just for your love. Lord, you are beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words, too wonderful, you're beyond our comprehension. Your grace, your mercy is overwhelming. We're thankful. We're thankful for salvation. We're thankful for eternal life. We're thankful to have the Holy Spirit living in us to guide us and direct us to help us understand your word. And we ask that your Holy Spirit would open up our ears to hear our hearts to receive your word this morning, that we would be changed, that this wouldn't just be simply interesting information, but that this would be truth that we can believe in, trust in, and live out. that we would continue to grow and be shaped, molded to be more and more like Jesus. That's our desire. That is your goal for us, and so we wanna work in tandem with that. And so, bless this time. It is all for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Everyone said amen. Okay, so if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to the book of Jonah. We are going to be concluding our little series going through this book. We've been going through a chapter every single week So now we are on the fourth week the fourth chapter of Jonah So again, if you have trouble looking for the book, go to the table of contents. It is completely acceptable. It is not shaming or you shouldn't be ashamed to go to the table of contents. It is a tiny book between other tiny books. And so it is a little difficult to to find. But when you're there, Jonah, Chapter four. Now, I I I'm kind of a food. I'm not food nerd. I like food obviously Wrong word, I don't know why but anyways, I'm I'm a movie nerd. I like movies. I like good stories and in film they use a different terminology, well not different, they use certain terminology to describe how they're constructing a story and how they describe certain scenes, just like literature, you know, you have a beginning, middle, and end, an antagonist, a protagonist, a conclusion, that kind of thing. In film, they have other expressions. One expression is called in media res. What that means is it's basically a scene that jumps right into the middle of a battle or a conversation. You know, think of it just, it hits you with a war scene and there's a hero running towards something and we have no context what's going on. We're going, what in the world? Why are they in this predicament? And then the next scene kind of goes back in time, and it's going to kind of explain all the steps that lead up to this moment. That's what we call it in media res. Another phrase, term, is what we call the cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is basically where the story is leading towards something and there's anticipation building and we're waiting for that, you know, anticipating that conclusion, but there isn't any. It just ends. It's done. No conclusion. No resolution, it's just done. Back in the late 70s, the most famous or infamous cliffhanger was Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, which makes sense because it was part two of a three-part trilogy. And the story was leading towards something, and then you had that amazing reveal, you know, Darth Vader, Luke, I am your father, spoiler alert. And then it just ends. And the audience had to wait another three years before they saw the conclusion in Return of the Jedi. That was pretty famous. The most recent cliffhanger that's been actually very, very famous, actually even controversial, was the Sopranos TV series. Now, I'm not advocating you watch The Sopranos. I never watched it. I realized it was probably a pretty gritty show to begin with. But its season finale was notorious. The story was leading to a point, and there was a conversation happening between, I guess, the Mafia guy and his family, and it's, okay, you're anticipating something, and it just goes right to black. Right in the middle of the conversation, it goes right to black, it stays black for a while, and then all of a sudden, the credits start to appear. and when people saw that they flipped out, they're like, oh no! Again, this show had been going on for a number of seasons, so a number of years, people have been investing in these characters, and for it to end just like that, they're like, ah! Something went wrong! So they started calling their cable providers and saying, hey, there's something going on with the cable company, and the cable provider's like, no. Everything's working fine. So then they started calling the studios and saying, you know, the copy that you sent to the television companies to broadcast is wrong. There's a mistake. We don't see the conclusion. And then the studio executives had to actually make a comment and come before the press and say it was intentional. For some reason, that's what they wanted to do. That's how they wanted to end the series. And it just was like, ah, are you kidding me? Now, when it comes to the Bible, there are a number of notable cliffhangers. One of them is in the book of Acts, Acts 28. It just kind of ends. Paul is on his way to Rome, and then it ends. There's no conclusion, there's no resolution. The other significant cliffhanger is here in the book of Jonah. If you've read ahead or familiar with Jonah, chapter four is only 11 verses long, but it just ends. Right? Verse 11, it just ends. Wham! Right in the middle of a discussion that God is having with Jonah. There's no other verses. It leaves the audience kind of go, okay, where's verse 12, 13, 14? Where's that conclusion? Where's that resolution? There isn't any. What kind of leads us to kind of come up with our own conclusion, not to add to scripture, but to basically respond. How are we gonna respond? We just listened to this amazing account, and how are we going to respond in light of it? So we're gonna be looking at Jonah chapter four, so I wanna go through a little bit of a review. Again, it's not that long of a book. So Jonah chapter one, we're introduced, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, the son of Amittai. Jonah, his name means dove, so you think gentle bird. Amittai means the trusted one or the faithful one. Ironically, Jonah doesn't live up to that name. He's also a prophet. In fact, in 2 Kings, he's referred to as a servant of God. But again, ironically, he's not described as a prophet or the servant of God in the entire book of Jonah. We read it and we go, okay, yeah, he didn't live up to his name. He didn't live up to that title. It's kind of a pathetic prophet. But the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and God's like, I want you to go to Nineveh, a great city, a large city, an important, significant city to the Assyrian empire. which is about 500 miles to the east of where Jonah was serving. So I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to preach out against them because their wickedness has come to me. Remember it's the Hebrew word that literally means the stench of their wickedness has reached my nose. They stink and I want you to go preach against them. and it kind of had leads us to think of a job is gonna do a profits to obey the lord is gonna go proclaim the word the West so Timbuktu all the way really really far he doesn't want to do it the Bible says that he flees from the presence of the Lord and the Hebrew that literally means the face of the Lord it's in the face of the Lord where we serve the Lord where we worship the Lord where we receive the favor and and and kindness from the Lord Jonah's like I just want nothing to do with this I'm gone I'm going to leave I'm gonna leave now Jonah prophet he's very familiar with scripture no doubt he could probably ace a seminary exam and so he knows you cannot physically run away from God because God's everywhere he's omnipresent but sin causes us to do stupid things amen So he boards a boat and he's starting to head over to Tarshish and God pursues him and God hurls a great wind which causes a great storm and the sailors who most likely these are these are Phoenician sailors who've been out in the middle of the ocean. They've been throughout all different kinds of weather. They're scared. They recognize this has just come on so quickly and it's so intense. They see it as a supernatural event. And so they start praying to their gods. God, you know, which one did we offend? Which one did we get? You know, is upset at us. And let's pray and try to get them to forgive us. And maybe this whole thing will go away. That doesn't work. So they start chucking their their cargo out into the ocean to lighten the boat. And then finally, the captain goes down into the hull of the ship. And where does he find Jonah? Asleep, I mean he's in like really deep deep sleep and the captain's what are you doing Jonah? Like there's a storm we're about to die call on your God and maybe he'll stop this thing from happening Jonah doesn't do anything He doesn't call on God, he doesn't do anything, but God's not gonna get him. Jonah's not off the hook, and eventually the sailors come up with the idea of, let's go ahead and cast lots. And whoever name it falls on, that's who we know is responsible for all this calamity. And so they cast their lots, and lo and behold, it lands on Jonah. Again, kind of going back to the truth in Proverbs, where it says the lot is cast, but its decision is from the Lord. God is sovereignly working, It lands on Jonah, and you could just imagine the intensity. They're grabbing Jonah by the shoulders, like, who are you? Where are you from? What people are you? What's going on? And Jonah admits, he says, I'm a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who created the waters and the dry land. Now, what's really interesting is that what Jonah says is true, but also very tragic. It's true because, yes, the God that Jonah serves is the God above all other gods. He's the creator of everything. But what's tragic is that Jonah says, I fear this Lord God. But when we're reading chapter one, we realize, Jonah, you're not fearing him at all. You're disobeying him. Not only that, but you're... So what he professed and how he lived was there's a big, huge gap there, but also he's doing this in the presence of pagan sailors. Individuals who never grew up with knowing about this amazing God Yahweh and Jonah having this amazing opportunity to proclaim Yahweh to these people doesn't say anything. Living on a completely contradictory to what he professes his witness is horrible But Jonah basically says, okay. I want you to go and throw me into the to the sea I mean he could have easily said turn the ship around. Let's get back to port. The storm will be done You know, I'll go ahead and do what God called me to do instead. He's just kill me. I Just kill me, put me in the, I'm gonna drown, I'd rather die than do what God called me to do. So eventually Jonah is checked into the middle of the sea and the storm stops and amazingly the sailors worship Yahweh. They start sacrificing Yahweh. They devote their lives to Yahweh. It's amazing. Meanwhile, Jonah, the pathetic prophet, is struggling in the middle of the ocean, and eventually he starts sinking. He starts drowning, and Jonah's probably thinking, oh, this is not how I want to go. And so he prays, he calls out to God, and God hears him and responds, and he appoints a fish, a large fish, to come and swallow up Jonah. Now, at this point, some people will go, OK, time out. This is where the story gets a little bit too goofy, too wacky. I can't believe it. Critics and some scholars will say this is why Jonah is not true. Well, if you believe that God can cause a storm, part the Red Sea and make cause creation just by speaking it into existence, then appointing a large fish to swallow up a man and preserve him for three days in the belly of that fish is really nothing for God. so the focus again if we want to focus so much on the the fish are the whale whatever it was, um, Liam, my son was saying it's a megalodon. He loves megalodons. I'm like, well, I don't know. Maybe I don't know. But anyways, he's in the fish and in chapter two, that's where he, you know, he's got a lot of time to think what else can you do in the belly of a fish? So he prays to God. And he's referencing the fact that God is his savior. He called out to God, God listened, God responded, God rescued him. And again, Jonah would have completely, I mean, aced all his seminary courses. He had a good theology. A lot of what he was, in his prayer, if you were to examine it, it's almost word for word of a few Hebrew, not Hebrew, Psalms. He's like repeating Psalms like, you know, God saved me from the pits from the belly of Sheol from he's my Savior all those things I mean, you know that that word the Word of God was just in Jonah's mind in his heart But again, sadly he wasn't living it out, but he's praying and eventually at the end He says what I have vowed I will make good. I will complete I will finish and About that time God causes the fish to vomit Jonah onto the dry land, and we get to chapter 3 where God says, okay, let's try this again. God gives Jonah a second chance. Why would you do that, God? I mean, Jonah doesn't deserve it. God comes to him a second chance, just like he comes to us. He comes to us again and again. Not just second chances, third chances, 150th chances, you know that. So God comes to Jonah and says, okay, now this is what I want you to do. I wanna go to Nineveh, and I want you to proclaim the message that I'm gonna give you. So Jonah travels to Nineveh. Now, again, when we read it, it's just Jonah goes to Nineveh. But we have to understand where Jonah was probably, I mean, that trip was about 500 miles. so it wasn't just all I'm just gonna go there for a day it's gonna be a day kinda trip and I'll come back and do what I He was going to have to invest a lot of time and energy into traveling all the way to Nineveh. And that's when we think, for us, when it comes to what God wants us to do and being obedient to God, sometimes that obedience is going to cost us. Sometimes it's not just going to be like a day trip. It's not going to be just a single moment. Sometimes it's going to be, well, I want you to invest your life into this. It's going to cost you. You're in it for the long haul. So Jonah goes to Nineveh, and he proclaims the message really simple. After 40 days, Nineveh, you're toast. You're gonna be overturned. Now, as an audience, we're reading this, and we kind of think, okay, what is the response for Nineveh gonna be? You know, they're a wicked people. So we think, okay, they could easily laugh at Jonah. It's like, who are you? They could kill Jonah, who's like, how dare you? Or they could do both laughing and killing him at the same time. You know, they could do the whole thing. Instead, remarkably, it says, and the people believed God. And that phrase there is almost word for word to when it refers to Abraham in Genesis, where Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as, or accounted to him as righteousness. These people these wicked people believed God and it wasn't just simply lip service. They actually full-on repent They they fast they they give up food to to pray to God. They put on sackcloth, which is this Morning outfit is just like this rough material made out of burlap sacks and goat skins and it was just again to signify that they're just repentance and in grief and sorrow it's not only the people but the word gets out to the king and the king he hears about it and he believes God and he gets off of his throne he takes off his royal garment he puts on sackcloth and he sits in ashes think of the most humbling place to be and he issues a decree and he says I want I All the people to continue fasting and wearing sackcloth, but it's not gonna just be us. We're gonna go varsity on this Repentance we're gonna have all the the animals including Include on join in on this repentance and we're gonna cry out to God and we're gonna turn from each one has to turn away from his his wickedness from his violence and who knows maybe God will stop what's happening and so they do that and at the very end of of chapter 3 it says God relents and God relents, and in some translations, it unfortunately says God changed his mind, because in Hebrew, it's actually presented as a passive. The word itself just means to cease from a particular activity, but it's presented as a passive, meaning God was moved to not carry out this calamity. It's like, what was he moved? He's moved by compassion. The only thing we have to understand, again, While the book of Jonah centers around the character of Jonah, the person of Jonah, it's not ultimately focused on Jonah. It's focused on God, revealing who God is, that He's a God who pursues, He's a God who loves, He's a God who shows mercy and grace. Remember graces is receiving something that you don't deserve God's kindness God's love. That's grace. You don't deserve it You don't didn't earn it mercy is not receiving what we do deserve Instead of judgment and wrath we receive salvation That's who God is and so God relents and he doesn't bring on this calamity It's amazing amazing. And now we get to chapter 4 and Chapter 3 Jonah kind of was just at the beginning and then he was it was just all about Nineveh and the repentance now Jonah comes back into the story into the account and we read about how his response to what just happened verse 1 of chapter 4 but it greatly displeased Jonah. He wasn't just displeased, he was exceedingly displeased. Now in the Hebrew, there's actually two words there. One is a verb and one of them is a noun. And they basically mean the same thing. As a verb, it means to be evil, to be bad, to be displeasing. As a noun, it just means something that's bad, disagreeable, evil, or wicked. Put together, there's some emphasis there. The idea is this is not just describing Jonah's feelings of the situation of, you know, God relenting against Nineveh. It's not just describing his feelings for the situation, but also his His judgment of that situation. It's like, what you did, Lord, was evil, was bad, was wrong, was unjust. And that has displeased me greatly. It says here, and he became angry. Literally, he burned up with rage. He was like, whoa, whoa, hold on there, Jonah. Who are you talking to? Verse two, he prayed to the Lord, and again, in the Hebrew, there's an intensity, an emphasis there. He prayed earnestly to the Lord, and he said, please, Lord, a better translation would be, ah, Lord, ah, Lord. Again, it's just showing where Jonah is at this moment emotionally. Ah, Lord, was this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is what I was thinking about. Therefore, for this reason, in order to forestall this, literally to get ahead of this, to redirect this thing from happening, I fled to Tarshish. For I knew, I perfectly knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Right there, he's quoting one of the most famous passages in all the Old Testament and all the scriptures, Exodus chapter 34, where Moses is talking to God and he says, can you show me, I wanna see you. And God's like, well, you can't. See my glory. I'm just gonna show you the backside of my glory and I'm gonna reveal who I am and that's how he refers He is the Lord gracious and compassionate slow to anger abundant and loving kindness who relents concerning calamity and it goes on on on you can read that again in exodus 34 verses 6 through 7 This is who God is And this is an amazing, again, let's go through each of those words. The God that we serve is a gracious God. He is a merciful God. He is a kind God. He is a God who bestows favor, not because we earn it, not because we deserve it, because he's a loving God. He's a good father. He's gracious. He's also compassionate. We serve a compassionate God, a God who shows pity, a God who sympathizes with us, a God who's not just always shaking his head and going, you idiots, a God who comes down you know, on his knees and gets down to where we are. And he deals with us where we are at, and he's compassionate to us. He's also slow to anger. In the Hebrew, it literally reads long of nostril. It's an idiom, nostril referred to anger, because if you flare it up or if you're huffing and puffing, you're angry. But God is patient. He is long-suffering. He's slow to anger. He has a long fuse. Some of us have short fuses. any little thing it's boom we explode thank God God's not like that thank God he has a long wick is he's very patient he's long-suffering for us towards us this is an abundant literally plentiful Loving kindness that word there is the the Hebrew word has said it's the it's the loving kindness. It's the kind of love that God Directs toward his covenant people Israel one Bible children's Bible described it as God's never giving up always and forever kind of love and It's a love that's not just simply lip service. It's a love that is moved to action. A love that protects. A love that preserves. A love that, you know, guides and directs. That's what chesed is. It's one of those Hebrew words that's just really hard to nail down, but it's so amazing. And the God we serve is abundant in chesed. On top of that, one who relents, again, who is moved in compassion and concerning the calamity, concerning destruction, he chooses, he chooses to be moved by compassion and not do what he sets out to do. Now, what Jonah's basically doing here is he's basically blaming God. He's blaming God. Was this not what I said when I was still in my own country? You know? And he says, look, he says, therefore, he says, that's why I left. I fled to Tarshish because I knew who you were. It's almost as if Jonah's saying, God, you forced me to disobey because of who you are. I just want you to know that, you know, because you're gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness. Oh man, I just, I booked it. I left. And again, it leaves us as the audience to go, Jonah, who do you think you are? How dare you? You're talking to the creator, God. And really what's going on here is that Jonah created expectations for God, and God is not living up to those expectations. Jonah's like, basically, I wrote a script and it's a good script. God, your job is just to read the lines. But you failed to do that. You did a horrible job. What you did in showing mercy and kindness toward Nineveh was evil. It was unjust. It was wicked. I'm very displeased. In fact, I'm burning with rage. I brought this up a couple of weeks ago that every Yom Kippur, the Jewish people will celebrate and they'll gather in their synagogues and they'll read the account of Jonah. And then afterwards, many of them will recite the phrase, we are Jonah. And reality, it's like, think about that. For us, sometimes we can become and behave like Jonah. we could attach our expectations on God. God, this is who I see you. This is how I expect you to act during tough times and during trials and during good times. This is how I expect you to behave and to work in my life. And God doesn't do it, and you're going, oh, God, I am very displeased. I'm angry. When we get angry, that doesn't reveal our heart, right? Well, we get angry if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're angry because you lose money and you just lose, you know, you're, ah, this just shows you, you put some expectations in your money or God and how to, how God's supposed to bless you with money or whatever. And he didn't leave up to those expectations. And you're like, ah, again, Jonah had written a script apparently and believed, okay, I gave it to God. You should really consider this. It's a good script. God, I really poured over it and, and, and, and, The God that I have in this script is, when it comes to wicked and evil people, people who sacrifice their children to gods and all that, you're supposed to wipe them off the face of the earth. But for those who are like moi, who are prophets and servants of God, who are your people, we deserve your graciousness, we deserve your kindness, we deserve your love, we deserve your chesed. But they don't. And God's like, nope, that's not who I am. So Jonah's like, well, this greatly displeases me. I am angry. Verse three, look what he says. Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me. For death is better to me. It's more desirable than life. Have you ever been to the market or some store and all of a sudden you hear this horrible screeching sound? And if you're a parent, it's just like your radar goes up and you're like, oh, danger, must protect. But then you realize, oh, it's just a kid losing it. You know, the kid like wanted Cocoa Puffs or something. The mom says no, and they just drive on the ground. They're screaming. They're throwing a temper tantrum, right? When you look at this, Jonah is throwing a temper tantrum. God, I had a script. Read the lines, God, it's a good script, but you didn't. I'd rather die than be alive. And just like a parent comes down to the level of their kid and tries to reason with them, God comes to them, verse four, the Lord said, do you have a good reason to be angry? Is it well for you to be angry? It's almost like God's saying, really Jonah? Really? You're angry, you're upset? Jonah, you're acting like a man-child. How many of you know man-child? How many of you are sitting next to a man-child? No, I'm just playing, don't do that. Jonah, you're a man-child, you're temper tantrum. Do you have a good reason to be angry? Look at this, verse five, Jonah doesn't say a thing. Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself. Now this is not just a quick, you know, a couple of twigs and branches, a makeshift kind of shelter. Jonah is planning to camp out here. So he created a pretty good structure here. That's what that word shelter means. And so he's going to camp out. He's standing at the east side of the of the of the of the city. Typically, that refers to the entrance of the city. We don't know if he's you know where he's at elevation wise, but most likely he's far enough so he can kind of see what's going on. And he sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city and what would transpire, what would come to pass. and so You know, I'm still God's prophet, and I'm still a servant of God, and God will see the logic of my argument. And so until then, I'm just gonna camp myself here, and I'm just gonna wait and see what God does. And he's waiting, and waiting. Don't know how long verse 6 so the Lord God appointed a plant now the word appointed He's gonna use a number of times, but that's the same word. He used back in chapter 1 at the end of that chapter 1 where he says he appointed a fish a large fish to swallow up Jonah basically he's Selecting something for a task He's using you know, he used the the the fish to swallow up Jonah to rescue Jonah here He's selecting a plant he's He's growing a plant supernaturally. He says so the Lord appointed a plant and it grew over Jonah To be a shade over his head. So evidently his his hut maybe had didn't have enough protection from the heat It was the desert after all And it grew over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver or to rescue him from his discomfort, from the disagreeable heat of the desert sun. And look what it says, and Jonah was not just happy. He was extremely happy. He was greatly happy. He was exceedingly happy. He was rejoicing glad about the plant. Now, the Hebrew word he uses for plant is specific. Some people say it stands for like a zucchini plant and other plants, but really its emphasis is the fact that it's a small plant compared to other large plants. It's a tiny plant. You know, again, we don't know exactly what does that mean, but it's not that significant. And Jonah is exceedingly happy about this little tiny plant that's shading him. Again, big contrast, very ironic. Again, Jonah almost reads like a satire. There's irony, there's surprise, there's shock, and it's sometimes comedic here. But in chapter three, God works, and he works in this great city, Nineveh, and he causes a really great thing. The people repent. not just of the people, but even the leadership of that city repent. It's a great thing that happens. And that's something Jonah should be rejoicing about. Oh, this is awesome, God. Instead, beginning of chapter four, he's greatly displeased. But when it comes to this little tiny plant, he's greatly, exceedingly happy. So this is, again, we're scratching our head. This is so odd. Jonah, are you kidding me? This is not what a servant of God does. This is not how they behave. You're a prophet of the Lord, come on. Think about it, you know, you think of like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie, you know, the hosting like Greg Laurie, the Harvest Crusades. If you've ever been there, it's huge. They do it in a stadium and people, you know, presents the gospel. Imagine if thousands upon thousands of people come to Christ. You know, Greg Laurie's doing the Harvest Crusade. Thousands upon thousands come to Christ, not just the people in the audience, but people in the neighborhood. They hear the gospel leaders and important officials. They hear the gospel, the mayor, the governor. They hear the gospel. They come to Christ. And Greg Laurie standing on the side saying, I don't like this at all. All those sinners getting saved and receiving forgiveness and being baptized and enjoying the church. This is just wicked. This is not a good thing. God, this displeases me. Oh, thank you for my ice cold latte. I'm very happy for this. That's what's going on here. Here's something that Jonah should be rejoicing in. Sinners coming to repentance, coming to the true saving knowledge of God, Yahweh, the creator of the universe. And instead, he's greatly displeased. God, what you're doing is wrong. It's not just. They don't deserve it. We deserve it. Not them. Thank you for the plant. Thank you. God's, again, God, if you think, God, just blow Jonah up right now. You know, just burn him on fire. He's just so annoying right now. God is so gracious to Jonah. He puts up this plant, and he's trying to get Jonah's attention, verse seven, but God appointed a worm. When dawn came the next day, and the worm attacked, literally, it struck the plant, and it withered. Verse eight. Oh, yeah, I gotta go. Oh, let's try that again. That was a good idea. OK, so God appointed a worm. Dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. Oh, verse eight. When the sun came up, God appointed. So again, there's the word again, appointing God's getting things, using things in his creation to for to get Jonah's attention. God appointed a scorching east wind. Scorching is an interesting Hebrew word. Hard to nail down. It kind of relates to when people are planting. They're plowing their fields, they're cutting in the ground, they're cutting through the ground. So this idea, it's a wind that cuts right through you. Have you ever been in the desert? You know, he even says that, a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint. You ever been to the desert like Arizona during the summer? 115, 120 degrees? It's like, I didn't know this. That's what they consider their off season. The year we actually moved up here, Brianna, we hadn't gone on a vacation. We're like, let's go to Arizona. It's summertime. You know, I think it was like in August, you know, of Arizona. And we're like, look, we can get an amazing room for like 40 bucks. It's like there's a reason. It's like it's like hell had a cough. You know cold and coughed up some phlegm and that's Arizona during the summertime. I mean, you know, that's just it's just that that it's So here's that scorching east wind Sun beating down on Jonah and he becomes faint And look at his response and he begged with all his soul to die Again, saying, death is better to me than life. Again, really Jonah, verse nine. Then God said to Jonah, do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant? Really Jonah? Again, plant, little plant. You're honestly angry about this? And Jonah replied, I have good reason to be angry, even to death. And in Hebrew, that's actually a Hebrew idiom. That means I'm angry to the extreme. I'm so spitting angry or you figure out another phrase. I'm just so angry. Then the Lord said. You had compassion on the plant. Now, the word there for compassion, it's kind of an unfortunate translation. It's actually a word, it's one of those words, again, that's hard to really pin down, but it's the idea of being moved to a response. And so it's the idea of like, better translation would probably be you were troubled. You were troubled, something happened that troubled you regarding this plant, this little plant for which you did not work. You didn't labor, you didn't plant the seeds, you didn't till the ground. and which you did not cause to grow. I did that Jonah, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Verse 11, should I not have compassion? Should I not be moved towards compassion on Nineveh, the great city, that significant city? Why is it significant? Because there's a lot of people in it. in which there are more than 120 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals. Now that phrase, who do not know the difference between their right and left, some scholars will actually say that's another Hebrew idiom to refer to children. There's really not a lot of evidence to prove that. I mean, the actual phrase, who do not know the difference between their right and left, we don't have that anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible, what we do have, though, is that phrase right and left. And when you look at the book of Deuteronomy, that phrase, you know, turning to the right and to the left, it has to refer to obeying God's commands. So when you're reading throughout the book of Deuteronomy, God's saying, this is my command. I want you to obey it. And I don't want you to go either to the right or to the left. I want you to stay focused. You know, this is what I want you to do. This is how I want you to behave. And I don't want you to swerve. I don't want you to swerve to the right or the left. I want you to stand focused. And so, yeah, I mean, maybe there's some more information that's going to come out that shows that this is referring to children. Could be in which case 120 kids not counting their parents. That's a huge city. Amen to city. Hundred twenty thousand. That's right. Hundred twenty thousand. So that's a huge city. But it could also be referring to individuals who are just lost. They don't know their right from their left. They are completely lost. Jonah, shouldn't I have compassion on them? Shouldn't I be moved to pity towards them? Here's the point. God cares for Nineveh because he loves people. Remember in chapter three, he refers to Nineveh as that great city. Here he says again, Nineveh, the great city, that word great doesn't just mean expansive or large or huge. It could also mean significant or important. And again, chapter three, it actually says Nineveh, which is a great to God, a city great to God. It's important, it's significant to God. Why? Because there are people in there, people made in the image of God, people who are lost, who need to hear the truth, people whom God loves. That's who God is. God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. He desires that none should perish. But contrast, Jonah doesn't care. He doesn't care about Nineveh. God, wipe it out. Why? Because he doesn't ultimately love the people. I don't love them. And it doesn't really give us a lot of details to the reason why Jonah didn't like the city of Nineveh. But I mean, again, through history and other biblical accounts, we realize that Syria was wicked, was evil, and they were the enemies of Israel. And in fact, God used them, God referred to them in Isaiah as a rod that he uses to judge the people of Israel because of their unfaithfulness to him. So these people were bad, wicked, tough people. Jonah might have been aware of villages with friends, maybe even family members, where the Assyrians attacked and just wiped them all out. And so he probably had a grudge against them. We don't really know. He doesn't love these people. compared to himself he's you know saying well you know those people don't deserve your mercy your kindness but I do remember we looked at in chapter 2 the prayer there in fact go to go to chapter 2 real quick chapter 2 he's praying And chapter 2, verse 8, he brings this up. He says, those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness. Those who regard, those who live, who devote themselves to these idols, these worthless nothings, because that's what these idols are compared to God, reject God's loving kindness in their life. Verse 9, but I, What am I gonna do? I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed, I will pay. I will finish, I will complete. God, Nineveh are those people who regard worthless idols. They reject your chesed in their lives. But I serve you. I sacrifice to you. I make vows and complete them. Not those people. Again, Jonah doesn't care about Nineveh because Jonah doesn't love the people. Instead, he loves this ridiculous little plant. And really, it should be offensive to you. A little plant versus a bunch of people who are lost, completely lost. They don't know their right hand from their left. Now again, this book centers around Jonah, but its ultimate focus is on God, who God is, the kind of God he is. God is a God who pursues. God is a God who has mercy, love, who's moved to compassion, who relents from disasters. He is a God of grace. And Jonah really is just the pathetic prophet. We have a great God and a pathetic prophet. God is really great. And it reminds me of, well, when Jesus was on the cross, and he was being brutalized, and he's hanging there, he's in pain, he's being shamed. People may be spitting at him, just laughing at him. And what is his response to them? Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. Lord, they don't know the difference between their right and their left hand. They're lost. That's who God is. God is that loving God. He loves people. And we're called to follow him. And he has told us that we are to go, as we're going out in this world, as we're living our lives, to make disciples. There's a famous comedic, I don't know what you call it, a comedy magician duo called Penn and Teller. They've been around for a long, long time. The main guy, literally he's the main voice of Penn and Teller, Penn, is a self-proclaimed atheist. And many years ago, he was just filming himself, I think it was on his phone or on a camera, just kind of explaining something that just happened at his show, and he put it on his YouTube channel. And he said, you know, he just finished a show and he had a backstage time with some of the guests of the performance. And this one guy came up to him and says, you know, Pan, I love what you guys do. You guys are so hilarious. You guys are such great, you know, magicians and illusionists. And it's just, oh, I've been watching you ever since I was little. And I just want to say I love you. And I just want to say God loves you. And here's a Bible. I wanted you to give you a Bible. And Penn's response was, thank you. He didn't say, oh, you idiot. Don't you know I'm an atheist? No, he said, thank you. And on his video, he's saying, I actually appreciate that. I appreciate individuals who have convictions, who are firm in their belief, and they actually wanna share it. He went on to say, how much do you have to hate someone not to tell them the gospel? This is coming from a atheist. How much do you have to hate someone not to tell them the gospel? How much did Jonah have to hate? How about us? Again, sometimes we are Jonah. Sometimes we're like Jonah. God said, I want you to make disciples. You're like, no, I don't want to. It's hard, it's inconvenient, it's not comfortable, or all right, God, I'll go ahead and share the gospel, but I'm gonna only share it with those I like. I have a boss that I like, I have some coworkers that I like, but that neighbor, oh, Lord, have mercy. Get them, God. They deserve fire and brimstone. know sometimes we can be like Jonah I'm gonna tell you this is really really convicting to me you know we're again we're called to make disciples how are we doing how are we doing like I said very convicting for me I was asking myself how am I doing with my neighbors across the street next to me. How am I doing to that person that I saw at the at the store at Buy Mart who looked sad? How am I? You know, if we see a kid walking in the middle of the street, you know, chasing after their ball and a big semis come in, the semi doesn't. So do we go to the kid? Oh, watch it, kid. Heads up. What do we do? We do everything in our power to run after, try to grab that kid. out of the street. How many people are in the proverbial street getting ready to get hit by this semi? They don't know the difference between their right hand or their left. They're lost. I mean, let's get a little bit even more convicting. We think about our president. When we think about the people in Congress who are making decisions, CDC, Bill Gates, our own governor, Our mayor. I mean, how much do we have to hate someone not to tell them the gospel? I mean, do we? God loves these people. God loves these people. God wants our president to come to the saving knowledge of the gospel. He wants him to get saved. He wants other politicians and congressmen to get saved. Because right now, they're headed for hell, you guys. If they were to die right now, they would go to hell. Some of us may go, oh, good God, they deserve it. People like Epstein, oh, they traffic children. They abuse children. Get them, God, kill them, send them to hell. They're bad people. And God's like, you're not so hot either. You deserve the exact same thing. Well, no, God, I I never did anything. I never did sex trafficking. I never did drug trafficking. I've never done anything bad. You sinned. You lied, you stole, you got angry. You lusted after that girl who's not your wife. You deserve the same thing. Again, whoo! It's just arrows in the heart, convicting. Again, this is how it ends. What is our response? Again, the point is Jonah was a pathetic prophet, but God is a great God. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus brings up Jonah, and we looked at this, and Jesus refers to, he says, something greater than Jonah is here. Behold, he says, take notice, something greater than Jonah has come. And Jesus is definitely better than Jonah. Jonah hated the people of Nineveh. Jesus loves the world. Jonah wanted God to curse the people of Nineveh. Jesus wanted God to forgive the people when he was being crucified. Jonah cared about saving himself from the heat. Jesus cared about saving sinners at the expense of his own life. Jonah was thrown into the sea. Jesus came willingly down to earth. Jonah did not show mercy and grace. Our Lord constantly, consistently bestows mercy and grace. Jesus is better than Jonah. Do you know him today? Are you really serving him today? Let's go ahead and pray Father I want to thank you for this word it is I Lord it is a spiritual 2x4 to my head it is spiritual error arrows right down to my soul as Hebrew says the Word of God is living and active sharper than any to its Lord Lord I done got poked by this simple sometimes hilarious and silly little book Amazing truth Lord, sometimes I am Jonah. Sometimes I put expectations on you, and when you fail those expectations, I get angry at you. And I say things are not fair, and I have a temper tantrum, Lord. I become a child man. Forgive me. Forgive us. Lord, sometimes we are like Jonah in the sense that we care more about the little things in our lives, the little plants in our life, instead of the great city, instead of the people around our life. Forgive us for that. I mean, Jesus, you said that you are with us and you'll never forsake us and that we are to live our lives and make disciples. We're good at coming to Bible studies, and we're coming to church, and maybe tithing, and singing a couple of songs and hymns, and maybe even praying, but are we passionate about saving those who are lost? Well, actually, we don't save them, Lord, that's your department, but are we passionate about reaching those people, proclaiming the gospel? Or do we love our little things in our life more than the people that you created? Forgive us, Lord. You are amazing. You are worthy of all praise. You are worthy of our devotion. You are worthy of all of ourselves in service to you. Help us. Holy Spirit, help us renew the joy of our salvation, renew the passion, the fire to make disciples, to love people, to pray for people. Lord, there may be individuals here who have been hurt by a number of people, hurt by maybe physically, mentally, verbally. They've been hurt by individuals, maybe a lot of individuals, and that hurt has now turned to hate. Lord, convict us of that hate. Convict us. May we forgive. May we bestow mercy and grace, because that's who you are. You're the God who bestows mercy and grace. You're the God who is patient, long-suffering. You call us to bear with one another. May we do so. Thank you for this word, Lord. Change us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.