 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:10.879 Confusing? 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:12.319 Awkward? 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:17.600 Well, that's exactly what happens in Jonah chapter 4. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:26.000 That after the missionary success of chapter 3, you would expect Jonah to be dancing in the streets like King David, praising God's goodness. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:27.279 But that doesn't happen. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:28.800 In fact, quite the opposite. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:34.079 Jonah has some words with God about his character and his goodness and his mercy. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.920 And so Jonah's running again, but this time in his heart. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.639 Now, before we dive into the text, I want to invite you to ask yourself a question today. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:44.800 What makes you angry? 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:46.720 What makes you angry? 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:52.240 In fact, perhaps there's a listener here today who has never been angry a day in their life. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.839 And if that is you, find me after the service because we could put your counseling skills to work. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.800 But of course, all of us get angry at some point in our lives. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.560 So what makes you angry? 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.199 Maybe somebody cuts you off in traffic and waves like it's your fault. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:13.120 A friend talks about you behind your back and then you find out. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:19.680 A spouse leaves one drop of milk in the container and then puts it back in the fridge. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:29.759 See, we live in a fallen, broken, dysfunctional world full of fallen, broken, dysfunctional people, and at some point we all get angry at somebody. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.160 Now let's raise the stakes. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:39.519 What makes you angry, or what could make you angry at God's mercy towards somebody else? 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.680 Now, I don't mean here the kind of anger when life doesn't go your way. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.920 I mean something a little more uncomfortable. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:51.360 Has it ever bothered you when God has been good to somebody who you think didn't deserve it? 00:05:51.600 --> 00:06:03.360 Now I know we're all good Christians here today, and we're not supposed to admit something like this, but I suspect that some of us have felt exactly that at some point in our lives, even if we didn't say it out loud. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:12.560 Maybe you knew somebody who cut corners or broke rules or hurt somebody along the way, and they end up being blessed anyway. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:13.040 Right? 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:17.759 That promotion, that reputation, that second chance that you never got, this person got it. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.800 And you say, God, why have you been good to this person? 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:35.439 Maybe it's a parent who was never there, who caused real damage, or simply wasn't present for any of your life, and then they call you from a hospital bed in their final weeks and say they've made things right with God. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:39.120 And everybody around them calls it beautiful. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:41.519 And part of you wants to believe that too. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:50.399 Part of you thinks, though, that this person got 60 seconds of Jesus, I'm sorry, on their way out, and that's supposed to undo everything. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:07:04.800 Or if you take it further still, right now in northern Nigeria, there's militants tied to groups like Boko Haram who have burned churches, kidnapped schoolgirls, and murdered Christians for their faith by the thousands over years. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.279 Now put yourself in their shoes. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:16.079 Suppose you woke up tomorrow to the news that all those people who had done all those murders laid down their weapons and gave their lives to Jesus. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.560 Would your first reaction be joy? 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:26.000 Or would some part of you think, not them, not after what they did. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:28.879 That's not a small thing to feel. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.879 And it's not new. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:35.839 It's the exact thing happening in the heart of a prophet named Jonah. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:40.720 Because here's what we actually do sometimes with salvation without realizing it. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:44.879 We treat salvation like a privilege instead of a gift. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.680 We love it when God shows us grace. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:49.279 We're just not always so sure. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:52.000 We want him to show it to those people. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:54.639 And that's where we find Jonah in chapter four. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:58.319 And that's why Jonah's ending is both fascinating and overlooked. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:02.000 Because it invites us into an uncomfortable question. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:07.040 Is it possible to know God accurately and still be at war with him? 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:12.079 That's the topic of Jonah chapter four, verses one through four. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:15.839 The chapter is so interesting, I'd like to split it into two sermons. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:19.040 The first section unfolds in three scenes. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:21.759 First, we're going to see an angry prophet. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.160 Second, we're going to see a gracious God. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.720 And then finally, we experience a revealing lament. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:32.240 So let's pray, and then we will look at our text today. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:38.799 Heavenly Father, I thank you for each person who is here, for each person who is listening right now, Lord. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:43.759 And I pray this morning that you, Holy Spirit, would come and meet us where we are. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.159 Meet us in our anger, meet us in our disappointments, meet us in our fears. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.399 And Lord, would you turn all of those things into joy and trust? 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:55.600 And may you get the glory for that, Lord God. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.519 Father, there's a little bit of Jonah in all of us, Lord. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:08.480 And so I pray that you would remove that, bring us to repentance and a new delight in you and your gospel and your grace, Lord God. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:10.000 Thank you for your word. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:15.600 We now give you this time and ask that you would speak to us in Jesus' name. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:16.559 Amen. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:17.440 Amen. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:24.080 So Jonah chapter 3 ends with Nineveh's repentance and God's relentance. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:29.360 It's a story made for a Sunday morning testimony of God's grace in somebody's life. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.320 We had a baptism at the end of the set at the first service. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:34.000 We have another one at the end of this service. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:37.440 We're going to hear about God's grace in people's lives. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:41.279 Jonah now is a picture of missionary success. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:45.360 He courageously preaches, even when his life is at risk. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:46.480 And it worked. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:46.960 Right? 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:49.679 Jonah chapter 4 begins this way, though. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:57.840 It says, but, but despite those efforts, it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:00.720 Jonah's angry. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:05.279 Now, for you Seinfeld fans out there, this verse deserves the Kramer reaction. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.159 What in the world? 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.240 Come on, Jonah. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:16.960 Now to make it even more jarring, a literal translation of the original Hebrew here would read, It was evil. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.879 It was evil to Jonah with great evil. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.039 So he's not just really upset here. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:26.639 He thinks God's action of saving the Ninevehites is evil. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:31.120 Make no mistake, Jonah hates what God has done here. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:34.320 But notice there's a powerful word play at work, right? 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:41.440 The Hebrew word for evil, raha, can refer to wickedness, but it can also mean disaster and misery. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.080 And so in Jonah 4, 1, we see the reversal of this use of evil. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:53.200 First, it was characteristic of the Ninevehes, and now, now it describes the prophet of God. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:11:02.000 It's ironic that that word evil in the narrative has shifted from the pagan city to the covenant prophet here in chapter 4. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:06.080 So don't miss this shocking reversal in the narrative. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:16.720 In Jonah chapter 3, God's anger and judgment were laser-focused on Nineveh, but when that changed, it was Jonah's anger that was incited. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:22.240 That word angry can be translated as to burn, and it's a thematic thread in chapter 4. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:27.120 It begins here in verse 1, shows up again in verse 4, and then verse 9. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:32.639 Now the natural question you might ask yourself today is why exactly is Jonah so angry? 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:35.600 Jonah, like, dude, chill out. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.519 Why is he so angry? 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.360 You might say, I don't get it. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:41.200 This would not make me angry. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:42.879 I'd be dancing like David. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:54.240 But that's usually because we're not putting ourselves in the shoes of somebody who maybe is reacting as a husband, a father, a son, with real people to protect. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:57.200 So let me just start with your own family. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:06.799 Imagine you knew, you really knew, that a specific group of people was planning something devastating against your children or your extended family. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:15.679 Now I'm not talking about evil that's kind of out there that we watch on the news, but a credible threat aimed at your house and your neighborhood and your future. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:30.000 And now imagine that God comes to you and tells you his plan is not to stop these people from acting, not to dismantle them, but to send you or to send somebody to preach to them and hope they change and then they do. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:38.799 No visible justice, no reckoning in court, no just just mercy given to the very people you believed were coming for your family. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:47.919 Now, if you stretch that instinct out to what we see in the world, picture an Israeli parent who lost a son or daughter in an attack. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:57.360 Somebody who has been buried, who has buried a child and now lives with sirens and rockets and the knowledge that some on the other side want to do it again. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:12.879 Or a Ukrainian family whose home was destroyed by a missile, whose father or son died in the fighting of the war, for them, the other side isn't an abstract headline, it's the face of the people who shattered their family. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:26.960 And if those families heard that God had decided to show mercy to those very leaders and fighters, rather than hold them responsible with no trials, no clear justice, just forgiveness, because they repented, would you rejoice? 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:34.399 Or would it feel deep down like God was betraying your loved ones? 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.320 That's the emotional world that Jonah is living in. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:44.799 That when he hears that Nineveh is getting mercy, he isn't thinking about cartoon villains in a children's story. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:53.279 He's thinking about the capital of an empire who has already torn families like his apart and may soon tear them apart again. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:06.879 And so if we're honest, when we picture our spouse or our kids or our parents in those Israeli or Ukrainian homes, most of us would feel the same knot in the stomach that Jonah feels. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.320 We look at God's mercy and say, God, for them? 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:13.039 After what they've done to us? 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:18.639 And so that's that's the tension this verse is exposing in our hearts. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:20.240 How would you respond? 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:25.600 Jonah 4-1 forces us to confront an uncomfortable reality. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.080 Sometimes what delights God can disturb us. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.480 Sometimes what delights God can disturb us. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.639 That God's joy here becomes Jonah's offense. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:43.679 And have we so quickly forgotten the central theme of Jonah chapter 2, verse 9? 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.559 Jonah in the belly of the fish, praise. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.720 But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will pay. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.399 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:02.799 See, in the depths of the sea, in the dark belly of a fish, Jonah cries out for grace. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.639 He pleads for mercy. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:10.399 And it's in that moment that he declares this great truth: salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:14.240 It belongs to Yahweh, the true God above all other gods. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:23.600 But when that very salvation is extended to those Jonah hated, his heart starts to question God's character. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:40.879 Now, if you come back to me, come back with me to that opening scene I described in Senegal, Marilyn Escher, this missionary who sacrificed her whole life for the will of people, imagine her leaving that celebration, enraged at the prospect of salvation coming to this people far from God. 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:48.240 It is jarring and uncomfortable when a moment of rejoicing turns to anger and resentment. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.720 And yet, have our hearts ever gone there? 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:58.879 Do the desires of my heart match the desires of God's heart? 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:00.480 That's the question here. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.679 And so I'm gonna ask you to be vulnerable for just a moment, church. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.240 As you sit there before the Lord, hearing his word, would you confess to him? 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:09.279 Would you talk to him? 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:17.279 Is there a person in your life, right now or in the past, whose conversion would test your heart? 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:24.480 Picture somebody maybe you knew in high school who had been unkind to you, who had a dark past. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:31.840 And then you see them at a high school reunion and you find that they've given their life to Christ and maybe they're a pastor. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:33.759 Would it shock you? 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:35.679 Would you accept it? 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:36.639 Would you believe it? 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:37.120 Right? 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:42.960 Now I know we're not supposed to admit some of these thoughts, but God already knows what's in our heart. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:50.799 And if our desires are to match his desires, we must confess the deep, dark places that we ignore or we hide. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:55.759 Or maybe there's a fellow brother or sister in Christ with whom you're angry right now. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.440 You don't believe they deserve grace and mercy. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.640 Perhaps it's somebody even in our own body, or somebody in your family, or a close friend. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:09.519 I would exhort you this morning, ask, why am I so angry? 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:11.599 And examine it. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.759 Bring it to the cross of Christ. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:19.680 Allow his blood to wash you clean and move forward with his love for the world. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.960 Friends, we don't need more angry prophets. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.480 We need more people captured by a gracious God. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.599 And that's point number two, a gracious God. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:35.200 Now, while verse one is pretty startling, verse two is rather breathtaking. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:41.920 The audacity of Jonah forces us to look into a mirror and go deeper into our own hearts. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.680 Verse 2 explains why Jonah is angry with God. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:46.880 We read this. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:55.440 And he prayed, that's Jonah, to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, is this, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:08.400 That is why I made haste 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. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:14.720 Can you sense the vitriol in Jonah's voice as he speaks? 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:24.480 This is a man who may have been obedient to God's command in chapter 3, but his heart was not fully submitted to God's mission. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.480 His actions were correct, but his heart was resentful. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:37.440 And so I want to spend some time here in verse 2 because it is the heart of this section and it's the preparation for the climactic scene we'll see next week. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:40.319 Notice first that it says Jonah prayed. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:41.839 Jonah prayed. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:48.240 Now we have to give the prophet some credit here because he didn't run off and start complaining to friends about God's actions. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.839 That would be talking behind God's back, but right to his face. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.319 No, he confronts God directly. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:55.759 That's a good thing. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:03.359 And I wish more of us would do this because I think too many Christians are afraid to share their disappointments and anger with God. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:06.799 Perhaps we think maybe we're not supposed to feel a certain way. 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:10.799 Perhaps we think God will punish us if we're completely honest with him. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.200 And here's what I would say: God can handle your honesty. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:16.319 In fact, he wants it. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.920 He can handle your doubt and your disappointment and your anger. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.119 He is God. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:22.160 He is God. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:24.880 He wants to hear from his children. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.880 And here's what happens if we're not honest with God when we pray. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.480 We start to stew. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.640 Is there any stewers out there? 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:33.279 Right? 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:35.839 We shut down, we sulk. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:46.240 Some of us right now we're walking through life with a constant low-grade anger that explodes when somebody irritates us and you say, whoa, what happened there? 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.640 Do you know anybody like that? 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:50.079 Are you like that? 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.400 Let me give you an illustration. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.759 Just imagine right now that you're in a group text, right? 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:01.039 And somebody says something that really bothers you in this texting thread. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:05.279 You say, maybe it feels unfair, maybe it feels hurtful, but you know what? 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.440 You don't want to start the drama, right? 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:12.000 So you read it, you get this knot in your stomach, and then you say nothing. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:13.680 You just leave it on red. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:18.160 And then those, maybe those three little dots start popping up. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:27.200 Everybody can see that you're typing, and then they disappear, and then you start it again, it's clear that you're typing, and then you delete it again, right? 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:37.200 Then maybe you go and you draft a really long response in your notes app so you can vent without everybody seeing that you're you're typing this really long note, but then you never send it. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:45.519 See, on the outside you look calm, you look reasonable in the chat, but on the inside you're angry and you don't want to admit it. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.559 And that's what so many of us do with God, right? 00:20:48.799 --> 00:21:02.240 We we read, we read what He's said and done, we feel those three little dots creeping up in our heart, we start to form an honest prayer, like, I don't like this, I'm mad at you, and then we erase it. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:03.759 We go quiet. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:10.640 We stay polite in our prayers, in our church answers, but the real message is never sent. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:22.079 And it's Jonah in this chapter showing us what it looks like when somebody finally stops deleting the message and actually says to God, I'm angry about your mercy. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:32.160 See, we need honest reflection with God in prayer so his word and his spirit can correct our wrong attitudes of our heart. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.279 Because Jonah has a grievance with God here. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:36.400 What does he say? 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:39.039 He says, God, I told you this would happen. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:42.240 This is why I got on that boat to Tarshish back in chapter one. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.279 That's why I tried to flee from your presence. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.759 Now pause there. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.519 That's a crucial setup for what Jonah says next. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:57.119 I want you to notice that his grievance and his anger, as we've examined in this book, are not irrational. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:57.680 Right? 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.839 Jonah had a real reason to fear the Assyrians. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:06.000 He had a real claim to justice against the atrocities they committed against his people. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:08.799 He had a reason not to go to Nineveh. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:14.240 And his words reveal that maybe he even resented God for even sending him. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:20.319 Have you ever resented God for something he asked you to do? 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:23.440 For someone he called you to forgive. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:33.680 Again, I know, I know, I know so many of us, we don't want to admit this because it's not the right theological answer, but it is a real human struggle. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:40.480 And the only way to overcome is to confess, is to remind ourselves who God is. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.720 And that's what the second half of verse 2 does. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:55.359 Jonah says, For I knew that you're a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.319 So Jonah, listen, Jonah is not a newbie prophet. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:04.640 Jonah is not a brand new believer who knows little about the scriptures. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.960 He knows who God is. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:19.920 And it's here in Jonah 4, 2 that he gives a direct quotation from Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7, which involved God's self-revelation to Moses after the scene with the golden calf. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:20.799 Do you remember? 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:21.279 Right? 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:28.079 Moses, after the nation of Israel passed over the Red Sea, they stopped at Mount Sinai, they spent some time there. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:37.200 Jonah, I'm sorry, Moses goes up to Mount Sinai, he talks to God, God gives him the law, the Ten Commandments, which were to be a guardrail for his people. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:42.240 Moses then descends from the mountain to present the law, and what does he find? 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:52.000 Well, while he was up there talking to God, God's people quickly fashioned a false God, a golden calf, and they forgot their God, Yahweh. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:56.319 And so Moses breaks these tablets in righteous anger. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:05.200 And then he goes back up the mountain to meet with God again, and God graciously gives Moses two new tablets, and he reveals himself to Moses. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:09.680 And so it's worth looking at the original text, Exodus 34, verse 6. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:29.200 It says, The Lord passed before him, that's Moses, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:38.880 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. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:43.119 So this is God's self-revelation to his people. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:52.480 And if you read the Old Testament, verse 6, Exodus 34, 6, in particular, is the most repeated theological formula in the Old Testament. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.559 It functions as Israel's core confession and creed. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:01.119 And so a devout Israelite like Jonah would have memorized this in his heart. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.400 It would have been the bedrock of his theological life. 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:10.880 Now, perhaps the modern equivalent for us would be something like the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.039 It's a statement about who God is. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:18.400 Or think of the soaring words of the question one of the Heidelberg Catechism. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.119 What is our only hope in life and death? 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:26.480 That I am not my own, but I belong body and soul to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:30.160 The point that I'm making here is that Jonah is a theologian. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.640 Jonah knew who God was. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:38.799 But notice when he brings it up in chapter 4, verse 2, he's missing the mercy and grace of God. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:43.839 He misses the part about God being slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.799 Instead, Jonah wants to focus on the second half. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:47.279 Right? 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.920 God will by no means clear the guilty. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:51.279 Oh yeah, we like that. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.240 That's right, God. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:53.119 You get him. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:58.559 But friends, God is both merciful and just. 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:04.240 And he demonstrates that on the cross through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.079 Mercy and justice meaning. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:07.759 Jonah misses it. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:09.759 But that's not the worst part of this. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:17.200 If you look back at Jonah 4, 2, before he quotes this theological formula, he prefaces it with three words. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:20.880 He says, For I knew. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:24.640 In other words, I knew who you were, God. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:26.559 Oh yeah. 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:36.319 He takes that core theological statement, that self-revelation of God, and he turns it now into an accusation to God. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:40.559 How dare you, God, actually show mercy? 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:45.279 See, Jonah's a pretty complicated character. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.880 And so are we. 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:51.039 How many of us would have reacted the same way as Jonah? 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:56.559 How many of us are holding a grudge against our creator and our Savior in certain areas? 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:04.400 How many of us have cursed the very name and character of God in our hearts because he dared to act in accordance with his character? 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:18.880 The Lord! The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:20.160 That's who God is. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:23.279 I'll give you another illustration. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:31.680 Some of you may have followed the news about Charlie Kirk's murder trial these past couple weeks and maybe watch pieces of the courtroom proceedings. 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:52.240 Now imagine sitting there in the courtroom, not as a distant observer, but as his wife, Erica, or a close family member, and you're listening to this graphic evidence, you're reliving the worst day of your life, you're hearing every detail of what happened to the person you loved, and part of you longs for clear, decisive justice. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:58.079 Let the truth come out, let the jury see, let there be a reckoning for what he's done. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:07.680 And another part of you, as a Christian, is painfully aware that even the accused is not beyond the reach of God. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:16.640 That salvation belongs to the Lord, that no one is too far gone, that the cross is big enough for victims and perpetrators alike. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:25.440 So you sit there in the courtroom feeling the tension of God's love and his justice pressed right up against your grief. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:30.240 That's the tension of Jonah 2.9, Jonah 4.2. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:34.559 That in chapter 2, Jonah can say, salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:47.279 He loves the mercy of God when he's sinking into the sea, but in chapter 4, when that same mercy is now applied to the people he believes deserve judgment, he's furious. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:53.119 He knows God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and that's exactly what bothers him. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:56.720 He wants the courtroom without the possibility of pardon. 00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:00.000 He wants justice without the threat of grace. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:03.200 What kind of God do you believe in? 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:05.279 What kind of God do you love? 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:10.319 Would you go anywhere on mission for the God who is gracious and merciful? 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:14.319 Or does God's mercy offend your sense of justice? 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.960 Friends, I would challenge you today. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:25.759 Is God's mercy something we discuss during our in-depth Bible study, but resist when the rubber meets the road? 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:34.480 When you're sitting emotionally in the courtroom listening to the evidence about what was done to you or your family. 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:41.599 Because when you really and truly understand and experience God's mercy, it will transform you from the inside out. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.200 And some of us maybe need a deep transformation today. 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:48.640 We believe, but we're still fighting with God. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:53.519 We're still silently arguing with his mercy in the gallery of our hearts. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.519 That's where Jonah was. 00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.599 Is it possible to know God accurately and still be at war with him? 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:02.480 I think Jonah shows us yes. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:11.359 He was an angry prophet who encountered a gracious God, and now that encounter finally produces a revealing lament. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.759 A revealing lament. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:20.000 So verses three and four are really intriguing verses that leave us on this cliffhanger for next week. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:28.319 So verse 2, Jonah uses God's character against him, and then in verse 3 and 4, Jonah's heart is exposed, and then God responds. 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:30.640 Look at what Jonah says in verse 3. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:39.200 He says, Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:46.400 Now, friends, is this a head scratcher for anybody else? 00:30:47.119 --> 00:31:00.880 Again, if I recap this whole scene, just we're all on the same page, at the end of chapter 3, Jonah has tremendous missional success with the Ninevehes preaching repentance and destruction, real fire and brimstone stuff, and they respond. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:03.119 They repent, they give their lives to God. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:04.400 God shows them mercy. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:12.720 And it's in the midst of that success that Jonah then gets angry at God, demeans his character, and finally he asks to be killed. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:16.240 What are we supposed to do with this guy? 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:18.720 Can somebody come and talk to Jonah? 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:25.279 The reaction shows us that Jonah was obedient but lacked true submission to God. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:30.559 Or if I put it another way, it shows us that God's mission was not Jonah's mission. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.200 God's mission was not Jonah's mission. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:36.799 Jonah's heart was not aligned with God's heart. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:40.160 Jonah does not want God's love extending to the Ninevehes. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:46.000 It seems that Jonah went to Nineveh, assuming his preaching would bring about their destruction. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:55.039 But when God had something different in mind, salvation, it made Jonah say, I'm angry and I feel as if life is not worth living. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:59.440 So verse 3 here is a classic prophetic lament genre. 00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:05.279 Throughout the Psalms, if you read them, individual laments frequently address Yahweh God. 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.039 And here's the formula. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:16.880 Usually, there's a complaint about the situation, there's a confession of trust, there's a request, there's words of assurance, and then there's a vow of praise. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.960 That's how it usually works in the Psalms. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:25.680 But here Jonah addresses God, he complains, and then he requests to die. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:29.519 So notice he misses the part about trusting God and praising him. 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:34.079 Now, to be fair, Jonah is not biblically alone in his death wish. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:39.119 The prophet Elijah also had a death wish request in 1 Kings 19. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:55.279 We read this: but he, that's Elijah, himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he asked that he might die, saying, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father's. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:03.119 And then even Moses, Moses, right, the man who met God on the mountain and received the Ten Commandments, had a death request. 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:08.720 Speaking to God, he says, If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:13.839 If I have found favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:20.400 Now, here's the major difference between Elijah and Moses and Jonah. 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:30.079 Elijah and Moses were lamenting rejection and failure, but Jonah, Jonah was lamenting missional success. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.599 Jonah was upset at a revival. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:50.640 Now, if I put that in modern terms, over the last few years, there have been numerous reports of revivals happening around the country on college campuses, Asbury University, Auburn, Florida State, others have told stories of numerous baptisms, people coming to faith. 00:33:50.799 --> 00:34:04.160 In fact, national data shows that there's an increase, increasing interest in Christianity among Gen Z and millennials who now attend church more regularly than older generations for the first time in decades. 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:13.199 Here at NBC, we've started an event called the Night of Revival each January to lift up our eyes to God as we begin the new year. 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:24.800 Now, again, imagine walking on a college campus or into a night of revival event and shouting in anger as the worship music is playing or as the preacher is speaking. 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:33.840 Imagine going home after an event like that, locking yourself in your room and then shouting in anger at God because people were coming to Christ. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:38.239 Imagine wanting to end your life because others were being saved. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:44.880 If that happened, would you be able to look in the mirror and say, God, something's wrong in my heart? 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.599 Is it possible to know God accurately and still be at war with him? 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:59.119 I think Jonah shows us yes, because Jonah's real crisis wasn't that he doubted God's character, it was that he resented it. 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:04.880 Jonah's crisis wasn't that he doubted God's character, it was that he resented it. 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.199