If you have your Bibles, we're gonna turn to the book of Jonah, the book of Jonah chapter four. Jonah chapter four. I have thoroughly enjoyed studying and preaching through Jonah these past several months. And the Lord is our helper. We will close out our messages here through Jonah as we look at this final chapter, chapter four. I'll say this before I get started reading. I know that chapter four, for many of God's people, is a very difficult chapter. It's a chapter they look at, they read it, and they wonder, what am I supposed to take away from this? Or they may look at it and say, how am I supposed to understand what's going on here? It's a bit surprising. on the hills of Jonah chapter three that we would read these following verses. And again, if it's, if it's God's will, if he blesses us today, I hope that you can walk out of here and think to yourself, okay, I've grasped Jonah chapter four. I understand now how to handle that chapter, how to apply that chapter. So let's begin reading in chapter four, verse one. It says, we'll actually back up to chapter three, verse 10. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry, and he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.' Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow. till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smoked the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wishing himself to die, and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle? That's the end of chapter four. That's the end of the book of Jonah. And chapter four is still about, and we need to make sure that we remember this as we get started, this is still about the glory and person of God. It's not so much a book about Jonah. We remembered from chapter one, it was, we learned that God overrules and that he delivers. In chapter two, salvation is of the Lord. Chapter three, God warns sinners. And here in chapter four, I was doing my best all week trying to think of how can I encapsulate what's happening here? How can I, in a short phrase or a title, convey what's just happened? I was spending a lot of time with that. I was even driving back from work last night. I made my conversation with Kara a lot shorter. I said, let me just do some thinking, and I was just trying to roll this chapter around in my head. How can I, just in a few words, describe what's going on here in Chapter 4? And this morning, by God's mercies, I woke up and I had the title. I felt very relieved. Chapter 4. We see that God extends His love. God extends His love. And I want us to look at what that means and I want us to go through this chapter together as we look at this and see what God has for us in this chapter. When I say God extends His love, the word extend and the 1828 Webster's Dictionary would say, would be defined like this, the word extend, to stretch in any direction, to carry forward or continue in length as a line, to spread in breadth, to expand or dilate in size. The word is particularly applied to length and breadth. We extend lines in surveying, we extend roads, limits, bounds, And in this chapter, we're going to see that God extends His love. I was reading one man this week or the past weeks who said this, and we've been saying this all along, that men have been looking so hard at the great fish in Jonah. They've been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to see the great God. And I hope that we can see and rejoice in the fact that God extends His love here in Jonah chapter 4. So first we see Jonah's reaction as we're going through, just kind of walking through this text. God saw the works of Nineveh. If you remember from the last chapter, they were warned of Jonah. They repented. They really not only turned away from their evil ways, but they did so many things to just kind of illustrate, hey, we are truly seeking after the forgiveness of God. We are broken over our sins and God saw their works in verse 10 that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them that he did it not. We talked about that last time. And we start here in verse 1, it says, So right there. You may wonder to yourself, what is going on? This might confuse you on the hills of what just happened in Nineveh that Jonah responds and reacts in anger. He is really angry at what just happened. If you think back to what just happened, Jonah was just used of God as a prophet. And a great city, not just a small family, not just a small village, that would be reason enough. If we sent Brother Isaac over to India and he came back with news that an entire village, a small group of people repented at the message that he brought to them, we'd be rejoicing and we sure would hope that Brother Isaac would be rejoicing. We'd be pretty confused if he came back and he was really in the dumps and angry that they repented. That's what we run into here with the prophet Jonah. He's angry. He's angry that they responded to his message. He's angry that they have repented, and it seems that they're gonna be spared from destruction. One man said this, he says, he does not, Jonah, does not run from God's will this time. Remember in chapter one, Jonah ran from God's will this time. Jonah runs from God's love. He runs That is, he chooses not to love what God loves. We start looking at his prayer in verse 2, and in verse 3, he's speaking unto God, saying, I knew that this was going to happen, and this is why I even had the plans to flee from this in the first place. When I was in my own country, I started out going toward Tarshish because I knew this was going to happen, God. I knew that you are a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, I knew that this could happen. Verse three, he says, therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. We would compare this to chapter two, when Jonah's broken and contrite in heart. Chapter two, verse seven, it says, my soul fainted within me, and I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord." Jonah was of a completely different mindset, different outlook there as he was in the great fish in a contrite, humble approach unto God. Even so much so that in verse nine he is rejoicing in the fact that salvation is of the Lord and now that the Ninevites Again, Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. Now that they have repented, now that salvation has come to them, Jonah sounds like a different person altogether. He's not rejoicing here in this prayer saying, salvation's of the Lord, this is a great thing. No, instead, he's angry. He's angry. So much so that he's saying, it's better for me to die than to live. Remember, Jonah wasn't the only one who came to that conclusion in the scriptures, we would read of Elijah, the juniper tree, saying the same thing. We would read of Job, he was mentioned this morning. One of Job's reactions as he was speaking unto God was he said, it would be better for me to be born dead, to not have to live. You see what's happening here is Jonah's leaning to his own understanding. He wanted God to destroy Nineveh for a reason. This is what Jonah's mind was, this is what his understanding was, that he was leaning so heavy upon. His mind and his thoughts were that if God would just destroy Nineveh, as it seemed like it was hopeful that that might happen, Well, if that happened, in Jonah's mind, Israel would be spared from destruction. Because again, Nineveh was the capital city of this spreading empire, the enemy of Israel, who was a violent and very wicked people who would torture the countries and the peoples that they were conquering. And Israel was just right there close to being under the destruction of Assyria. So if they would just be destroyed themselves, this would spare Israel in Jonah's mind. You see, he's leaning to his own understanding. Jonah does not understand the mind of God, and he is now coming to God complaining of God's mercy and his love toward Nineveh. As I was looking at this, as I was going through this chapter, I couldn't help but be reminded and making the connection between Jonah here and the story of the prodigal son. But in this chapter, Jonah no longer is reminding me of the prodigal son. If we remember in other chapters, we would look at Jonah fleeing from God, coming back to God, and we were rejoicing in the fact that God is a father who is welcoming to his returning prodigal. And we would look at Jonah and put him in that character of the story. But in this chapter, Jonah takes a whole different character, doesn't he? He's now reminding us of the elder brother. Let's go to Luke chapter 15 and take a look at this briefly. Luke chapter 15. I'm gonna kind of cut into the story here. We know some of the details from earlier messages as to when we talked about the prodigal son and how he went astray and how he came back to the father. But in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, We're gonna look at verse 20. Start there, it says, and he arose and came to his father. This is the prodigal son, the one who had left is now coming back. And when the father was yet, I'm sorry, when the son was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. Now, verse 25, the elder son. His elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked, what these things meant. The servant said to him, thy brother has come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was very angry. He was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. And yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. He said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found." So we see here how in chapter four, Jonah is praying unto God, reacting as to what just happened in such anger And it just is a picture here of what is happening in this parable that Christ gives us with the elder son. He's angry, angry that the father received this, not only in our story here, the prodigal son, the younger brother, but with Jonah, he's angry that God has received these Ninevites. As I was reading, The primary application of the prodigal son is going to be individuals, but there is another application that I thought would be appropriate for us to look at. The Gentile nations who departed from God after the flood and reaped darkness. I want you to remember Nineveh was first started, it began under Nimrod. Okay, this is a very old, ancient city. The Gentile nations who departed from God after the flood and reaped darkness, misery, and hard bondage under Satan by their departure may undoubtedly be typified by the younger son in this story. So you have here a Gentile nation who departed but is now coming back to the true God of heaven and earth. That's what's happening here with Nineveh. They've repented, cried out unto God, and God is showing them mercy. So Jonah's reaction, we see that. Back in chapter 4, let's look at God's response. This could be somewhat puzzling as well. You might think that God would have right here to just really let Jonah have it. This is a man who God has just shown mercy. Almost would remind us of the story of the king and the servant. If you remember, there was that servant who owed the king so much and he could not pay it. And the king said, I'm going to sell your family. I'm going to sell you. And the servant pleaded and pleaded. And the king had compassion. The Lord had compassion over his servant. Then that servant went out and just strangled another individual because he owed him just a fraction as to what he owed his Lord. And if you remember how the Lord reacted in that story, we might expect that kind of reaction here with God toward Jonah, but that's not the reaction that we see. In verse 4, it says, Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. And there made him a booth, and set under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd, but God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind. And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wishing himself to die." We'll stop there. Jonah's response, I'm sorry, God's response here to Jonah is not harsh at all. His response is as what we had seen with the father entreating the elder son. It's of a loving father, and it's also as a good shepherd. The song was called out this afternoon, the ninety and nine, but the good shepherd went out to get the one sheep that was lost. Why in the world, in our minds, would we think that God would not just be right there in Nineveh? There were all these that were repenting, that were actually right with God and their attitudes and their way that they were responding to God's grace and mercy. And there was just one that went astray, Jonah, of all people, the one who was in there preaching to begin with. And God went after that one sheep. We see it here. He's not closing his ear to Jonah. Instead, he's going right there to Jonah as a loving father, and he begins to teach. That's what fathers do, good fathers. They begin to teach their children. He begins to teach by preparing this lesson. Each step of this, we would see God prepared, prepared the gourd, the worm, even the east wind. He begins, again, to go after that sheep that has gone astray. Jonah's sitting outside the city now. He's upset that they've repented and that they have not been destroyed. And this is another time in this chapter I'd like for you to stop and just compare this. We've seen some comparisons of Jonah and Christ. Well, if you remember, Jesus Christ sat outside of the city of Jerusalem and he wept over the fact that they did not listen, they did not receive him. And this was not in a, I think this is a way where we really see the humanity of Christ. If you remember, he was 100% God, 100% man. I believe what Christ is saying here is not, oh, that they would've just been saved to eternal salvation, that they would've just, no, if you remember, he was pronouncing judgment upon, hey, Jerusalem, you're gonna be destroyed, not one stone's gonna be left upon another. And they would not listen. But we have here in Jonah, Nineveh listening, repenting, and the exact opposite, Jonah's outside of the city upset, that they would not be destroyed. We see the exact opposite spirit of a Christian spirit or of a Christ-like spirit. But again, as a good shepherd, God leaves the ninety and nine to find his sheep that had wandered away. And as a loving father, we're going to see how much patience he puts into this lesson with Jonah. In verse eight, we'll pick back up. That this son beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wishing himself to die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? He said, I do well to be angry even unto death. So God puts up another test. You've heard others talk about Jonah chapter one and two and talk about how God really sent Jonah to Jonah school. He sent this lesson out there to teach Jonah. Jonah repents. Jonah responds appropriately to the lesson. Not this time. God prepares and sends all this Jonah's way and Jonah fails this test, but it's not over, thankfully. We'd remember in chapter two, Jonah's afflicted And what's his response? He cries out unto God in his affliction. He's humbling himself in chapter 2. Jonah is said to be exceedingly glad one time in this chapter. And if you did not know anything about chapter 4, and you were starting in verse 1, you might think to yourself, if you heard that Jonah was exceedingly glad, he might be exceedingly glad over what just happened in chapter 3. The mercy that he's been able to enjoy, now others are enjoying as well. That's not the case. It says that he was exceedingly glad, if you remember in verse 6, of the gourd. By the way, that word gourd is just a plant. A plant that was big enough to grow and provide some shelter, some shade for Jonah as he was setting outside the city. Exceedingly glad of the gourd to have that protection. And notice that the gourd instead of God is, this phrase, exceedingly glad, is exceeding joy. This gourd is Jonah's exceeding joy instead of God. God makes this, he prepares this, and the object itself, the object itself, the gourd, becomes his exceeding joy. You might think to yourself, oh, what is with Jonah? But how can we so often bring that to our own lives and see that even as I was studying through this, I'm convicted throughout the week, every week that I'm in RV sales of the fact that so many times I'm praying to God, provide me a sale. When it happens, my first response is not to look to God and praise God. I get taken away in the object, the cell. I start to rejoice. It becomes my exceeding joy that I just made this cell. And Brother Chris Brown is so good to always remind me to give God the glory. And my conviction is that it doesn't come as soon as I'd like for that to come. My response is, hey, I just made this cell. Good news, this big motor home that we've had out here is finally sold. This and this and this and this happened. Instead of saying, God is good, God, you have provided again. Instead of it, again, turning me to God. We among this generation are so familiar with social media, we've become friends with people, let's say on Facebook or other platforms, and maybe it's people that were once close to God and now they've gone astray, like Jonah's gone astray here. I know that I've got friends on my Facebook feed and wall that are no longer walking with the Lord and I pray for them, but that would change. How often is it, not only just with us as Christians, but even those who have went astray, you see these big announcements and these pictures and these You know, they're exceedingly glad about these objects or this event that happened to them, and they're not turning that to praising God. Their exceeding joy is not God, it's this object. I've met someone, or this has happened at work, this has happened to me. This is what's happening here with Jonah. He's exceedingly glad. His exceeding joy is in the gourd instead of God. And we can relate to that. We can also relate to this, that God takes away that gourd. He sends a worm. He prepares this worm. destroys the gourd. Jonah is now afflicted by the scorching hot wind that God sends. They say that those winds can be just miserable out there in those lands. We don't really know what that is. We don't have those kind of scorching hot winds here in Mississippi. We have some really hot humidity, but it's not like this. They say this is really incredibly painful and just miserable to be through. God sends this vehement east wind, his shelters taken away, this gore is no longer protecting him. And again, instead of this affliction softening Jonah's heart, instead of this affliction turning Jonah toward God, he continues in hardness. still leaning upon his own understanding. You see, the afflictions of chapter two softened Jonah. When he was in the belly of the fish, he was softened toward God. He turned toward God. Imagine if Jonah, in the belly of the great fish, would have responded like this and said, I'm so angry at these afflictions and these circumstances. You know, I'm angry even at the death. That would have changed the whole story. That would have changed everything. But I want you to see that even though Jonah fails this test and responds by not crying out unto God, by continuing to just go on in hardness, something I did not say, that instead of even speaking out unto God, we would see that, I think it's in verse, yes, verse eight, he wished in himself to die. He wished in himself to die. In other words, he's speaking to himself rather than God. But then God goes out and entreats Jonah. We're gonna see again that parallel from Luke 15, and the elder son was angry and would not go in, therefore came out his father and entreated him. This is what's gonna happen here as we look at verse nine. It says, God said to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? He said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?" For you younger folks, sixscore, anytime you see the word score, In the scriptures, speaking of the number 20, so 6 score, if you've been working on your multiplication tables, 6 times 20, we're going to have 120,000 persons here that God is speaking of that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand. That's not the point to try to figure out the number, but it's just to kind of get some understanding here of what's being brought to Jonah's attention. Not only these persons, but even also much cattle. And then it stops right there. That's the end of the book of Jonah. But again, God is entreating Jonah here. And God, really what he's doing, he's explaining the lesson. Jonah, you failed, but let's, you know, you're not responding to this as you've responded to other lessons. And by the way, this should be an encouragement to you that There will be lessons, there will be tests and trials that you do not come through as successful as maybe past trials and past lessons. But God does not give up on you. He continues and teaches in treating you. And also it should remind you to take heed lest you fall. You've had past success, praise God, but take heed lest you fall. Be steadfast, unmovable. And remember, you need God. Just because you've had success in the past does not mean that you are something. You are nothing without God. Jonah is nothing without God. And God comes and starts explaining, this is what the lesson was, Jonah. This is what I want you to learn. So Jonah was exceeding glad that the gourd was alive and functioning properly. I want you to think back to that because he's saying in verse 9, are you angry for the gourd? Here's why Jonah was angry because the gourd was destroyed. He would not have been angry if that gourd or that plant was alive and just lying down the opposite direction and looking really nice over there. That would not have been the proper function of that gourd, would it? It would not have been anything at all to Jonah if this plant that was not doing him any good, laying down flopped over, had been destroyed. The reason why Jonah was so upset was because this gourd was functioning like it was supposed to function. This was a gourd that was functioning in a way that was providing shelter for him. It was doing something that was very, very appropriate for a plant, for this kind of plant. I want you to compare this to Nineveh. God is saying, are you angry about the gourd not being destroyed? I'm sorry, that it was destroyed? Remember, Jonah's angry because Nineveh was not destroyed. But if we think about it, he's saying that in verse 10, thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored, neither made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city? Now, I want you to remember, he's saying, you didn't labor here for this gourd. Now I want you to remember what I said earlier, Nineveh was an ancient city going back to Nimrod in the early days after the flood. This is a city, we can so easily say when we think about pro-life positions that God is involved intricately in the minute details of life when life is created. Well that was still going on. And that just is true in the city of Nineveh. All of this time since Nimrod, God was carefully weaving together, fashioning together each individual for a purpose, bringing it all to this point to where finally Nineveh was functioning as it was created to function. It was glorifying God. This city, at this point in its history, was finally doing what it was intended to do. If Jonah could have been so upset and angry about this gourd that was functioning properly being destroyed, God is saying, look, Nineveh is being spared from being destroyed at a time in its history to where it is functioning properly. That's the comparison, that's the lesson here. This is a city, this is a people who is broken and contrite in spirit and who has repented And it would have been a shame had God destroyed the city when it was functioning properly. It would be a shame to think that God, as this father, would see this prodigal son running to him and close the door instead of going out to entreat and to hug and rejoice and say to his servants, go get a robe, go get shoes put on his feet. Let's be glad, exceedingly glad that he was once dead and he is now alive. This is, again, the spirit of the father with his son who has returned. God reveals his care and his love toward the Gentiles in these last verses. And this is very unique in the Old Testament. We've talked before about how Jonah was unique in and of himself at this call in his ministry. I believe he was the first prophet ever who was called to preach to Gentiles, to a Gentile nation. And now God is teaching all of us something here, but teaching Jonah, teaching Israel of old, that he is extending his love to the Gentiles. You know, this is actually the climax of the story. A lot of times those of you who are into literature or those of you who are into movie productions or this or that, you think about how things get started. There's a climax and usually the things, you know, things kind of taper down. Well, here in the story of Jonah, some might think that the great fish is the climax of the story. It's not. This right here is the high point as to where we are left off. In Jonah chapter 4 is the climax of showing us, this is all leading us to an understanding that God extends his love to Gentiles. In the New Testament, this lesson was just as difficult for the Jews of that day, and it is for Jonah here in chapter 4. Just as difficult to accept, just as difficult to understand. We would remember that Peter said, not so, Lord, before God taught him and sent him to Cornelius and the Gentiles. In Acts 10, 45, you don't have to turn there, but it says, they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. If you remember that when Brother Lewis first started in the Gospel of Mark, he brought out the meaning of that word astonished. And if I'm remembering correctly, it's something of the sense that their wind was just kind of taken out of them. They were astonished. Their breath was just taken away at the authority that Jesus had and displayed. Well, the people here were astonished. They were out of breath at the fact that God on the Gentiles also would pour out the gifts of the Holy Ghost. And again, this is what we see here in Jonah 4. God's extending his love, the scope of his love is not just upon one nation. In chapter 7 of the book of Revelation, it speaks of a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes. It says, should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and all so much cattle? God extends his love. His love is not limited by the boundaries that man establishes. His love breaks those boundaries. And I want us to quickly apply some things here. That's the meaning, I believe, that as we went through, you have seen. excuse me, what God is presenting in chapter four. I want us to see how we can apply this. I want us to first off start out by examining our own heart. As we look at Jonah in this chapter, does your attitude reflect that of the Pharisee or the publican? Because I really am convinced that too often I've seen in my own life, and I believe you would probably admit the same thing, that we're afraid that We read this chapter more as the Pharisee who was praying and saying, God, I thank thee that I'm not like this man. Have you ever read Jonah 4 and said that to yourself? God, I thank you that I'm not like this man. Instead of smiting your breasts as a publican saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Be merciful to me. If we honestly examine our own hearts, we would see that we need God to patiently teach us and to show us mercy in the same kind of way that he did for Jonah here in Jonah 4. Because like Jonah, we want God's mercy for ourselves, don't we? We want God's mercy for our family, for our nation. But other people and other nations, they might seem more fit for God's justice in our minds, right? I mean, honestly, that's the way that we typically go about our line of thinking. It could be illustrated this way. I don't commonly pray for a police officer to show mercy to a car that I might pass on the highway that is pulled over for a speeding violation. I just don't typically find myself praying for them as I pass them on the highway. It was a couple months ago, and I'm not going to get too much into this, but there was a motorcycle that went past me over 100 miles per hour. And I thought to myself, there needs to be a police officer around here to pull him over. It wasn't five miles down the road I was pulled over for speeding, because I wasn't thinking about what I was doing. And there I go, praying for myself. Lord, show mercy. So again, we pray for ourselves when we're pulled over. Lord, show mercy. But for others, justice is just fine for them. They probably really needed to get pulled over. They probably need a ticket to really show them and teach them something else. When you think about spreading the gospel and winning souls to Christ, how far down on your list would you add in prison ministry? Honestly, how far down your list has prison ministry come in? I wonder why it comes down so far. You rejoice to find out that a murderer or a child molester has found life in Christ. And now all of a sudden, because of this heart change, because of this faith in Christ, they are joint heirs with Christ and they're sharing with you in the grace and favor of God. Does that just excite you? Or are you kind of finding yourself sometimes like Jonah, where really, I figured justice would be better for that person. See, our nation has been at war in the Middle East for I don't know how long, really. I know it's been kind of even undeclared war for at least 15 years. How often have you heard that really all Muslims, they should all just be killed and that's the only solution? We have actually a political leader right now saying even their families, even these terrorists, their families, we need to go after them. The innocent aren't really innocent because they're associated with, we should go after them as well. Families and civilians, you know, collateral damage, that's not that big of a deal because that's over there. How often does that idea register with your own mind? If you remember the, I'll ask this, does the idea of God sending fire from heaven to consume them all seem like a good idea to you? If you remember when the disciples said that to Christ, Lord, should we call upon God to send fire from heaven just to consume all of the, I think it was the Samaritans that had that conversation. Remember what Christ said? He turned to rebuke them and said, you know not what spirit you are of. It is not a Christian spirit to think like the world of just wanting to destroy and wipe out civilians and other folks just because they're not in your circle just because they are not in your family or in your nation or in your household but too often again we look at Jonah here in this in Jonah chapter 4 and we say we thank you that we're not like him when actually we we need to be pleading to God for mercy and to teach us to teach us to have a Christian mindset toward others who don't look like us toward others who come from different backgrounds Next, I'd say when we lean upon our own understanding, as Jonah did here in Jonah chapter four, we will find ourselves like Jonah will find ourselves angry, hardened and in despair. So this is another application for us. We must stay close to God, and it must ever be our prayer. Thy will not my will be done must ever be your prayer. I'm not gonna lean to my own understanding. God, you're wiser than I am. If you remember in chapter two, Jonah was approaching the God of heaven and he was, again, looking at this God in his holy temple. If we remember who God is, that his wisdom is much, much higher than our wisdom, hopefully that'll put you in a frame of mind of saying, Lord, thou wilt be done, not mine. And it would keep you from this anger and hardening and this attitude that we found Jonah in. Our understanding of others must always be accompanied also by the understanding. So we're talking about leaning not to our own understanding. Because our understanding of others must always come through or be accompanied by an understanding of ourselves. We must never forget that we are all undeserving sinners. The only thing we deserve is hell. The only thing we deserve is the wrath of God. In and of ourselves, we are no different than those who are locked behind bars. And by the way, I believe it's 1 in 26 Americans right now who are locked behind bars. No difference, only the grace of God. So we were once dead, but have been made alive by God's grace and mercy, and we should be quick to rejoice at anyone else that we hear who has experienced this sweet grace of God in their lives. I was reading from one pastor who said, I pray that our church would be marked by a love that crosses the lines of human division and that God would make our hearts bigger and bigger like his. When I read that prayer, I want to ask you, what if, what if five years from now this church grew in number? But that growth in number had to do with a great number of foreigners, people who didn't look like you, people who didn't talk like you, people who were rough around the edges, and maybe even people who in the past had been in jail for horrible crimes. What if all of a sudden a large number of those kind of folks, again, folks that you don't necessarily see as being like you, started to make up who this church was? How would you respond? Would you respond by getting a little angry? We see those comic strips of folks getting angry at visitors coming in the church and sitting where they've always sat, the pew they've sat in for 40 years. Well, what would it be like if the church body itself, the church family itself, took on a whole new look? How would you respond? Would you be ready to go find another church? Would you be talking with the pastors about how concerned you are because all of a sudden our church looks different? How would you respond? Might it be our prayer that God would bless us and our church with a heart like his, that we would have a love for sinners that again would cross the lines of human division? In Ephesians chapter three, as we look here, we'll remind ourselves that this whole message has to do with God extending his love, God extending his love. And in Ephesians three, We'll close with this verse, or this passage, starting with verse 17. It says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. So this love of God this breadth, this length, depth, and height. Some would describe the particulars of God's love like this. They would say, by the breadth of it, we can understand the extent of it to all ages, nations, and ranks of men. By the length of it, its continuance from everlasting to everlasting. By the depth of it, it's stooping to the lowest condition with a design to relieve and save those who have sunk into the depths of sin and misery. By its height, it's entitling and raising us up to the heavenly happiness and glory. I think three of the four, we don't typically have a hard time getting our minds around. But just as Jonah, in Jonah chapter four, when we start looking at the extent We start looking at the breadth of God's love. I'll read that again. The breadth of it, we can understand that to be the extent of it to all ages. We can rejoice in that, but also to all nations and ranks of men. God calls people, again, of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And may it always be our prayer that we would glory in that. that we would thank God for his love that is not just limited to one special kind of people who look like this, but it's, again, folks that are from all sorts of various backgrounds. Again, the Assyrians, the Ninevites, violent, cruel people. But God had mercy and extended his love even to them. And may it be our prayer that in our community there might be some violent, cruel people who God would change their hearts, change their lives, draw them to Christ. Because again, if we think of ourselves without God, without His grace and changing of our hard heart, we would be just right there with them. And may it be our prayer that we would all have welcoming hearts and have a love for others as God has for them, not writing them off because they're different, not writing them off because at one point in their lives we didn't really care for them much, but if they have truly named the name of Christ and have truly Repented of their sins. May we rejoice and not be as the elder brother who's sulking outside, not entering into the celebration. Maybe we always have a heart. It is like God's ready to enter in and celebrate. Rejoice when centers find life in Christ. Thank you for listening to this message. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by the messages and the daily devotional blog on sermon audio from Ripley Primitive Baptist Church. We would love the opportunity to be of greater service to you in your walk with Christ. In other words, we would like to get to know you better. Do you have need of counsel, of a home church, or can we just pray for you? please feel free to contact us by phone at 662-837-8590 or visit our website at www.ripleypbc.com.