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Jonah’s Regret · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Jonah, it's a short one. I'll give you a few moments to get there. Flip past it a few times.
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We've spent the last two weeks in this book, and today will be the final Sunday of it.
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The books of the Bible were not given titles, so we call this the book of Jonah because it's about a prophet named Jonah.
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I sometimes want to add subtitles to these books.
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It's Jonah, God's whiny prophet, or Jonah, how not to be a prophet of God.
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I've always really liked the name Jonah, and I don't think there's anyone in our congregation with a child named Jonah.
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This morning anyway. If you know somebody with a child named Jonah, please don't be offended by this.
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I couldn't name a child Jonah after studying this book. What a mess he was.
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This morning our text will be Jonah chapter 4, so verses 1 through 11 of chapter 4.
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But before we get into that, I want to kind of give some summary of where we've been,
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and then I'm going to read the entirety of the book to you.
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It's such a short story and such a wonderful story.
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I think you need to hear it in its entirety, especially if you haven't been here with us over the last two weeks.
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The way we've kind of structured across the book in these three weeks began with a sermon whose theme was rebellion,
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where we looked at the rebellion of the mariners, those who piloted the ship that Jonah got onto as he fleed from the presence of God.
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And we saw that they cried out to their various gods.
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They weren't worshipers of the one true God.
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Certainly see the rebellion of the Ninevites.
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God called it a great city and said that their evil has come up before him.
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And the message that's given to Jonah to take to the Ninevites is that in 40 days,
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Nineveh will be destroyed for their wickedness.
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And we saw the rebellion of Jonah as he worked at fleeing from the presence of God,
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although was entirely incapable of doing so.
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And as we think about these various forms and various accounts of rebellion,
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the lesson for us to learn in all of that, I think, goes one of two ways.
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And that is either that you find yourself this morning very self-righteous,
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that you think you're a pretty good person and that you've done well in the sight of God,
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that you're not like the Ninevites and you're not like Jonah and you're not like the mariners.
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But what you need to know is that you are.
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Even the smallest offense against the holy God, an infinite God, demands infinite punishment.
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It's weighted the same before him.
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By God's grace, you may not be in human terms quite as evil as the Ninevites.
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However, you are found before God condemned because of your sin.
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The other side of that is you might be very self-abasing.
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You might find that you're never in your own mind worthy of the mercy of God to you.
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That you don't think he could possibly forgive the sins that you've committed.
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And there's this great measure of mercy in this book that God abounds on all of these various characters.
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And I want you to be comforted by that today.
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As we looked at the rebellion, particularly in chapter 1, we talked a bit about God's purpose.
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That when the gospel of Jesus Christ came to Paul,
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and he was given the commission to go and preach it to the Gentiles,
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this was not a new revelation.
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This was an amazing thing, an astounding thing for Paul in his day to be told to take the Word of God
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beyond the borders of Jerusalem.
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But God has always had a global purpose for His glory.
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He has always wanted His name to be proclaimed amongst the nations.
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There's many Old Testament texts that say this.
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My favorite is Isaiah 43, 6 and 7.
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God says,
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And God has always had this intention.
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And Jonah is aware of this intention,
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which is the very reason that he flees from the presence of God.
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This is the reason he takes off and goes in the opposite direction of the city of Nineveh,
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because he knows that God has a purpose.
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And we ask the question,
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do we live in light of God's purpose to the world?
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We talk about God's presence and about how living in God's will is to live in God's presence.
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And we talk about God's power and the way in which He sovereignly works His will.
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To observe that Jonah did not have the power to thwart God's intention for the people of Nineveh.
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And God brings about these extraordinary circumstances to reorient Jonah's life
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for the preaching of the destruction and therefore good news.
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Ultimately, as we consider all the rebellion that's found in this book,
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particularly the rebellion of Jonah as the centerpiece of it,
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we need to remember that this is primarily, in a very high way,
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this is a story of God's great mercy.
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You see all of this rebellion,
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but you see God's mercy in the proper and right thing for God to do for all of these people
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is just to go ahead and destroy them.
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Just go ahead and wipe them off the face of the earth.
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But yet He brings these great mercies in the form of a great wind that He hurls upon the mariners.
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Consider that Jonah being on the ship and God punishing his disobedience
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was what turned the mariners to God.
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You see in chapter 1, verse 16,
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And the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
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and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord,
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and they made vows.
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They repented.
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They turned from their ways,
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and they turned to the one true God.
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God sent great mercy in the form of a great fish
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that came along and swallowed Jonah whole.
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Jonah certainly would have died in the midst of the sea
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had it not been for this fish.
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And it's this fish that is used in His time in its belly
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to bring Him to repentance.
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And God brings great mercy to the city of Nineveh
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with the promise of a great destruction.
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The call to repent.
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Forty days and I will destroy.
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And there's this call to repent.
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And in chapter 3, you see even the king himself gets involved
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in the fasting and the mourning over their offense to God
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and calls them to righteousness.
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So all of these great mercies leading to proper and right repentance.
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Repentance.
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Today, I want to talk about Jonah's regret
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as the theme for this morning.
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Let me read to you the story of Jonah.
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Follow along with me, if you will.
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I'm reading from the ESV version of the Scripture
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if you manage to have a technological piece
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that you can flip between translations.
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Chapter 1, verse 1.
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Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai,
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saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
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and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.
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But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
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He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
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So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish
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away from the presence of the Lord.
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But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,
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and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,
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so that the ship threatened to break up.
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Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God.
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And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.
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But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship
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and had laid down and was fast asleep.
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So the captain came and said to him,
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What do you mean, you sleeper?
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Arise, call out to your God.
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God, perhaps the God will give you a thought to us that we may not perish.
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And they said to one another,
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Come, let us cast lots,
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that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.
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So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
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Then they said to him,
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Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.
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What is your occupation, and where do you come from?
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What is your country, and of what people are you?
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And he said to them,
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I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
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who made the sea and the dry land.
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Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him,
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What is this that you have done?
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For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord,
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because he had told them.
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Then they said to him,
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What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?
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For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
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He said to them,
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Pick me up and hurl me into the sea,
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then the sea will quiet down for you,
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for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.
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Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land,
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but they could not,
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for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
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Therefore they called out to the Lord,
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O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life,
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and lay not on us innocent blood,
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for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.
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So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,
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and the sea ceased from its raging.
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Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
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and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
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And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah,
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and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days.
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And three nights.
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Then Jonah prayed to the Lord as God from the belly of the fish,
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saying,
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I called out to the Lord out of my distress,
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and he answered me.
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Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
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and you heard my voice.
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For you cast me into the deep,
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into the heart of the seas,
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and the floods surrounded me.
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All your waves and your billows passed over me.
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Then I said,
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I am driven away from your sight,
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yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.
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The waters closed in over me to take my life.
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The deep surrounded me.
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Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.
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I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
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Yet you brought up my life from the pit,
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O Lord my God.
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When my life was fainting away,
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I remembered the Lord,
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and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.
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Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
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But I, with the voice of thanksgiving,
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will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.
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Salvation belongs to the Lord.
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And the Lord spoke to the fish,
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and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
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Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
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saying,
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Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
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and call out against it the message that I tell you.
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So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh,
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according to the word of the Lord.
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Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,
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three days' journey in breadth.
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Jonah began to go into the city,
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going a day's journey,
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and he called out,
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Yet forty days,
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and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
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And the people of Nineveh believed God.
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They called for a fast,
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and put on sackcloth,
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from the greatest of them to the least of them.
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The word reached the king of Nineveh,
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and he arose from his throne,
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removed his robe,
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covered himself with sackcloth,
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and sat in ashes.
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And he issued a proclamation,
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and published through Nineveh,
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by the decree of the king and his nobles,
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let neither man nor beast,
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herd nor flock,
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taste anything.
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Let them not feed or drink water,
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but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
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and let them call out mightily to God.
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Let everyone turn from his evil way,
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and from the violence that is in his hands.
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Who knows?
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God may turn and relent,
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and turn from his fierce anger,
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so that we may not perish.
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When God saw what they did,
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how they turned from their evil way,
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God relented of the disaster
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that he had said he would do to them,
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and he did not do it.
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But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
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and he was angry,
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and he prayed to the Lord and said,
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O Lord, is this not what I said
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when I was yet in my country?
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That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish,
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for I knew that you were a gracious God,
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and merciful, slow to anger,
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and abounding in steadfast love,
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and relenting from disaster.
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Therefore now, O Lord,
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please take my life for me,
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for it is better for me to die than to live.
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And the Lord said,
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Do you do well to be angry?
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Jonah went out of the city
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and sat to the east of the city
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and made a booth for himself there.
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He sat under it in the shade
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till he could see what would become of the city.
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Now the Lord God appointed a plant
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and made it come up over Jonah
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that it might be a shade over his head
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to save him from his discomfort.
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So Jonah was exceedingly glad
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because of the plant.
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But when dawn came up the next day,
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God appointed a worm that attacked the plant
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so that it withered.
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When the sun rose,
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God appointed a scorching east wind,
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and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah
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so that he was faint.
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And he asked that he might die
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and said,
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It is better for me to die than to live.
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But God said to Jonah,
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Do you do well to be angry for the plant?
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And he said,
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Yes, I do well to be angry,
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angry enough to die.
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And the Lord said,
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You pity the plant,
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for which you did not labor,
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nor did you make it grow,
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which came into being in a night
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and perished in a night.
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And should I not pity Nineveh,
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that great city
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in which there are more than 120,000 persons
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who do not know their right hand
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from their left,
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and also much cattle.
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And so we see in the story
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this wonderful display of God's mercy.
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And let me draw your attention
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or your mind's attention
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just momentarily
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to the great deal of mercy
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that He showed Nineveh,
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this massive city
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that takes three days to cross,
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which likely included the suburbs around it.
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But this huge populace
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of wickedly evil people,
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the Ninevites were Assyrians
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and were historically horrid, horrid people,
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and they turn from their ways,
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and God relents from the disaster.
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This wonderful revival,
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possibly the largest revival ever in history.
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And Jonah regrets it all.
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I want to structure this morning,
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this sermon,
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in just two quick and easy ways.
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First, the sin of Jonah's regret.
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Regret.
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The sin of Jonah's regret.
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Sometimes I just move right past the mistakes
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because it's not worth stopping
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and sometimes it's worth stopping.
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And secondly, God's merciful response.
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God's merciful response.
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So, the sin of Jonah's regret.
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It's really interesting
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that there's this little glimpse of obedience.
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We see this repentance on his part
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in chapter 2,
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this wonderful prayer of repentance.
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The beginning of chapter 3,
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he's recommissioned to go.
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He's obedient now.
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He's now following God.
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He goes and he preaches this message.
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But it's bookended by sin
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on both sides.
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The fleeing from God's will.
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The very beginning,
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verse 1 of chapter 4,
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you see that Jonah was unhappy and angry.
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It displeased Jonah exceedingly.
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And he was angry.
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The fact that the Ninevites
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were actually listening
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to what he had to say,
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that the Ninevites were doing
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all that they could
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to flee from the wrath of God
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for their disobedience to him,
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displeased Jonah exceedingly.
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And we see in this
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that Jonah's obedience
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was not rightly motivated.
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He's gone through this epic adventure
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of sailing on a ship
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and getting tossed overboard
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and swallowed up by a great fish
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for three days
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and vomited back up onto a beach
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and journeying across a desert.
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And he does the thing
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that God has asked him to do
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in the preaching of judgment,
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but he does not do it rightly.
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He doesn't walk in
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to the city of Nineveh
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hoping for their repentance.
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In fact, it would seem
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that what he's really hoping for
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is their destruction.
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I'm going to go and preach
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the destruction of God
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and I hope that's how it turns out.
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You see, the Assyrians
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were evil people.
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There's a prophecy,
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a judgment cried out to them.
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I've read to you the last two weeks,
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but I just want to highlight this once again
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and in a little bit of a way,
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I'm kind of getting in Jonah's corner on this
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because these people
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were the enemies of Israel.
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They had done atrocious things in the past
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and they still would do atrocious things
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to Jewish peoples.
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I think the very similar cross-reference
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for us today would be ISIS
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and the way that ISIS is going after
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Christian populations so heavily.
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So if you can imagine that
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as you're thinking about
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who these people are
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that he's going to preach to.
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Nahum 3, 1-4 says,
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Woe to the bloody city.
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Talking about Nineveh.
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All full of lies and plunder.
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No end to the prey.
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The crack of the whip
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and the rumble of the wheel.
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Galloping horse and bounding chariot.
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Horsemen charging,
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flashing sword and glittering spears.
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Hosts of slain.
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Heaps of corpses.
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Dead bodies without end.
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They stumble over the bodies.
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And listen to the why
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that they're doing this thing.
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That they're so viciously brutal.
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And all for the countless whorings
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of the prostitute.
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Graceful and of deadly charms.
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Who betrays nations with her whorings
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and peoples with her charms.
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Right?
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They're violent because of sex.
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A wicked, wicked people.
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But it would seem that Jonah
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has misplaced the very character of God
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and His mercy.
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It would seem that he's forgotten
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that God was merciful to him.
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All the same, in his wickedness,
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being called by God to go
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and preach a message,
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he flips and goes the other direction
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and flees from the presence of the Lord.
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And yet, God shows him
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this great measure of mercy.
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Beloved, our God is a gracious God.
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He is merciful.
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If we are in Christ,
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He has been abundantly,
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aboundingly merciful to us.
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And I think we too often forget that.
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In some way,
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we begin to believe
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that we deserve God's grace to us.
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And deserve grace ceases to be grace altogether.
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We were the Ninevites.
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It seems that as Jonah repents
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and is spit out on the shore,
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and it makes this long journey
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he would have had to make to Nineveh,
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that the desert crossing
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dried up his affection for God.
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Jonah obeyed God.
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This is of great importance.
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Good for Jonah.
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He obeyed God.
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The repentance of the Ninevites come
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as a result of God using Jonah's preaching.
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His obedience was important,
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but God wants not only our obedience,
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but He wants us.
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He wants all of us.
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He doesn't want us just to immediately
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go through the motions
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of doing the things
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that we're supposed to do.
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He wants us to do those things
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because we have a heart for Him.
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Because those things are meant to be
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acts of worship for Him.
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We are not to be concerned
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with the appropriateness
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or the inappropriateness
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of the outcome of our obedience.
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We are to be concerned
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with the obedience
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and our trust
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in God's good and merciful purpose.
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We are to go and share
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the good news of Jesus Christ.
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The destruction of God
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being the bad news.
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The good news of Jesus Christ.
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That there's a way back to God.
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There's a way to avoid that destruction.
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There's a way to be saved
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from the wrath to come.
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This is a command given to all believers.
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It's not reserved for a few.
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It's not reserved for the trained professional.
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It's for all of us to go
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and to do this thing
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and to trust God with the result.
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To go where we're called to go.
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To preach the good news.
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And to do so in a desire to honor Him.
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To bring glory to His name.
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To praise Him amongst the peoples.
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And then God will do what He will do
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with our obedience.
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Now in Jonah's sinful anger
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he did three things that we should note
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and we should filter our own thinking through.
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Firstly, Jonah tried to justify
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his previous action.
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Look in verse 2.
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He prayed to the Lord and said,
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Oh Lord, is not this what I said
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when I was yet in my country?
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That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.
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For I knew that you were a gracious God,
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merciful, slow to anger,
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and abounding in steadfast love,
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and relenting from disaster.
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He says to God,
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See, that's why I didn't want to come.
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I was right in what I did before.
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Because the very thing that I feared would happen,
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the repentance of the Ninevites,
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has happened.
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So he starts to try to justify it.
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And when we walk in sin,
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we always think that we're right.
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And we will not be convinced otherwise.
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Do you know people that are like this?
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You do if you know me.
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I'm so often this way,
23:24
so convinced that I'm right
23:25
in the way that I should walk.
23:28
I need God's intervention in my life
23:30
to show me otherwise.
23:32
We become the standard of what is right and true.
23:36
And this is such a dangerous,
23:37
dangerous thing.
23:39
Try to justify our actions.
23:42
There's such a great deal of value
23:44
in self-awareness.
23:47
And I will tell you that as you mature as a Christian,
23:50
you will begin to trust yourself less.
23:54
You'll begin to understand
23:55
just how deceptively wicked
23:57
your heart can be.
24:01
Praise God that I am not
24:03
the standard of what is right and true.
24:06
When I talk to professing believers
24:08
who don't believe in the inerrancy
24:11
and the sufficiency of Scripture,
24:13
it frightens me.
24:15
Because if I can't believe that God's Word
24:17
is completely true
24:18
and that it is enough
24:19
to teach me how it is
24:21
that I should walk
24:22
all of it
24:23
in its completion,
24:25
then suddenly I become the standard.
24:27
What a scary thing.
24:29
If you've not found yourself in that place yet,
24:31
it's coming.
24:33
Just live life a little while longer.
24:35
I can remember being in my late 20s
24:38
and thinking that I had a lot figured out.
24:41
I thought,
24:41
I kind of got this life thing sorted out.
24:44
And then I had kids
24:45
and I realized that I didn't know anything
24:48
about anything.
24:50
And that's still where I'm at today.
24:51
I think I'm beginning to learn
24:53
some of the things that I should learn.
24:55
But right now I know nothing.
24:58
And so I have to go to the Scripture, right,
25:00
for the way to live rightly.
25:02
I've got to be here
25:03
that I might walk in the way
25:05
that pleases God.
25:06
Jonah tried to justify his previous actions.
25:08
Secondly,
25:09
Jonah tried to use Scripture against God.
25:13
Now this is a bit subtle,
25:15
but I want to show you what I mean
25:16
and I want to show you the danger of this.
25:19
Right?
25:19
So in verses 2,
25:23
I guess it's just 2, isn't it?
25:25
Yep.
25:26
Just in verse 2,
25:28
he quotes loosely
25:29
from Exodus 34, 6, and 7.
25:35
The Lord passed before him
25:36
and proclaimed.
25:38
This is when God hides Moses
25:40
in the cleft of the rock
25:41
and lets his glory pass,
25:43
lets him see the back of God.
25:46
Passed before him and proclaimed,
25:48
I am the Lord, the Lord,
25:50
a God merciful and gracious,
25:53
slow to anger and abounding
25:55
in steadfast love and faithfulness,
25:58
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
26:01
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
26:06
You see that loose quotation of that
26:08
in 4.2 of the book of Jonah.
26:12
Let me read to you the rest of verse 7
26:15
from Exodus 34.
26:16
But who will by no means clear the guilty,
26:21
visiting the iniquity of the fathers
26:23
on the children and the children's children
26:26
to the third and the fourth generation.
26:30
So God is this God
26:32
abounding in steadfast love,
26:35
keeping this love for thousands,
26:37
for a multitude,
26:39
forgiving iniquity and transgression of sin,
26:41
but also storing up wrath,
26:45
and visiting wrath on those who are guilty.
26:50
You see that Jonah didn't believe
26:51
that the Ninevites should be recipients
26:53
of the first part of Exodus 34, 6, and 7,
26:58
but rather he preferred the second part of it.
27:04
He saw himself as the arbiter
27:07
of God's merciful character.
27:10
He goes preaching this judgment that will come,
27:14
and it's as if he says,
27:16
had I not preached your judgment,
27:18
then you would not have had to act
27:20
according to your mercy.
27:22
If I hadn't said it,
27:23
you wouldn't have had to do it.
27:25
The Ninevites shouldn't receive your mercy,
27:26
therefore I was right in fleeing to Tarshish.
27:31
He leverages God's character against him
27:34
to try to justify his activity.
27:38
Can you think of another attempt in the Scripture
27:40
to do the same,
27:42
to pick up the Scripture and use it in a way
27:45
that it's not meant to be used?
27:48
Matthew 4,
27:50
Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness
27:52
where Satan tempts him.
27:54
And Satan uses the Word of God to tempt him.
27:58
He warps it to meet his purposes.
28:02
And Jesus so brilliantly responds with Scripture
28:07
and a right understanding of it.
28:10
And in this way,
28:12
Jonah acts as a progeny of Satan.
28:17
You can see this as an offspring of Satan,
28:20
using the Scripture to meet his ends,
28:23
to find the justification
28:24
for why he didn't want to preach
28:26
to the Ninevites.
28:29
This happens all the time
28:32
in Christian circles.
28:34
How have you used the Scripture
28:36
to justify your own position?
28:40
The Scripture is not a neutral thing
28:42
that you pick up
28:44
and you make your case from it.
28:46
This is God's Word.
28:49
God condescending
28:50
to become an author
28:52
through the hands of many men
28:54
across many, many years
28:56
to tell us something.
28:59
And we too often stand over it
29:01
in judgment of it
29:02
rather than being under it.
29:04
Humble.
29:05
God has spoken.
29:05
What has He said?
29:08
Let me give you an example.
29:10
Turn to Matthew 7.
29:11
Mark Jonah for me.
29:13
We're going to go back into it.
29:14
But turn to Matthew 7.
29:23
There are many common examples
29:25
of this being done.
29:28
Jeremiah 29 11.
29:30
Amen?
29:31
Those of you know
29:31
what I'm talking about?
29:33
Misused.
29:34
All the time.
29:35
All the time.
29:36
You walk into somebody's church building
29:38
in the southeast,
29:39
and Jeremiah 29 11 is on the wall,
29:41
and walk back out.
29:44
Okay?
29:45
Because they don't understand the Bible
29:46
and they don't use it properly.
29:49
I'm going to use
29:50
a less controversial example.
29:52
Take my foot out of my mouth.
29:53
All right.
29:55
Matthew chapter 27.
29:56
It's the end of the Sermon on the Mount,
29:57
verses 24 through 27.
29:59
Everyone then who hears
30:00
these words of mine
30:01
and does them
30:02
will be like a wise man
30:03
who built his house
30:04
on the rock.
30:06
And the rain fell
30:07
and the floods came
30:08
and the winds blew
30:09
and beat on that house,
30:10
but it did not fall
30:10
because it had been founded
30:12
on the rock.
30:13
And everyone who hears
30:14
these words of mine
30:15
and does not do them
30:17
will be like a foolish man
30:18
who built his house
30:19
on the sand.
30:21
And the rain fell
30:22
and the floods came
30:23
and the winds blew
30:25
and beat against that house
30:26
and it fell
30:27
and great
30:28
was the fall of it.
30:31
I have heard
30:32
countless
30:33
people use this.
30:35
I have heard
30:36
many sermons
30:37
using this text
30:38
to talk about
30:39
if you found
30:41
your life
30:42
on Christ
30:42
that your life
30:43
will be really good.
30:46
There's this
30:47
subversive
30:48
prosperity gospel
30:49
being taught
30:50
in so many places.
30:53
This morning
30:53
being taught
30:54
in so many places
30:55
that says,
30:57
hey,
30:57
we're Americans,
30:57
we've got a pretty good life.
30:58
If you add Jesus to it,
31:00
it's going to get
31:00
a little better.
31:02
Texts like this
31:03
being used for that.
31:05
The beginning
31:06
of verse 24
31:06
says,
31:08
everyone then
31:08
who hears
31:09
these words
31:11
of mine
31:12
and does them.
31:15
Here's this
31:16
preaching of the gospel
31:17
from the Sermon
31:18
on the Mount
31:19
which ends
31:20
just before this
31:21
with a number
31:22
of warnings
31:23
about final judgment.
31:25
This is not about
31:26
good happy life
31:27
that Jesus is talking
31:28
about here.
31:30
This is about
31:31
where does your
31:33
foundation sit?
31:35
In this day
31:36
they would have had
31:36
to dig down
31:37
through layers
31:38
and layers
31:38
and layers
31:38
of sand
31:39
to hit bedrock.
31:40
It was a lot
31:41
more work
31:42
to do that.
31:44
He's saying
31:44
that the Christian
31:45
life is a life
31:45
of sacrifice,
31:46
of following
31:47
Jesus Christ
31:48
so that
31:48
in the final day
31:50
the house
31:51
stands.
31:53
This is not
31:54
about
31:54
some version
31:56
of kumbaya
31:57
that Jesus
31:59
gives to us.
32:01
A gospel
32:02
preached here,
32:03
a text used here
32:04
in a way
32:04
that can't
32:05
apply everywhere
32:05
in the world
32:06
is being taught
32:07
improperly.
32:08
So many places
32:09
in the world
32:10
if we did this
32:11
on a Sunday
32:12
morning
32:13
we would be
32:14
gathered up
32:15
as we left
32:16
this place
32:16
and jailed
32:17
or beaten.
32:19
This is not
32:20
consistent.
32:21
Right?
32:22
Your earthly
32:23
life could get
32:24
worse by following
32:25
Jesus Christ.
32:26
It could become
32:27
miserable
32:28
in human terms.
32:30
but we have
32:32
Jesus.
32:34
We have
32:35
eternal joy.
32:36
We're looking
32:36
to the reward.
32:39
So we use
32:40
Scripture in this
32:41
way
32:41
quite often.
32:44
I tremble
32:45
that I do it
32:46
sometimes.
32:48
I pray
32:49
that I don't.
32:51
Your job
32:51
as the congregation
32:52
to hold me
32:52
accountable.
32:53
If I begin
32:53
to do that
32:54
I begin
32:56
to use
32:57
the Scripture
32:58
to justify
32:58
some opinion
33:00
that I have
33:00
or some
33:01
behavior
33:02
that I do
33:03
oh charge
33:05
me with it
33:05
please.
33:08
We're meant
33:09
to exegete
33:11
the Bible.
33:12
We're meant
33:12
to see what
33:13
the Scripture
33:13
says.
33:14
What does
33:14
the Bible
33:15
say?
33:16
What is it
33:17
communicating?
33:17
What does
33:18
the text
33:18
mean?
33:19
And how does
33:19
it change
33:20
the way I
33:21
live?
33:21
We're not
33:21
meant to
33:22
eisegete
33:22
or read
33:22
into it
33:23
the things
33:24
we want
33:24
read into
33:26
it.
33:28
We are
33:29
to read
33:29
the Bible
33:30
in order
33:31
for it
33:31
to read
33:32
us.
33:34
Proverbs
33:34
18.2
33:35
speaks of
33:37
us so
33:37
often
33:38
and of
33:38
Jonah
33:39
here
33:39
says a
33:40
fool
33:40
takes no
33:42
pleasure
33:42
in understanding
33:43
but only
33:44
in expressing
33:45
his opinion.
33:48
I on
33:49
Sunday
33:49
mornings
33:50
have
33:50
nothing
33:51
to say
33:52
to you
33:52
if I
33:53
don't have
33:53
the Scripture.
33:54
I mean
33:55
I gotta
33:55
just pat
33:56
them on
33:57
the back
33:57
the men
33:57
that can
33:58
get up
33:58
and preach
33:58
and just
33:59
talk
33:59
and talk
34:00
and talk
34:00
and talk
34:01
and say
34:01
nothing
34:02
from the
34:02
Bible.
34:03
How do
34:03
they have
34:03
so much
34:04
to say?
34:07
If
34:07
my Scripture
34:08
was to be
34:10
a couple
34:11
of verses
34:11
that are
34:12
going to
34:12
get displayed
34:13
on a screen
34:13
when it's
34:14
convenient
34:14
for what
34:15
I'm trying
34:15
to say
34:16
to you
34:16
I would
34:18
clam up
34:18
and run
34:19
off the
34:19
stage
34:19
every Sunday
34:20
morning.
34:20
the Word
34:22
of God
34:23
is powerful
34:24
and it
34:25
speaks
34:25
and it
34:26
moves
34:26
and it
34:27
works
34:27
in us
34:28
if we
34:29
pick it
34:29
up
34:29
rightly.
34:31
Don't
34:31
use the
34:31
Word of
34:32
God
34:32
to justify
34:33
your behavior.
34:35
And then
34:35
thirdly
34:35
Jonah wished
34:36
he were
34:37
dead.
34:37
I just
34:37
want to
34:37
point out
34:38
that he
34:38
is a bit
34:40
ironically
34:40
he wished
34:41
he was
34:42
dead
34:42
earlier.
34:42
He was
34:42
asked to
34:43
be thrown
34:43
overboard
34:44
into the
34:44
sea.
34:45
He's
34:45
fleeing from
34:45
the presence
34:45
of God.
34:46
Just throw
34:46
me into
34:47
the sea.
34:47
I might
34:48
as well
34:49
die here.
34:50
Here's
34:51
saying
34:51
verse 3
34:51
Therefore
34:51
now
34:52
Lord
34:52
please
34:52
take
34:53
my
34:53
life
34:53
from
34:54
me.
34:54
God
34:55
has
34:55
just
34:55
preserved
34:55
his
34:56
life
34:56
and
34:56
saved
34:57
him
34:57
in
34:57
this
34:57
most
34:57
remarkable
34:58
way
34:58
for it
34:59
is
34:59
better
34:59
for me
34:59
to
34:59
die
35:00
than
35:00
to
35:01
live.
35:01
He
35:01
is
35:01
so
35:02
angry.
35:03
He
35:03
is
35:03
so
35:03
extremely
35:04
dissatisfied
35:05
with the
35:06
repentance
35:06
of the
35:07
Ninevites
35:08
that he
35:08
just
35:08
wants
35:09
to be
35:10
dead.
35:13
So
35:13
that's
35:14
the sin
35:14
of Jonah's
35:14
regret.
35:15
Let's
35:16
look at
35:16
God's
35:16
merciful
35:17
response.
35:20
Never
35:20
fear,
35:21
we're
35:21
more than
35:21
halfway
35:21
there.
35:22
God's
35:23
merciful
35:23
response.
35:25
God
35:25
asked
35:25
Jonah
35:26
three
35:27
questions
35:28
beginning
35:29
in
35:29
verse 4
35:30
the first
35:30
question
35:31
and the
35:31
Lord
35:31
said
35:32
do
35:33
you
35:33
do
35:34
well
35:34
to
35:36
be
35:36
angry?
35:37
And
35:37
it
35:37
seems
35:37
to
35:37
be
35:37
a
35:37
rhetorical
35:38
question.
35:38
We
35:38
don't
35:38
have
35:39
a
35:39
vocal
35:40
recorded
35:41
response
35:42
to this
35:43
question
35:43
in the
35:44
text.
35:44
God
35:46
is
35:46
saying
35:47
as he
35:47
asks
35:47
this
35:48
question
35:48
we
35:50
are
35:50
both
35:50
looking
35:50
at
35:50
the
35:51
same
35:51
situation
35:51
you
35:52
and
35:52
I
35:52
Jonah
35:52
but
35:54
we're
35:54
looking
35:54
at it
35:54
in two
35:54
very
35:55
different
35:55
ways.
35:57
Who
35:57
has
35:58
the
35:58
correct
35:58
perspective?
36:01
Is the
36:01
correct
36:02
perspective
36:02
the one
36:02
of the
36:03
prophet
36:03
of God
36:03
or
36:03
of
36:04
God
36:05
himself?
36:07
Do
36:07
you
36:07
do
36:07
well
36:08
to
36:09
be
36:09
angry
36:10
with
36:10
the
36:10
purpose
36:11
of
36:11
God
36:11
in
36:12
your
36:12
life?
36:14
Jonah
36:14
should
36:15
have
36:15
had
36:15
the
36:15
mind
36:15
of
36:16
Paul
36:16
in
36:16
Romans
36:16
3
36:17
4
36:17
he
36:17
says
36:17
let
36:17
God
36:18
be
36:18
true
36:18
though
36:19
everyone
36:20
were
36:21
a
36:21
liar.
36:23
We
36:23
get
36:24
some
36:24
response
36:24
to
36:25
the
36:25
question
36:25
not
36:25
vocally
36:26
but
36:27
in
36:27
verse
36:27
5
36:28
it
36:28
says
36:28
he's
36:29
in
36:29
the
36:29
city
36:29
and
36:30
he
36:30
has
36:31
this
36:31
temper
36:32
tantrum
36:32
first
36:33
few
36:33
verses
36:34
God
36:35
asked
36:36
him
36:36
the
36:36
question
36:36
do
36:37
you
36:37
do
36:37
well
36:37
to
36:38
be
36:39
angry?
36:40
And
36:40
verse
36:41
5
36:41
says
36:41
Jonah
36:41
went
36:41
out
36:42
of
36:42
the
36:42
city
36:42
I
36:42
imagine
36:43
that
36:43
he
36:43
huffed
36:44
out
36:45
of
36:45
the
36:45
city
36:45
and
36:47
he
36:47
walked
36:47
out
36:47
of
36:47
the
36:48
city
36:48
and
36:49
he
36:49
sat
36:49
to
36:49
the
36:49
east
36:50
of
36:50
the
36:50
city
36:50
and
36:50
made
36:50
a
36:51
booth
36:51
for
36:51
himself
36:51
there
36:51
now
36:52
a
36:52
booth
36:52
would
36:52
have
36:52
just
36:52
been
36:52
a
36:53
crude
36:53
structure
36:54
it
36:54
wouldn't
36:54
have
36:54
been
36:54
anything
36:54
fancy
36:55
maybe
36:55
sticks
36:56
maybe
36:56
a
36:57
bit
36:57
of
36:57
tunic
36:58
or
36:58
something
36:58
that
36:59
he
36:59
was
36:59
able
36:59
to
36:59
hang
36:59
to
37:00
give
37:00
a
37:01
bit
37:01
of
37:02
shade
37:02
obviously
37:02
the
37:02
shade
37:02
isn't
37:03
ample
37:03
because
37:03
God
37:04
brings
37:04
him
37:04
more
37:05
shade
37:05
but
37:06
a
37:06
bit
37:06
of
37:07
shade
37:07
he
37:07
gets
37:08
he
37:08
goes
37:08
out
37:09
he
37:09
sits
37:10
under
37:10
it
37:10
in
37:11
the
37:11
shade
37:11
till
37:12
he
37:12
should
37:12
see
37:13
what
37:13
will
37:14
become
37:14
of
37:15
the
37:15
city
37:15
that
37:16
is
37:16
fascinating
37:16
because
37:17
it
37:17
appears
37:18
that
37:18
he
37:18
still
37:19
wants
37:19
God
37:19
to
37:20
destroy
37:20
the
37:20
city
37:21
of
37:21
Nineveh
37:21
40
37:22
days
37:23
is
37:28
have
37:28
repented
37:29
the
37:31
text
37:31
says
37:31
that
37:31
God
37:32
relented
37:32
of
37:33
the
37:33
disaster
37:34
Jonah
37:34
may
37:35
not
37:35
have
37:35
known
37:35
this
37:35
at
37:35
the
37:36
time
37:36
he
37:37
marches
37:37
out
37:37
of
37:38
the
37:38
city
37:38
and
37:38
he
37:38
sits
37:39
up
37:39
on
37:39
the
37:40
hill
37:40
to
37:40
see
37:41
what's
37:41
going
37:42
to
37:42
happen
37:42
to
37:43
the
37:43
city
37:44
and
37:45
in
37:45
so
37:45
doing
37:46
he
37:46
errs
37:46
in
37:46
three
37:47
ways
37:47
first
37:47
he
37:48
quits
37:49
sharing
37:50
God's
37:51
word
37:51
here
37:52
are
37:53
these
37:53
people
37:53
that
37:53
have
37:53
just
37:54
repented
37:54
!
37:54
They
37:54
just
37:55
turned
37:55
from
37:55
their
37:55
sin
37:56
and
37:57
he
37:57
is
37:57
peacing
37:57
out
37:57
right
37:58
Jonah
37:59
could
37:59
have
37:59
been
37:59
the
38:00
great
38:00
pastor
38:01
of
38:01
the
38:02
city
38:02
of
38:02
Nineveh
38:02
part
38:05
of
38:05
the
38:05
largest
38:06
revival
38:06
in
38:06
history
38:07
the
38:08
first
38:09
great
38:09
megachurch
38:10
and
38:11
he
38:11
marches
38:11
out
38:11
of
38:11
the
38:12
city
38:12
his
38:14
message
38:14
seems
38:15
to
38:15
end
38:15
with
38:15
yet
38:16
forty
38:16
days
38:16
and
38:17
Nineveh
38:17
shall
38:17
be
38:17
overthrown
38:18
and
38:20
quits
38:20
secondly
38:22
he
38:23
builds
38:23
a
38:23
booth
38:24
or
38:24
you
38:24
can
38:24
think
38:24
of
38:24
it
38:24
as
38:25
a
38:25
private
38:26
retreat
38:27
a
38:27
place
38:27
of
38:27
shelter
38:28
and
38:28
there
38:28
was
38:28
plenty
38:28
of
38:28
shelter
38:29
to be
38:29
found
38:29
in
38:29
this
38:30
three
38:30
day
38:30
wide
38:31
city
38:32
and
38:32
its
38:32
surrounding
38:33
suburbs
38:34
Jonah
38:35
kind of
38:36
seems
38:36
to
38:36
launch
38:37
a
38:37
separatist
38:38
movement
38:38
there's a
38:40
whole
38:40
city
38:40
of
38:40
people
38:40
who
38:41
have
38:41
said
38:42
we
38:42
want
38:42
to
38:42
follow
38:43
the
38:43
one
38:43
true
38:43
God
38:43
we
38:44
want
38:44
to
38:44
turn
38:44
from
38:44
evil
38:44
ways
38:45
look
38:45
we're
38:45
repenting
38:46
sackcloth
38:46
ashes
38:47
all of
38:47
that
38:47
like
38:48
we
38:48
really
38:48
want
38:48
to
38:48
follow
38:48
this
38:49
God
38:49
and
38:49
he
38:49
goes
38:50
nope
38:50
I've
38:51
got
38:51
other
38:51
ideas
38:51
a
38:52
different
38:52
denomination
38:53
one
38:54
that
38:54
will
38:54
destroy
38:54
you
38:55
for
38:55
sure
38:56
he
38:57
builds
38:57
a
38:57
booth
38:58
and
39:00
thirdly
39:00
he
39:00
becomes
39:00
a
39:01
spectator
39:01
he
39:02
ceases
39:02
to
39:02
be
39:02
involved
39:03
in
39:03
the
39:03
things
39:04
that
39:04
are
39:04
happening
39:04
there
39:05
do
39:06
you
39:07
do
39:07
well
39:07
to
39:08
be
39:09
angry
39:09
now
39:11
there's
39:11
a
39:11
second
39:11
question
39:12
before
39:13
God
39:13
asks
39:13
the
39:14
question
39:14
he
39:14
creates
39:15
a
39:15
scenario
39:15
to
39:16
prepare
39:16
Jonah
39:17
for
39:17
the
39:17
very
39:18
question
39:18
that
39:19
he
39:19
asks
39:20
in
39:20
verse
39:20
six
39:21
the
39:22
Lord
39:22
appointed
39:23
a
39:23
plant
39:23
and
39:23
made
39:23
it
39:24
come
39:24
up
39:24
over
39:25
Jonah
39:26
so
39:26
it's
39:26
a
39:26
very
39:26
rapidly
39:27
growing
39:27
plant
39:28
God
39:29
says
39:29
later
39:30
that
39:30
this
39:30
plant
39:31
was
39:32
made
39:32
in a
39:32
day
39:33
and
39:33
destroyed
39:33
in a
39:33
day
39:33
if I'm
39:34
getting
39:34
that
39:34
right
39:34
it
39:36
doesn't
39:37
matter
39:37
it
39:37
came
39:37
up
39:38
very
39:38
quickly
39:38
that
39:39
it
39:40
might
39:40
shade
39:40
over
39:40
his
39:40
head
39:40
to
39:41
save
39:41
him
39:41
from
39:42
his
39:42
discomfort
39:43
and
39:44
we
39:44
get
39:44
the
39:44
first
39:45
little
39:45
glimpse
39:49
four
39:49
so
39:50
Jonah
39:51
was
39:51
exceedingly
39:52
glad
39:53
because
39:54
of the
39:55
plant
39:55
miserable
39:56
prophet
39:58
the
39:59
preacher
40:00
of
40:00
potentially
40:01
the
40:01
greatest
40:01
revival
40:02
in all
40:02
history
40:03
is
40:04
really
40:04
glad
40:05
for the
40:06
plant
40:06
and it
40:07
just
40:07
highlights
40:08
the
40:08
extremity
40:09
of
40:10
Jonah's
40:11
selfishness
40:12
here's
40:13
an
40:13
entire
40:14
city
40:14
turning
40:15
their
40:15
hearts
40:16
toward
40:16
God
40:17
and he
40:17
is
40:17
happy
40:18
he's
40:18
got
40:18
a
40:19
little
40:19
shade
40:19
when
40:22
dawn
40:22
came
40:22
up
40:23
the
40:23
next
40:23
day
40:23
verse
40:23
seven
40:24
God
40:24
appointed
40:24
a worm
40:25
that
40:25
attacked
40:25
the
40:25
plant
40:26
so
40:26
that
40:26
it
40:26
withered
40:26
when
40:27
the
40:28
sun
40:28
rose
40:28
God
40:28
appointed
40:28
a
40:29
scorching
40:29
east
40:29
wind
40:30
coming
40:31
across
40:31
the
40:31
desert
40:32
hot
40:33
wind
40:34
and
40:34
the
40:34
sun
40:34
beat
40:34
down
40:35
on
40:35
the
40:35
head
40:35
of
40:35
Jonah
40:35
so
40:35
that
40:35
he
40:36
was
40:36
faint
40:36
and
40:37
he
40:37
asked
40:37
that
40:37
he
40:37
might
40:38
die
40:38
and
40:38
said
40:39
again
40:39
he's
40:39
asking
40:39
for
40:40
death
40:40
is it
40:41
better
40:41
it is
40:41
better
40:42
for me
40:42
to die
40:43
than
40:43
to live
40:43
but
40:44
God
40:44
said
40:44
to
40:45
Jonah
40:45
do
40:46
you
40:46
do
40:46
well
40:47
to
40:47
be
40:47
angry
40:48
for
40:48
the
40:48
plant
40:49
or
40:49
do
40:49
you
40:49
do
40:49
well
40:49
to
40:50
be
40:50
angry
40:50
that
40:50
the
40:50
plant
40:51
was
40:51
destroyed
40:52
and
40:52
he
40:52
says
40:53
yes
40:55
I
40:56
do
40:56
well
40:56
to
40:57
be
40:57
angry
40:57
angry
40:58
enough
40:58
to
40:58
die
40:58
!
41:03
And
41:03
anger
41:04
we saw
41:05
at the
41:05
beginning
41:05
of chapter
41:05
four
41:06
he's
41:06
angry
41:07
at
41:07
God
41:07
he's
41:08
angry
41:08
at
41:08
the
41:09
mercies
41:09
that
41:10
God's
41:10
working
41:10
amongst
41:11
the
41:11
Ninevites
41:12
anger
41:12
so often
41:13
takes
41:13
this
41:14
type
41:14
of
41:14
diminishing
41:15
form
41:16
it's
41:17
foolishness
41:18
that he
41:18
would be
41:18
angry
41:18
over
41:19
this
41:19
plant
41:20
he
41:20
moves
41:20
from
41:21
angry
41:21
at
41:21
God
41:21
to
41:22
angry
41:22
at
41:22
the
41:22
death
41:23
of
41:23
a
41:23
plant
41:24
almost
41:25
as a
41:26
side
41:26
note
41:26
if we
41:26
are
41:27
angry
41:27
by
41:27
nature
41:28
the
41:28
very
41:28
littlest
41:29
things
41:29
set
41:30
us
41:30
off
41:31
James
41:32
Montgomery
41:32
Boyce
41:33
wrote in
41:34
his
41:34
commentary
41:34
on this
41:35
chapter
41:35
first we
41:36
are angry
41:36
with
41:37
God
41:37
next we
41:38
express
41:38
our
41:38
anger
41:39
at
41:39
circumstances
41:40
then
41:40
minor
41:41
circumstances
41:42
finally
41:43
our
41:43
shoelace
41:44
breaks
41:44
one
41:44
morning
41:45
and we
41:45
find
41:45
ourselves
41:46
swearing
41:47
the way
41:48
his
41:48
anger
41:49
just
41:50
is he's
41:50
so
41:51
frustrated
41:51
in general
41:53
that he's
41:53
mad that
41:54
this plant
41:55
that gave
41:55
him shade
41:55
for a
41:55
day
41:56
is now
41:57
withered
41:57
and gone
41:58
and then
41:59
verse
41:59
10
42:00
and the
42:01
Lord
42:01
said
42:01
you pity
42:03
the plant
42:03
for which
42:04
you did
42:05
not labor
42:05
nor did
42:06
you make
42:07
it grow
42:07
it was
42:07
just
42:08
there
42:08
which
42:09
came
42:09
into
42:09
being
42:10
in a
42:10
night
42:11
and
42:11
perished
42:12
in a
42:12
night
42:13
there
42:13
it is
42:13
and the
42:15
last
42:16
question
42:16
the third
42:17
question
42:17
and should
42:18
I
42:19
should
42:19
not
42:19
I
42:20
pity
42:21
Nineveh
42:22
that
42:23
great
42:23
city
42:24
in which
42:24
there
42:24
are
42:24
more
42:24
than
42:24
120
42:25
thousand
42:26
persons
42:26
who
42:26
do
42:26
not
42:26
know
42:27
their
42:27
right
42:27
hand
42:27
from
42:28
their
42:29
left
42:29
and
42:29
also
42:29
much
42:30
cattle
42:30
and
42:31
I
42:31
believe
42:31
what
42:31
he's
42:32
expressing
42:33
here
42:33
is this
42:33
vast
42:34
vast
42:35
number
42:35
of
42:36
people
42:36
and
42:37
God
42:37
saying
42:37
shouldn't
42:38
we
42:38
at
42:38
very
42:39
least
42:39
pity
42:40
the
42:41
cattle
42:41
and
42:42
not
42:42
destroy
42:43
all
42:43
of
42:43
them
42:43
and
42:44
not
42:44
destroy
42:44
all
42:44
the
42:44
little
42:44
children
42:45
the
42:45
ones
42:45
that
42:46
can't
42:46
differentiate
42:46
right
42:47
from
42:47
left
42:48
yet
42:48
so
42:49
he's
42:49
speaking
42:50
to
42:50
the
42:50
scope
42:50
of
42:51
the
42:51
city
42:51
but
42:51
he's
42:51
also
42:51
simply
42:52
just
42:52
saying
42:52
should
42:53
we
42:53
not
42:53
have
42:57
least
42:58
of
42:59
the
42:59
offenders
42:59
in
43:00
all
43:01
of
43:01
this
43:01
and
43:04
he
43:04
just
43:04
leaves
43:04
it
43:04
hanging
43:05
it's
43:05
such
43:05
an
43:05
interesting
43:05
story
43:05
in
43:06
that
43:06
way
43:06
you
43:06
want
43:06
to
43:06
know
43:07
you
43:07
want
43:07
to
43:07
hope
43:08
Bob
43:10
and
43:10
I
43:10
this
43:10
morning
43:10
were
43:10
talking
43:11
about
43:11
what
43:11
may
43:11
have
43:12
happened
43:12
to
43:12
Jonah
43:12
did
43:12
Jonah
43:13
stay
43:13
on
43:13
Nineveh
43:14
wasn't
43:14
destroyed
43:15
obviously
43:15
did
43:16
Jonah
43:17
stay
43:17
on
43:17
and
43:18
begin
43:18
to
43:18
help
43:18
and
43:18
to
43:19
lead
43:19
I
43:20
hope
43:20
so
43:20
doesn't
43:22
seem
43:22
to
43:22
be
43:22
the
43:22
point
43:22
of
43:22
the
43:23
story
43:23
though
43:23
it
43:23
seemed
43:24
to
43:24
see
43:25
Jonah
43:26
as
43:26
the
43:27
whiny
43:27
prophet
43:28
I
43:30
think
43:30
in
43:30
so
43:30
many
43:31
ways
43:31
it
43:31
becomes
43:31
distracting
43:32
to
43:32
the
43:32
main
43:32
point
43:32
that
43:33
it's
43:33
primarily
43:33
a
43:33
story
43:34
of
43:34
a
43:35
merciful
43:35
God
43:35
who
43:36
is
43:36
working
43:37
his
43:37
purpose
43:38
through
43:39
feeble
43:39
people
43:39
so
43:41
as we
43:42
relate
43:42
to
43:42
Jonah
43:43
we
43:43
can
43:43
take
43:43
a
43:43
great
43:44
deal
43:44
of
43:44
comfort
43:44
in
43:44
the
43:44
fact
43:45
that
43:45
God
43:45
works
43:45
his
43:47
certain
43:48
promises
43:48
to
43:49
his
43:49
church
43:50
through
43:50
the
43:50
work
43:51
of
43:51
feeble
43:52
people
43:53
so
43:55
many
43:55
of
43:56
us
43:56
this
43:56
congregation
43:57
who
43:59
hold
43:59
a
43:59
particular
44:00
soteriological
44:03
persuasion
44:03
and if
44:04
you don't
44:04
know what
44:04
that means
44:05
that's
44:06
okay
44:06
I'm
44:07
actually
44:07
happy
44:07
that you
44:08
don't
44:08
if
44:09
you
44:09
know
44:09
what
44:09
it
44:09
means
44:10
I'm
44:10
talking
44:10
to
44:10
you
44:10
we
44:12
hold
44:12
a
44:12
particular
44:12
soteriological
44:14
persuasion
44:15
and I
44:16
think
44:16
we
44:17
too
44:17
often
44:17
focus
44:18
our
44:18
thoughts
44:18
on
44:19
the
44:19
judgment
44:19
of
44:20
God
44:20
particularly
44:21
as we
44:22
seem
44:22
to see
44:22
so few
44:23
around
44:23
us
44:24
really
44:24
faithfully
44:25
following
44:25
him
44:26
and for
44:29
me at
44:29
least
44:29
I hope
44:30
for you
44:30
this
44:32
story
44:32
so
44:33
readily
44:33
highlights
44:34
for me
44:34
has really
44:35
caused
44:35
me to
44:35
really
44:36
consider
44:36
the
44:37
mercy
44:37
of
44:38
God
44:38
to
44:39
remember
44:40
that
44:40
he
44:40
is
44:40
abounding
44:41
instead
44:43
fast
44:44
love
44:44
let
44:46
take
44:47
you
44:47
to
44:47
another
44:47
text
44:48
in
44:48
closing
44:48
Matthew
44:50
chapter
44:50
12
44:51
beginning in
45:09
verse 38
45:10
18
45:11
then some
45:12
of the
45:12
scribes
45:13
the
45:13
lawyers
45:15
of the
45:15
day
45:15
and
45:16
pharisees
45:17
this would
45:17
have been
45:17
the religious
45:18
elite
45:19
answered him
45:20
saying
45:21
teacher we
45:22
wish to
45:22
see a
45:23
sign
45:24
from you
45:24
do
45:24
something
45:25
miraculous
45:25
to show
45:26
us that
45:26
what you're
45:27
saying
45:27
is true
45:28
but he
45:29
answered
45:30
them
45:30
an evil
45:32
and adulterous
45:33
generation
45:34
seeks
45:35
for a
45:35
sign
45:36
but no
45:37
sign will
45:37
be given
45:38
to it
45:38
except
45:39
the
45:39
sign
45:39
of
45:40
the
45:40
prophet
45:41
Jonah
45:42
so
45:43
hear
45:44
what I'm
45:44
saying
45:44
to you
45:45
this is
45:45
Jesus
45:45
speaking
45:46
about
45:47
this
45:47
story
45:48
so
45:50
many
45:50
of us
45:51
are
45:51
running
45:51
around
45:52
looking
45:53
for
45:53
a
45:53
calling
45:54
some
45:55
kind
45:55
of
45:55
a
45:56
sign
45:56
to
45:57
turn
45:57
from
45:57
our
45:58
evil
45:58
ways
45:58
and
45:58
turn
45:59
to
45:59
God
45:59
whether
45:59
you're
45:59
outside
46:00
the
46:00
faith
46:00
you've
46:00
never
46:01
placed
46:01
believing
46:01
faith
46:01
in
46:01
Christ
46:02
or
46:02
if
46:02
you
46:02
have
46:02
pay
46:04
attention
46:05
to
46:05
the
46:05
story
46:06
of
46:07
Jonah
46:08
for
46:09
just
46:09
as
46:09
Jonah
46:10
was
46:11
three
46:11
days
46:12
and
46:12
three
46:13
nights
46:13
in
46:14
the
46:14
belly
46:14
of
46:14
the
46:15
great
46:15
fish
46:15
so
46:17
will
46:17
the
46:17
son
46:17
of
46:18
man
46:18
be
46:18
three
46:18
days
46:19
and
46:20
three
46:20
nights
46:21
in
46:21
the
46:21
heart
46:22
of
46:22
the
46:22
earth
46:22
isn't
46:22
that
46:22
fascinating
46:23
that
46:23
Jonah
46:24
is a
46:24
type
46:25
of
46:25
Christ
46:26
Christ
46:26
being
46:26
the
46:27
anti
46:27
type
46:28
this
46:28
prophet
46:29
is
46:30
a
46:30
type
46:30
of
46:31
Christ
46:31
Jesus
46:32
himself
46:32
is
46:32
saying
46:33
that
46:33
right
46:33
here
46:33
the
46:35
men
46:35
of
46:35
Nineveh
46:38
will
46:39
rise
46:40
up
46:40
at
46:40
the
46:40
judgment
46:40
with
46:41
this
46:42
generation
46:42
and
46:43
condemn
46:43
it
46:44
for
46:45
they
46:45
repented
46:45
at
46:46
the
46:46
preaching
46:46
of
46:47
Jonah
46:47
and
46:48
behold
46:48
something
46:49
greater
46:50
than
46:51
Jonah
46:51
is
46:52
here
46:53
the
46:54
men
46:54
of
46:54
Nineveh
46:55
repented
46:55
at
46:55
the
46:55
preaching
46:56
of
46:56
Jonah
46:57
they
46:57
had
46:57
not
46:58
heard
46:58
the
46:59
preaching
46:59
of
47:00
Christ
47:00
something
47:01
greater
47:01
is
47:02
here
47:02
the
47:03
good
47:03
news
47:03
of
47:03
Jesus
47:04
Christ
47:05
the
47:05
person
47:06
of
47:06
Jesus
47:06
Christ
47:08
there
47:09
is
47:09
a
47:10
hymn
47:10
which
47:10
says
47:11
there
47:11
is
47:11
a
47:12
wideness
47:12
in
47:13
God's
47:13
mercy
47:14
like
47:14
the
47:14
wideness
47:15
of
47:16
the
47:16
sea
47:16
I
47:17
like
47:18
that
47:18
line
47:18
we
47:19
can't
47:19
see
47:20
the
47:20
other
47:20
side
47:20
of
47:21
the
47:21
ocean
47:21
you
47:22
can't
47:22
see
47:23
the
47:23
other
47:23
side
47:23
of
47:23
the
47:23
Atlantic
47:24
you
47:24
can't
47:24
see
47:25
the
47:25
other
47:25
side
47:25
of
47:25
it
47:26
and
47:26
so
47:26
to
47:26
think
47:26
in
47:26
those
47:27
terms
47:27
that
47:27
there's
47:28
a
47:28
wideness
47:28
in
47:28
God's
47:29
mercy
47:29
that
47:29
we
47:30
can't
47:30
even
47:30
quite
47:31
fathom
47:32
but
47:32
even
47:32
still
47:33
I
47:33
think
47:33
that
47:33
expression
47:34
falls
47:34
short
47:35
just a
47:35
little
47:35
bit
47:35
it's
47:36
not
47:36
quite
47:36
wide
47:37
enough
47:38
the
47:39
real
47:39
measure
47:40
of
47:40
the
47:40
wideness
47:41
of
47:41
God's
47:41
mercy
47:41
is
47:42
found
47:43
in
47:43
the
47:43
outstretched
47:44
arms
47:44
of
47:44
Jesus
47:45
Christ
47:45
on
47:46
the
47:46
cross
47:47
this
47:48
is
47:48
the
47:48
measure
47:49
of
47:49
the
47:49
effort
47:50
of
47:51
the
47:51
love
47:51
of
47:51
God
47:51
for
47:52
you
47:52
and
47:52
I
47:53
that
47:54
sacrifice
47:54
made
47:55
on
47:56
our
47:56
behalf
47:57
how
47:59
can
47:59
we
48:00
having
48:01
experienced
48:02
the
48:02
love
48:02
and
48:03
mercy
48:03
of
48:03
God
48:04
to
48:04
us
48:04
in
48:05
Jesus
48:05
Christ
48:06
not
48:07
be
48:07
loving
48:08
and
48:08
merciful
48:08
how
48:10
can
48:10
we
48:10
not
48:10
share
48:11
the
48:11
vastness
48:11
of
48:11
God's
48:12
mercy
48:12
with
48:13
others
48:13
why
48:15
should
48:15
we
48:15
not
48:16
with
48:16
all
48:16
the
48:16
strength
48:17
that
48:17
God
48:18
provides
48:19
present
48:20
God's
48:20
love
48:21
to
48:22
the
48:22
world
48:23
this
48:24
is
48:24
the
48:24
natural
48:25
and
48:26
normal
48:26
thing
48:27
to
48:27
do
48:27
in
48:28
response
48:28
to
48:29
the
48:29
truth
48:29
of
48:30
the
48:30
gospel
48:31
what
48:32
is
48:32
stopping
48:33
you
48:33
from
48:34
doing
48:35
that
48:35
draw
48:37
your
48:37
attention
48:37
to
48:37
the
48:38
front
48:38
of
48:38
your
48:38
bulletin
48:39
in
48:39
closing
48:40
I
48:43
don't
48:43
put
48:44
quotations
48:45
from
48:46
famous
48:47
old
48:47
saints
48:47
on
48:47
the
48:48
front
48:48
of
48:48
the
48:48
bulletin
48:48
to
48:49
flex
48:50
the
48:51
fact
48:51
that
48:51
I
48:51
read
48:51
books
48:52
in
48:53
fact
48:54
most
48:54
of
48:54
them
48:54
you'll
48:55
notice
48:55
are
48:55
Spurgeon
48:55
quotes
48:56
because
48:56
my
48:56
wife
48:56
bought
48:57
me
48:57
a
48:57
book
48:57
of
48:57
Spurgeon
48:58
quotes
48:58
and
48:59
I
48:59
can
48:59
go to
48:59
the
48:59
table
48:59
of
49:00
contents
49:00
and
49:00
look
49:01
at
49:01
it
49:01
and
49:01
go
49:01
read
49:01
a
49:01
bunch
49:02
of
49:02
Spurgeon
49:02
quotes
49:02
in
49:03
a
49:03
matter
49:03
of
49:03
moments
49:04
I
49:05
do
49:05
this
49:06
because
49:06
we
49:08
include
49:09
myself
49:09
even
49:10
primarily
49:10
myself
49:10
have
49:10
lost
49:11
a
49:11
mastery
49:11
of
49:11
the
49:11
English
49:12
language
49:12
to
49:13
say
49:13
things
49:14
in
49:14
such
49:14
beautiful
49:14
and
49:15
impactful
49:15
ways
49:16
that
49:16
some
49:16
of
49:16
the
49:16
saints
49:16
of
49:17
old
49:17
did
49:17
I
49:18
also
49:19
do
49:19
it
49:19
because
49:19
I
49:20
want
49:20
to
49:20
be
49:20
reminding
49:21
us
49:21
that
49:21
the
49:22
church
49:22
exists
49:23
as a
49:24
global
49:24
reality
49:25
and also
49:26
exists
49:26
as a
49:26
reality
49:27
through
49:27
time
49:28
our
49:29
brother
49:29
Charles
49:30
Spurgeon
49:30
right
49:31
and we
49:32
have
49:32
access
49:33
to
49:33
them
49:34
to
49:34
their
49:34
minds
49:34
and
49:34
their
49:35
writing
49:35
and
49:35
that's
49:35
such
49:36
a
49:36
beautiful
49:36
thing
49:36
so
49:37
I
49:37
hope
49:37
you
49:37
enjoy
49:38
it
49:38
I
49:38
try
49:38
to
49:39
read
49:39
the
49:39
quote
49:39
and
49:39
have
49:39
it
49:40
there
49:40
for
49:40
you
49:40
so
49:40
you
49:40
!
49:40
so
49:42
listen
49:44
to
49:44
words
49:44
of
49:44
Spurgeon
49:44
ah
49:46
if
49:46
we
49:46
did
49:46
but
49:47
love
49:47
Christ
49:48
better
49:48
my
49:49
brothers
49:49
and
49:49
sisters
49:50
if
49:51
we
49:51
lived
49:51
near
49:52
the
49:52
cross
49:53
if
49:53
we
49:54
knew
49:54
more
49:54
of
49:54
the
49:55
value
49:55
of
49:55
his
49:56
blood
49:56
if
49:57
we
49:57
wept
49:57
like
49:58
him
49:58
over
49:59
Jerusalem
49:59
if
50:00
we
50:00
felt
50:00
more
50:01
what
50:02
it
50:02
was
50:02
for
50:02
souls
50:03
to
50:03
perish
50:03
and
50:04
what
50:04
it
50:04
was
50:04
for
50:05
men
50:05
to
50:06
be
50:06
saved
50:07
if
50:07
we
50:08
did
50:08
but
50:08
rejoice
50:08
with
50:09
Christ
50:09
in
50:09
the
50:09
prospect
50:10
of
50:10
seeing
50:11
the
50:11
travail
50:14
and
50:14
being
50:14
abundantly
50:15
satisfied
50:16
if
50:16
we
50:17
did
50:17
but
50:17
delight
50:17
more
50:18
in
50:18
the
50:18
divine
50:19
decree
50:19
that
50:20
the
50:20
kingdoms
50:20
of
50:21
this
50:21
world
50:21
shall
50:22
be
50:23
given
50:23
to
50:24
Christ
50:24
I
50:25
am
50:25
sure
50:25
we
50:25
would
50:25
all
50:26
of
50:26
us
50:26
find
50:26
more
50:27
ways
50:27
and
50:28
more
50:28
means
50:28
for
50:29
sending
50:29
forth
50:30
the
50:31
gospel
50:31
of
50:32
Christ
50:32
let's
50:33
pray
50:33
together