I will read the whole chapter. This is God's Word. Please give it your full attention as it is read. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarsus, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? Jonah went out to the city and set to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left hand and also much cattle. Thus far, the reading of God's word. Please pray with me. Oh, Lord, grow us in grace this evening. Cut us to the heart. Convict us of sin. Use your prophet Jonah so that we may see Christ, that we may know our sinfulness and look to our Savior. We're thankful for the compassion you've showed us. And may you work a sanctification in us now. Amen. Well, Chapter 3 ended on a happy note, and we think the story should end there. The Ninevites repent, the Lord doesn't destroy the city, and then there's Chapter 4. And much like a movie where things don't end well, issues aren't resolved, and it leaves an uneasy feeling in your stomach, the Book of Jonah ends strangely. It's a puzzling and a mysterious ending. In the opening verses of chapter four, we find Jonah is angry, angry at God's compassion for the Ninevites. Jonah was a passionate man. He wasn't compassionate, but he's a passionate man who wanted Nineveh to receive the wrath of God. Really, Jonah's acting like a big baby who doesn't get what he wants. We all know the reaction of a child just told no. They get upset. And as Sinclair Ferguson says, they get in a huff. And Jonah is in a huff with God. Just when we think Jonah had come so far in this story, we'd expect him to be rejoicing with the Ninevites. Rather, he essentially says, God, I knew you'd save those wicked Ninevites. It's quite the opposite of what we're used to. Usually people are ignorant of God's character and they sin by making God into something he is not Jonah's the opposite Jonah knows God's character. He gives what like four characteristics in verse two Jonah knows God is merciful and he sins by really not liking it. He sins by getting angry over who God is So really more why is Jonah angry? For starters, he doesn't like God's mercy for sinners. Not that Jonah would say he was perfect, but he might say, come on now, there are sinners and there are sinners. And Jonah wants his idea of justice, which is wrath for the sinners. Many Christians and non-Christians think this way. We say, well, I'm a pretty good spiritual person. You know, I got some issues to work out. But those people over there, They're evil and only fit for destruction. We often get fooled. We think we're pretty good people deserving of heaven, while hell's reserved for those really evil Hitler types and bin Laden types. Jonah should remind us, we're not good people. We have nothing to bring to the table with God. We are the evil bin Laden deserving of hell. We are the sinners, all of us. And in realizing this, we see our need for mercy and grace from our loving God. Jonah's attitude can be best illustrated by Jesus's parable of the prodigal son. Jesus tells the story of a son who demands his inheritance early. And he gets it and goes off and he blows it on this brief, sinful lifestyle, and then he just hits rock bottom. And he longs to eat the slop that the pigs eat. So he decides to go home and be a servant of his father. But when his father sees him, the father comes running and embraces his son and kisses his son, calls his servants to put a fancy robe on his son and a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. The community holds a great feast celebrating the return of the son. And the father exclaims, for this is my son. He was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and there We stop and we rejoice over God's grace and mercy for the sinners this great picture Jesus gives us the sinner coming home But to get to the point of the parable we read on And in doing so we learn of the older brother the angry older brother And he's mad he never demanded his inheritance Never had a feast thrown for him and he complains. He says look these many years I have served you and I never disobeyed your command Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends But when the son of yours who has devoured your property with prostitutes You killed the fattened calf for him. I Can relate to that. Maybe you can relate to the anger. I mean sinful anger, but You can relate and do you see Jonah? Also as the older brother Jonah is so angry. He's ready to die over the mercy and grace of God Jesus began This parable this group of parables here by saying there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance and Here is the joy of salvation. You want to understand the heart of God, you must understand rejoicing over redemption. Like the older brother, Jonah thought it was better for the Ninevites to suffer God's wrath. Jonah wasn't considering that it's far more glorious for God to forgive the Ninevites, for God to give them faith and give them repentance. Jonah is also angry because of his opposition to Gentile salvation. This is why Jonah points out, while I was still in my country, Jonah's fine with the Israelite repentance, but not the pagan Ninevites. How could God give Israel's blessings to the Gentiles? Gentiles that have been so violent and cruel to God's people. This view too can be corrected with the parable the parable of the laborers and the vineyard. A vineyard owner hired some men to work all day for a denarius, and he hired some other men to work just the last hour of the day also for a denarius. The first group grumbled, these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But the owner replied, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree to work for me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give the last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? Jonah's begrudging God's generosity to the Ninevites. Here you have God's people for so long the Israelites and then all of a sudden the Assyrians come on the picture, right? Because none of us part of a serious so they come on the scene and they're mean to the Israelites and they're you know, they're killing them they're waging war at points and And now God's saving them Jonah's angry he's thinking that God's cheating Jonah's forefathers the ones who labored all day in the scorching Sun and Jonah's also angry over God's sovereign will. The Lord asked Jonah, do you do well to be angry? And Jonah basically says, yes, I do. He even asked God to take his life. Jonah's reaction to God's grace. Jonah's very proud. He thinks he knows how to glorify God better than God himself. Our shorter catechism, question one, you all know it. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Our catechism doesn't stop. It goes on, it doesn't leave us to invent ways to glorify God. So we read question two. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him? The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him. Jonah was ignoring the only rule that God has given us so that we may know how to glorify Him. Jonah finds himself hating the sovereign God, hating God's sovereignty, and hating the doctrines of grace And in Romans 9, we find two objections to God's sovereign grace. Number one is that it's not fair, people say. To which Paul replies, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So you see, don't confuse the categories. When we talk about salvation, we're talking about mercy. not justice, you don't want justice, you want mercy. Andrew Moody, when his children would object and say, dad, something's not fair, that's not fair, his response would be, if life were fair, we'd all go to hell. His children are gonna have that stuck in their heads all their life. But it's so true, you want justice, you want fairness, if life were fair, we'd all go to hell. the justice, we want the mercy of God. We have nothing to bring. If anyone's to be saved, it is to be God's doing and not our own. We don't know better than God. The second objection that Paul deals with in Romans 9 is that we shouldn't be blamed. How can you blame me for what a sovereign God decrees? Well, Paul replies, who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Reminds me when I was a kid watching Nick News and there would be a segment called who's in charge here I think yes, that's the question to pose to Jonah who's in charge here Is that the sovereign Lord creator of all things or is it sinful foolish Jonah? Jonathan Brack when he was working at men's warehouse years ago And he tells a story. There was a store meeting, and a guy was saying some anti-Christian, you know, I don't like the Bible, da, da, da. And Jonathan says, well, hmm, who should I believe, so-and-so that works at men's warehouse or God? Kind of a smart-alecky answer, but I like it. And that's the point. And that's what you heard this morning in Dan's Sunday school class. Who's going to be your authority? Who's going to be in charge here? You. the sinner, the erroneous creation, or God, the sovereign creator. And God's ways are clashing with Jonah's ways, and Jonah's ready to die over it, ready to die over the sovereign grace of God. Rather than talking back, it's much better to simply listen to God as he speaks. We shouldn't follow Jonah's example of trying to make God in our image. Rather, we should follow Job's example that we find in Job 40 verse four. When face to face with God, Job says, behold, I'm a small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. We must be humble before the word of God, which tells us how to glorify God. rather than trying to make God more like us with our sinful opinions. Because the wisdom of God is much greater than the wisdom of man. Now, for all the bad stuff we can say about Jonah, there's some good in chapter four. Remember at the beginning of the book, when God's word came to Jonah, Jonah runs, he's out. And the problem we found with that is that Jonah didn't pray or he didn't turn to any wise counsel. He just left. We can say, at the very least, at least he's turning to God in prayer here. Granted, there was much sin in his prayer, but he is growing in grace to the point of talking to God. And remember, as bad as Jonah is, he isn't God's enemy. He is a child of God. He is taking all things to God Even if it is quite sinful, Hugh Martin says, in every prayer of God's children, there is some mixture of sin. And he says, concerning Jonah, the mixture here is very conspicuous and very alarming. Nonetheless, there is growth. Jonah, who used to flee from God, is now fleeing to God. And now, to look to the second part of chapter 4 verses 5 through 11 we find that Jonah he's not getting it so the Lord shows Jonah his falling Jonah goes out and he builds a booth for some shade and apparently he's a poor craftsman because the Lord appoints a plant to grow up over him for shade and you know Jonah's happy and in chapter 1 You recall the Lord appointed a fish to deliver Jonah from drowning. Well, here, the Lord's appointing a plant to deliver Jonah from the hot, arid desert climate. And this makes Jonah glad. However, at dawn the next day, the Lord appoints a worm to attack the plant, and Jonah's shade is gone. And again, the Lord appoints a great, hot, scorching wind to blow on him until he's faint. And again, Jonah wants to die. And so God asked the question in verse nine, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And Jonah said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle? To put it humanly, God's had enough. And now he's using an argument against Jonah called from the lesser to the greater. Because you saw when Jonah's angry over the repentance of the Ninevites and he's angry over God saving them, God says, do you do well to be angry for that? And Jonah doesn't get it. So you have this kind of weird plant story. And then again, God says, well, do you do well to be angry from the plant, the lesser to the greater, the plant to the people? So the Lord is showing Jonah that if he cares so much for this plant, how much more should he care for people? We could put the questions like this. How did the plant come up? Was it out of grace or out of Jonah's merit? Did Jonah, Do something to deserve the plant? No, the plant grows up out of grace. The plant was a gift, and Jonah is grieved over losing it. The plant came quickly. Jonah didn't create it, he didn't plant it, he didn't care for it. Now compare that with Nineveh, which grew over many years, and the Lord did care for them. Right, he's the one that gave them air to breathe, and clothes to wear, and food to eat. Shouldn't God have compassion on Nineveh? We know the Lord, the Creator, can do whatever He wants with His creation. He can show mercy to Nineveh if He chooses. He can kill the plants if He chooses. Who is Jonah to judge the Lord? The Lord shows mercy to whom He shows mercy and compassion to whom He shows compassion. And we learn a lot about who God is in this book. We're interested in what was Jonah really like? He's this big ball of contradiction. Maybe it makes it easy to relate to him. But really, our question should be, what is God really like? What do we learn about God from the book of Jonah? Well, we see that he is sovereign, he is holy, he is mighty, he is merciful, and he is gracious. All attributes we've seen over the last five, six months from this book. Now, Jonah, He did not want to be reconciled to God's will. But what about us? Do we resent God's goodness to others? And I suspect the coming years of seminary can be this way for me, something I'll have to struggle with. I bet I'll meet men who don't have to work, who don't, who get to simply be students. What will my reaction be? Will I resent God's goodness to others? Or will I rejoice with them? Or what about you? Will you be joyful over another when the Lord shows them grace? Or will you be angry like Jonah? The book of Jonah ends with a question about compassion. Shouldn't God show compassion to his creation? We don't know how Jonah answers. How will we answer? Will we have compassion on others as God has had compassion on us? When the Lord shows compassion to those that are worse than us, will we rejoice or will we get mad? Sinclair Ferguson points out that Jonah is structured much like a parable. And he states, for you are Jonah, I am Jonah. We recognize ourselves in the story of this man's life. We stand together in need of the mercy of God to enable us from this day on to be obedient to his commands and to live to the praise of his glorious grace. And ultimately, when we dwell upon the compassion of God, we dwell upon our savior, Jesus Christ on the cross, loving his people to death. we find the mercy and grace of God culminating at the cross, where we find salvation from God's wrath. Praise God that he's not like Jonah, but rather that the Lord has compassion upon us in our pitiable state. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we pray that you would grant us more repentance and that we would rejoice over the goodness and the mercy and the grace that you show to others, recognizing that all we have is from you. We don't deserve anything, so that we would be content and happy with the things that we do have. And I pray that you would crush our autonomous spirit and that we would make you our ultimate authority, that we would never think that we know better than you, Lord. I pray that we would always be reminded of the great salvation that we also didn't deserve but you have given us. Focus us on you, Lord. I ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.