WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:13.199 Alright, we'll grab your Bibles and get them open to Jonah chapter four as we uh close out our pretty brief four-week series uh in this uh great book and as you are uh getting yourself turned there. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:16.000 If we can get this uh picture thrown up on the screen here. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:18.719 Alright, that looked familiar to you. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:29.280 I think, I think we can all agree here that this is the uh universal emoji for astonishment, right? 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.240 Surprise, amazement. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.520 You know, kind of funny enough, I actually asked my son this morning on the way here. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.920 I'm like, hey, what do you think of when you think of this emoji? 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.640 It's like fear, my god, that doesn't work exactly. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:41.520 No, it's surprise. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:43.280 It's like, yeah, that works too, I guess, dad. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:48.079 Um, but I think maybe like the mind-blown emoji, maybe that's kind of a close second here. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:58.000 But I think I think this is like the emoji that you would use uh to express how utterly shocked you were uh by something uh that you saw. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.479 Maybe it was someone, maybe it was a tweet online, right? 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.640 Or or it was uh a joke or a comment that someone texted to you. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:08.640 It was a it was a picture or a funny video or something crazy some uh something did. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:11.920 I mean, you toss like two or three of these in a row into a text. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.200 I mean, people know uh real quick where you're coming from, right? 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:16.480 Shocked. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:25.200 Now, what the book of Jonah has been driving us towards here is just how truly shocking uh God's compassion is. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:25.680 Right? 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.280 How shocking his compassion is towards his creation. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:30.560 I mean, we've already seen it. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:35.840 We've seen it aimed at the sailors, we've seen it aimed at uh the Ninevehes. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.920 I mean, these were these were pagans, right? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:48.239 These were sinners, these were Israel's enemies, and so the fact that God would show them any love, any compassion, any any mercy at all is I mean, that's pretty shocking. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:52.879 I mean, he expresses compassion towards Jonah as well. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.280 And you might be like, well, he's a prophet, so they were probably close. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:02:01.280 But I mean, we've already looked at him and how you know he isn't exactly close to the Lord, exactly, right? 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:12.879 He's he, you know, he's running from him, he's not, he's not, you know, he's just a lack of true repentance, and you know, there's certainly a massive level of disgust towards the Ninevites specifically and the sailors too. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:18.479 But I mean, the Lord even shows compassion towards the animals in this book, right? 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:24.879 Which for uh you know a non-pet guy like me, I maybe need to consider that uh maybe just a little bit. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:29.680 Okay, but God's compassion, I mean, it is truly, I mean, it's this, right? 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:30.800 It's shocking. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.120 It really, it really is. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:42.400 And of course, not just towards the people that we read here in the text and that we've been kind of studying and looking at, but but towards us as well. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.280 So, I mean, do you see that? 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:47.680 I mean, have you experienced that in my life? 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:52.000 Do you have eyes to see how God has been compassionate to you? 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:53.680 Do you do you embrace that? 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:55.360 Do you rejoice in it? 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:06.719 Okay, but again, not just the compassion that he's revealed to you specifically, but do you have do you have a respect and appreciation and a love for the compassion that he has chosen to show other people? 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:07.840 Right? 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.039 And maybe even the people that I don't know, you don't get along with all that well. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:18.080 People that you don't have, you know, want to give the time of day to at all. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.319 All right, these are the things that we're gonna be looking at here from Jonah chapter 4. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:27.120 So if you're turned in there now, let's read it, starting in verse 1, just reading the whole thing. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.439 Okay, it says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:37.599 And he prayed to the Lord, and he said, O Lord, is is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:40.319 This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:48.000 For I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:55.039 Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.800 And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry? 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.759 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.159 He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:16.959 Now the Lord, uh the Lord God 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. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.000 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:26.000 But when the dawn came up the next day, God appointed uh a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:38.399 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. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:42.560 But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:46.079 And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:54.079 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. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:05.439 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know the right hand from their left, and also much cattle. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:17.759 Father God, we uh we lower ourselves before you here today in humility, recognizing that on our own we sure just make a mess out of things. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:26.560 God, Jonah is uh is a great picture of that towards us, and also a very clear picture of your great compassion towards him. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:28.720 Lord, I pray that we would embrace that today. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:35.519 I pray that we would that we would see that you're not a stingy God, you're not towards us, you're not towards uh other people. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.519 Lord, we're all undeserving. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.199 We we don't merit your grace, we we we don't. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:47.120 Lord, you just shower it, you pour it out in your goodness according to your wisdom, how you see fit. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.199 And so, Father, I pray that we would be humble today. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:54.639 I pray that our heart for you would grow today, I pray that our heart for others would would be enlarged. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:06:10.480 God, as you um come after us so relentlessly, Lord, you just don't stop, you use the circumstances of our lives to uproot the areas that need to go, the the the problem areas that need to change, Lord, and you replace it with with a new heart, Lord. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:13.360 I pray that you would do that here in us this morning. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:19.920 God, I pray that you, by the power of your spirit, would move would move and work through the preaching of your word, Father. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:24.160 Father, soften us to this, give us eyes to see, ears to hear. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.319 We pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:27.199 Amen. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:28.240 Amen. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:29.040 Well, here we go. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.319 First thing in your notes, two things today. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:38.240 First one is this God's shocking compassion extends to those I despise. 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:40.319 Am I good with that? 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:41.600 Am I good with that? 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:45.279 Now, chapter three, of course, uh, we looked at it last week. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:50.560 It it ends with the Lord kind of easing off the gas pedal, right? 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:56.879 He he he relents of the destruction that he had threatened to pour out on the Ninevehites. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:57.920 Why did he do that? 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:02.160 Well, because of their because of their heartfelt repentance, right? 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.759 They they recognize, wow, we've got serious sin and the Lord's coming after us. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:07.839 We we need to deal with this, we need to get right with him. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:15.839 And and so he's just demonstrated this immense, this, this shocking amount of compassion, right? 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.800 He's poured this out on an entire city. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.560 Now I think I think sometimes we read that and we're like, oh yeah, like you know, Ninevehite was transformed. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:25.360 How cool is that? 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:27.519 But we don't really think about that. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.160 Imagine if he did that here. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:32.480 Yeah, I was thinking about that a little bit. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:45.120 Like, imagine if in you know our little corner of York Region, in you know, Aurora and Newmarket and and in you know in in Holland Landing and maybe even Keswick. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:46.000 Right? 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.160 I love taking shots at Keswick. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:49.360 We love you though. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:08:01.519 Okay, but imagine if there was some guy out there saying, you know, York Region, you need to turn in repentance, and it was just evil after evil coming out and spewing out, which is pretty accurate for our day. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:10.959 But imagine all of a sudden there was just citywide repentance, and and people, sackcloth and ashes and animals get low too, and you know, all of it was all coming out. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:11.839 Imagine that. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:14.560 We would be, as the church, we'd be like, whoa. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:15.600 Right? 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:19.199 The Lord is moving, the Lord is moving in power. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.120 This is this is incredible. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.639 We would, I think, I hope, we would be rejoicing in that. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.800 We would be excited about it. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.959 Seeing God's compassion towards sinners. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:33.519 But take a look at verse one. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:35.919 Here's Jonah's reaction. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:42.720 It says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:44.480 Hmm. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:53.679 Right now, in the original language, actually, that that phrase there in verse one literally means that it was exceedingly evil to Jonah. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:54.399 Right? 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.720 That's how he thought of this act. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:02.240 Okay, so suffice it to say, he's he's not pleased, right? 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:13.039 He's not at all happy, he's not good with it, what God has chosen to do, that he's decided to show mercy, that he's decided to pour out grace and compassion uh on these people. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:19.440 In fact, you could easily say that he's dangerously bordering on accusing God of wrongdoing. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.240 Okay, if not outright just doing that, right? 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.159 That's that that's I think what he's doing here. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:27.279 He's having you have deficient character, God. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.240 You you blew it on this decision. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:32.639 You should have done what I said all along. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:46.159 Okay, so now listen, the the the specific issue going on, I think, in Jonah's heart here is he's got this, he's got this skewed and imbalanced understanding of God's justice and God's mercy. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:53.679 All right, both of which, you and I, as Christ followers, we need to hold both of them in uh in view here. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:58.159 Okay, so Jonah, he was like, he was a pure justice guy, right? 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.919 Like punishment, pain, justice. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:05.759 Like he he was that guy. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:08.320 He he trumpeted that horn all the way. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:11.600 You know, well, all of us, I think, we lean one way or the other. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.879 Some of us were like, yeah, we're we're we're kind of wired like like Jonah is. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:17.279 We look out at the world, it makes us angry. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:17.919 Right? 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.720 And others of us we're we're so far the other way, and like we're like mercy and grace hippies. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:23.279 Right? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:29.120 And we never think about sin, and we don't, we don't want to took it, we don't want to look at that because it makes us feel uncomfortable. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.799 And we have to understand, God is God is both, right? 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:38.159 He he is gracious, he is merciful, and he is a God of justice. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:44.159 And so both of these ideas need to occupy our understanding of who God is. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:56.240 And so Jonah here in this moment, he believes that God's justice is not being served by the fact that he decided to extend compassion and mercy to Israel's enemies in this particular moment. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.960 Whereas in reality, what was God doing? 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:10.879 He was patiently withholding his wrath, his justice, right, in order to give a proper amount of time to see these people repent and turn to him. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:15.519 It's an amazing picture of God's love when you think about it. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:23.200 And that love that God has for his people is the very love that's apparently absent in Jonah's heart. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.519 You know, look at verse 2. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:32.720 It says, and he prayed to the Lord and and said, Oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:34.559 This is this is pretty interesting. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:35.919 I find this so fascinating, right? 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:41.919 He actually sheds light on that original conversation that he and God would have had back in chapter one. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:48.639 In chapter one, all it tells us in that moment is, you know, God says go, and and Jonah says no. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:49.039 Right? 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:54.639 He he he goes and he jumps aboard a ship, he decides not to go to Nineveh, he's gonna go to Tarshish instead. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:02.240 But here the author has withheld that information, and now he's delivering it to us through where uh Jonah is at. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:05.759 Okay, well, keep going. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:08.799 He says, that is why. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:09.279 Right? 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:12.320 That is why I made haste to flee flee to Tarshish. 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:21.679 For I knew, I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.080 Can you see how sour he is? 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:25.120 Right? 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.120 I knew it all along, God. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:30.240 I knew this is how you were wired. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:37.679 I knew you'd hold back from from punishing them, from from executing the justice that they that they deserved. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:38.000 Right? 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:38.480 I knew it. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:41.120 That's why I didn't want to go in in the first place. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:47.200 And so you see here we are finally let in on where Jonah's really at. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:53.440 His true heart is is finally revealed, very clear for all to see. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:14.320 Okay, so all of that, all of that appearance of of repentance that we saw in him, that appearance of obedience and you know, technically doing and and saying the right things, and you know, the flowery prayers and all of that that we saw in him up until this point, it's exposed here, it's not actually coming from a real healthy heart. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:18.399 It's not coming from a place of true true godliness. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:24.480 And it's more, it's more surfacey behavior, it's not genuine. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:35.200 It's just under the that surface and that exterior is uh is a deeply angry and bitter and merciless man. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:37.679 Maybe that's not even the end of it. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:40.080 I mean, here comes more in verse 3. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:41.200 Take a look at that. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.960 It says, Therefore now, O Lord, this is Jonah, please take my life from me. 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:51.440 For it is better for me to die than to live. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:56.159 The Lord responds, he said, uh, did you do well to be angry? 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:02.240 Now we saw a fairly similar response out of Jonah when he was on the ship. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:02.879 You remember that? 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:08.159 The storm was raging and going crazy, and these seasoned vet sailors are freaking out, right? 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:12.720 Because the storm was wild and they're, you know, they're ditching cargo and all of that, right? 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.720 Jonah in that moment, think about what he could have done. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.799 He could have repented. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:19.440 Right? 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:22.639 He he had some sense that all of this mess was because of me. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:24.399 He eventually tells the sailors that. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:31.519 He could have repented, he could have turned back to the Lord, but instead he says, he says, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:33.919 He would rather die than repent. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.679 And here God kind of calls him on it. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.919 He says, Do you do you do well to be angry? 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:38.960 Honestly. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:39.919 Right? 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.000 Is it really necessary? 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:49.519 Is it is it right for you to be this upset about what I have done, of what I've chosen to do in the lives of these people? 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:57.919 Now, it kind of appears here, if you look at this, that that Jonah's issuing even somewhat of an ultimatum to God. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:58.559 Right? 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:01.840 Like, if you're not gonna kill them, kill me. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:06.080 Now, does he really want the Lord to do that? 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:20.240 I I don't know, but but I I think he actually assumes that that tactic, that that ultimatum will convince the Lord to reverse his decision to show compassion to the Ninevehes and actually destroy them after all. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.360 Where are you getting that, Pastor? 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:28.399 Like, you know, you're just reading that into the text, you spent a little too much time in some commentaries or something like that. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.399 No, I mean it's it's right here, right? 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.559 We see he's trying to paint God into a corner, I think. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:33.279 Verse 5. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:36.000 So Jonah went out of the city and sat. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.759 Okay, this is where he gets his pouting prophet nickname. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.399 Okay, he sat to the east of the city, made a booth for himself there. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:50.480 He sat under it in the shade, and then here it is, till he should see what would become of the city. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:51.600 Okay, so there it is. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:52.720 Look carefully at that. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:53.200 Right? 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:54.879 God's already made his decision. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.039 I'm showing compassion to the Ninevehes, right? 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:02.799 I I love them, I want to see them repent, I've relented of the disaster, all of those things, okay? 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:18.879 But Jonah still thinks and actually hopes that God still might turn from, or should even side with his position regarding the matter here and reverse his decision, and and he thinks that Nineveh should burn. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:19.519 Maybe God'll do that. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:22.000 I'm gonna sit here and just watch and see kind of how this plays out. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.320 I think the Lord is gonna listen to uh how I'm being a bit of a suck about this. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:33.679 I think it's fairly safe to say here that Jonah despises these people. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.120 I mean, can you can you see it there? 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:35.919 Do you see it there? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.120 I think it I think it's clear, right? 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:42.960 He refuses to get behind God's God's decision to show compassion. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:47.840 He doesn't like that towards Israel's enemies. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:49.840 He's flat out not good with it at all. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:50.639 Opposed. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:51.840 Opposed. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:17:06.400 Now it's really easy for us, I think, to to read this and to look at this book and and to kind of you know think that Jonah is just like he's a jerk. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:07.599 Right? 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.880 I mean, it's pretty hard to argue with that. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:14.400 I mean, part of me, I'm not gonna lie, like part of me just wants to railroad the guy. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.920 Like, really, like, wake up, man. 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:17.519 Like, are you serious? 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.720 Like the Lord has called you to do something, he's done an amazing work, and you're you're this upset. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:32.720 Okay, but understand that all throughout this story here, God is carefully exposing what's really going on in Jonah's heart. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:33.200 Right? 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.920 God has sovereignly called him to this. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:39.759 God has sovereignly put him in these challenging positions. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:47.680 Do you think that when God called Jonah, and then all of this starts to happen, God's like, oh man, like I didn't really see it going this way. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:49.200 Like, he's my prophet. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.200 I thought he was more mature than this. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:51.920 Right? 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.119 I I I I thought he would, I thought he would make better decisions. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:58.880 I can't believe that I'm kind of you know kind of fighting with him on this about this. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.599 No, God knows exactly where Jonah was at. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.839 As as God pursues the Ninevites, God pursues Jonah. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:10.640 And he is exposing whatever it takes in the person's heart to go after them. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.200 It's the same thing he does with us as well. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:27.440 Not to mention that God's you know using the the consequences of of Jonah's poor decisions, he's using, he's using all of it to again gradually unearth and and reveal the the true state of Jonah's heart. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:33.440 Again, this is the very thing that God, that the Lord does with you and I. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:45.359 Because you and I, we we play that surface obedience, half-hearted repentance, outwardly spiritual game all the time, right? 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:46.319 We do it. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:58.960 But then, you know, after we go through something, we go through a challenge in our marriage or a challenge in life, or we start serving in ministry and we realize it's really difficult, and you know, we join the church and it sounds real nice, and everyone's real kind. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:04.480 Then you get to know them and you realize, oh, this is a little bit more complicated and more difficult, and you realize it's hard, but that's what the Lord is doing. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.920 He's unearthing what's going on in your heart to do a work in you. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:19.119 He's exposing that because under the surface, again, we play the game if everyone's good, but under the surface, it's a dumpster fire. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:20.079 Right? 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.359 And it's a mess. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:26.880 And here's the thing though, it's not immediately noticeable to us. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:37.839 We're often very blind to our issues, and we can even at times hide it from other people. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.880 Sometimes we do a pretty good job of that, other times we're doing a terrible job of that. 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:47.599 People can see exactly what the issues are in us, and and we're the ones that are blind. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.759 We do that because of pride, we do that because of fear, but again, God is unearthing it. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:02.880 One of those, one of those often hidden issues in us that just needs to be uprooted and exposed. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:16.000 And the issue that this text just confronts us with here over and over again is that God will extend shocking, astonishing, generous compassion to people that you and I flat out cannot stand. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:17.920 Right? 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:18.720 We can't. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:20.880 We we despise them. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:27.839 There are people in our lives that you know, we just we find them repulsive, they rub against us, we find them they're they're annoying. 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:31.599 On some level, maybe we even we we hate them, but you know what? 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:33.599 God is still going after them as well. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.000 You okay with that? 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:49.279 You're gonna be good with how God chooses to work in other people and how he might be using all of that to teach you some things along the way. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:57.599 Now listen, I was thinking about my own heart with all of this uh this week, and it's amazing in a in a pathetic way. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:05.279 Um, how immediately my thought, as I was kind of working through this text, my thought was, you know, I don't hate anybody. 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:06.720 Right? 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.640 Like I'm I'm good here. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:10.000 Free pass. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:11.759 Right? 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:12.480 That's what I was thinking. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:18.000 Now, I like in general, off the top of my head, I really can't think of anybody that I hate. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:19.039 Right? 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:20.960 I can't think of anyone in this church. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.319 I can't think of any no no one. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:23.920 I can I can't think of that. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:32.319 But listen, I think we all have seeds of of this kind of thing growing in our hearts a bit, maybe just a bit. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.839 In Jonah's case, that he despises the Ninevehites. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.920 I think it's pretty obvious to us. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:38.559 Right? 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:48.160 He's gotten to the point where he's just snapped and he's lost it, and he's freaking out on the Lord, and he's building huts and sulking, right? 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:52.880 At least it's obvious to us now what's going on in Jonah's heart. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:59.200 But again, it took a bit of time for him to get to that place where it's all coming out. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.839 It took a bit of time. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.039 For the Lord to uncover that evil in his heart. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:08.319 So listen, maybe, just maybe, there's a little bit of that going on inside us as well. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:19.599 Maybe there really are people that we despise, or again, we've got those roots of hatred growing within us, and they just haven't quite developed yet. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:28.960 Those roots haven't quite punctured the surface where we can see them and we're shocked by them, or where other people see them and are shocked by them. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:29.920 But it's there. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:32.160 It's there and it's festering. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:42.240 What I'm really getting at here is maybe there really are people out there who we wouldn't exactly love to see God show compassion to. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:44.799 Do you think you have that going on in your hearts? 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:45.440 I was thinking about this. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.039 Who are the kind of people that we despise? 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.720 How does this play out kind of in everyday life? 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:56.480 I was thinking about the always thorny issue of politics. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:57.680 Right? 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:02.079 You consider yourself uh a conservative in politics? 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.039 How do you feel about liberals then? 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.279 How do you feel about them? 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:09.759 How do you feel about AOC? 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:12.799 How do you feel about Trudeau? 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:15.359 Yeah, but I'm a I'm a conservative. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:17.200 That's what that's what Christians are. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:18.079 Okay. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.319 Maybe you're sitting here and I'm more of a liberal. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.559 More of a liberal on those things. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:29.119 How are you towards conservatives? 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:33.119 Are you just destroying their world on Twitter? 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.960 Are you getting into bitter conversations with other people? 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:38.079 Are you ripping them? 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:41.200 Are you hard on see how we can be on either side of the coin? 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:48.559 And there's there's a group of people, there are certain individuals that we can kind of despise, right? 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:52.160 We don't check that, we don't bring that before the Lord, it can grow. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.519 Maybe for you it's like a socioeconomic thing. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:09.279 Maybe for you, you grew up kind of poor and didn't have a lot of money, it was hard to make ends meet, and so you kind of look at people who have wealth with kind of the horse eye, right? 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:24.160 And you're critical of them, and maybe you despise them, and you automatically kind of paint too many of them with the same brush, and you think that because they drive a nice car or because they have a nice home or because they look a certain way, whatever it might be, therefore their heart must be wrong. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:25.599 They must not be humble. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.480 Their heart must be consumed by wealth. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.759 They must be driven by it. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.200 Not necessarily. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:39.440 Some of those godly people I've seen are some of the most wealthy because they're the most generous. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:41.200 They keep giving it away. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:42.880 They keep blessing people with it. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:47.599 And so the Lord's like, I'll just keep shoveling more onto your plate and just keep giving it away. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.599 You can be godly and poor, you can be godly and have a lot of money. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:55.519 You can be ungodly and poor, you can be ungodly and have a lot of money. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:03.920 A lot of us we fall into kind of one camp or the other, maybe, or maybe we're like, we're middle class, so therefore my hands are clean. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:06.480 Oh yeah, maybe you hate both camps. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:10.319 Do you despise people? 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.119 Maybe it's a different ethnicity thing. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.400 Oh no, not in not in 2019. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:18.880 Not in not in the GTA. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:21.680 You know, the most multicultural city in the world. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:25.680 There's no there's no anti-Semitism anywhere. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:27.440 You sure? 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:33.440 Some of us maybe have just learned to quiet our mouths about that and some of the joking that we have. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:35.680 Some of us haven't even gotten to that place yet. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.839 But inside it's still there. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:45.119 And we still stereotype and we still demonize somebody that's different than us. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:46.720 How about this one? 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:48.720 This is gonna hurt some feelings. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:50.960 We just had Christmas time, right? 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:56.400 You're gathering with family members around the table, around Christmas dinner. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:03.279 And how many of us in those moments, in the tension of family, were like, can you please pass the cranberry? 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:06.240 Oh sweet cousin Bill? 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:12.079 But inside you're like, I just want to choke slam that guy into the table. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:12.720 Right? 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:14.079 That's what you're thinking. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:16.079 And we've learned to play the game, right? 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:22.240 And I'm gonna, for the sake of difficulty and all of it, I'm gonna, I'm gonna play nice. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:31.839 But inside there's that war in your heart, and you you despise the person in your family, and it's it's difficult and it's not, I don't I don't want to I don't want to see God show compassion in that person. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:36.960 That person has hurt me, that person has harmed me, that person doesn't get it. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.480 You might be right about a lot of that stuff. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:42.720 But how are you doing in your heart about that? 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:44.319 Do you despise them? 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:47.839 Do you wish the Lord would smite them? 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:52.160 Are you praying that the Lord would show them grace, would show them mercy? 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.359 How about this one? 00:26:53.759 --> 00:27:05.279 Other churches, other Christians with slightly different, even theological leanings than your own. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:05.920 Right? 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:18.079 This is one that I, you know, I gotta check my heart on this kind of thing, but do you write people off or other churches off because they worship in a slightly different way? 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:24.880 Do you write them off because they express themselves differently or they believe something, something slightly different? 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:31.680 I'll tell you what my radar is always up for is when I see new people who come to our church and I love it. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:32.240 I love it. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:43.839 When when new people come and and and they seem to be blessed by what the Lord is doing, but every once in a while, it doesn't happen a lot, but every once in a while, I listen and I hear someone and they're just torting the church, they left. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:49.039 They're ripping it, yeah, well, they stood on this, and they were more like that. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:57.519 Listen, if you communicate that thing to the new church that you're going to, trust me, everyone around here is gonna be like, you know what, you're gonna be doing that any minute you know, here. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.240 If not, you're already doing it. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:01.200 Right? 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.640 Are you where do you hate people? 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:06.559 Do you despise people? 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:10.960 Do you automatically think you're correct and you're right? 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:12.000 Right? 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:18.319 God shows shocking compassion to people that we naturally don't want him to. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.640 He does it. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.559 However he wants, whenever he wants. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:24.160 You gonna be okay with that? 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.920 If not, why? 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:29.920 Why not? 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.119 Begin to ask yourselves these questions. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.279 Begin to look at where your motives are at here. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:40.480 Okay, the issue is not that we can't disagree with people. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:47.839 I'm not saying we can't disagree in in politics and and in theology and and with family members and all of those kinds of things. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:53.519 The problem is that we often can't disagree with somebody without also despising them. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:54.079 Right? 00:28:54.160 --> 00:29:03.359 With feelings of superiority welling up in our hearts and in our minds, writing them off, outright cruelty at times, bitterness disguised as righteous anger. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.960