We have been telling the story of Jonah over the last few months, slowly, but we just sang this song. This is my story. And I hope this morning that as you sang that song, you also felt as I did, as Pastor Brian so eloquently prayed in the beginning, in the very beginning of the service, prayed the gospel, I hope this morning and pray that this story of Jonah is just not a story, but that you know Jesus. And it's always easy to assume when we preachers preach that the preaching is maybe the most important part of the service. If you knew, and I was thinking of Andrea too, I don't wanna speak for her, but you know, when you play or sing or preach or speak or teach, you realize how flawed you really are. And if you have any senses at all, you come to those and realize, how can God use me? Amen? I think anybody that has ever done any of those types of things, you realize that until you think that he wants us to. He wants us to speak his word. And it doesn't mean that I have to be a preacher or a teacher or a musician or any special person to do that. We can all do that. And there are people around us everywhere that need to hear our story. They may not have a story of their own. Many people don't because they don't know Jesus. And it is all about, as we sang in the very first hymn, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. People need to know that Jesus died, shed his blood, rose again. If we're not telling them that story, what else is there to tell? We could share the stories like Jonah and Job and all those things in the New Testament stories and all that, but then they're just stories. If it's not all about Jesus and his shed blood and his resurrection, that is not only the beginning, that is the end. And so I hope this morning that this sermon is not a sermon, but it is all in worship to the Lord. And somehow if you don't know Jesus, it would draw you to him. If you do know him, that it would even draw you closer to him and realize it really is all about God. I was sharing with someone earlier The more I study, the older I get, I can't, I just, not that I'm trying to get away from it, but it won't let the grip go. That God is a jealous God. He wants praise. And this may not sound, and I've said this before, this may not sound good, but He is going to get it. And as we see in the Old Testament and New Testament scriptures, he is much more pleased when it comes from a heart that's willing. But many times we know that that is not the case, that we're stubborn. And even as we read these words, we say, how could somebody get angry at God? I think we probably do that too. I'm sure we do. We don't like the way God operates. sometimes, and that's okay. He can handle it. Don't worry about it. He'll bring us all around. And I think if there's anything that comes out of the book of Jonah, it's that principle. And if we could just realize that, and many times we do, and when God receives the glory, we're such more happy beings, aren't we? We really are. Well, I think I could invite anybody up here. Let's see, who shall I pick, Pastor Brian? And you could tell the story of Jonah, right? We know how it goes. And I often say when I preach that that's a disadvantage that many of us have that know the scriptures. If you study and read and so on, we become all too familiar many times with the stories in the scriptures. And I think sometimes that can be a disadvantage because we do what? We assume and then we begin to take things for granted sometimes. But be that as it may, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, tells him to go to Nineveh to preach the gospel and preach the word of God to them and he doesn't want to do it. decides to get on a ship and go in the opposite direction. If he would have made the full journey, he would have been over 2,500 miles away from where he's supposed to be when God called him to go to Nineveh. But during this trip on the ship, we know that Jonah has found out that he is running from God and not that the sailors care one way or another, but they decided to try to rectify the problem as God brings this massive storm into all of these individuals' lives, not just Jonah, and they finally discover that he is the problem that is causing all of this turmoil in their lives, and they decide, at his request, to toss him overboard, Jonah knowing God and knowing how God operated, that it would stop the storm, and it did. Of course, Jonah ends up in a fish's stomach for three days, and all kinds of questions arise there for us, and I'm sure for him as well, but as God and Jonah have a conversation, and we'd love to be privy to that, wouldn't we? Jonah is eventually found to be repentant of his actions and his heart, and the Lord responds and spits him out on the shore, and away Jonah goes to Nineveh. He preaches the gospel. He doesn't get, God says they're gonna be destroyed within 40 days if they don't repent. It doesn't appear to take very long as Jonah gets about a day's journey into Nineveh and realizes that people are ready to hear the gospel, the good news, surprise, right? And they do and scores of people, seemingly the entire city, comes to know God, Jehovah God, at the preaching of Jonah's message. And there again, we'd love to know what that message was, wouldn't we? But God in his infinite wisdom doesn't tell us. It's not that important to us. It's important to the city of Nineveh. We have a clue to that, I think, as we study the scriptures, is that God wants the people of Nineveh to know who he is. Amen? And so Jonah does that. He preaches to them. They get scores of people come to know him. And as chapter three closes, we find out that Jonah is not very happy with God's decision. Now we can wrap this up, and I think we can assume that when Jonah paid this fare to run away from God, I'm gonna assume, and probably a safe assumption, I know I'm getting in trouble for that, I'm not sure Jonah tallied up all that it would cost him. And boy, there's a principle there for us, isn't there? That when we decide to do the opposite of what God calls us to do, there's a price to be paid down the road. Now we may not know that, may not sense that, may not acknowledge that, but there is a price to pay. We're gonna take a few moments this morning and look into chapter four. I was going to do two sermons, but I thought you guys have had enough of the book of Jonah and decided that we would close it this morning and begin something anew next time. But Jonah has some anger issues. And I think that chapter four, I always think this, the Spirit of God penned the scriptures, every word. I know I may be old fashioned, but I believe that and I believe that the scriptures teach that. Every word is put there for a reason. I know we have different translations, but in our human nature, who we are, God, through the Spirit of God, will help us to understand really what should be there and what shouldn't. Left in the flesh, we can't do that. And I think, by the way, and I'll probably get in trouble saying this, but I think that's probably why we have so many different translations and transliterations, because man has always wanted to know that he knows what the Bible says, Without the spirit of God, none of us can understand it. And we know that's accurate because the scriptures tell us that. So we're gonna rely on that. But I believe that chapter four, and of course, when the scriptures were written, we know this, there were no chapter divisions and verse divisions and all that stuff. It was added much later so at least we could follow it or most of us probably never read the Bible. If it was just one big lump, it'd be very, very difficult. And so as this was penned by the Spirit of God, he knew exactly how he wanted to end this book. And it is so appropriate because it truly shows the heart of Jonah. And I think it's also good for us because it can really shine a light on our hearts as well. That when we do not wanna do what God has called us to do, we will pay a price. And the unfortunate thing about that is, is that usually there are other people involved that pay that price along with us. And I think that's the sad part, but we probably all have been there and experienced that. But Jonah does have some anger issues. He always has, evidently. I don't know that that was necessarily a trait of his, but I think that's in every man's heart. Sinners saved by grace. We always will be until we meet Jesus face to face someday. And then we won't be that anymore. Even so, as John said, even so come Lord Jesus, right? But he thought he had a reason in chapter four with all that had gone wrong and all that God had done. He thought he had reason to be angry about what God had done. And the scriptures tell us that it greatly displeased Jonah. Now I'm reading from the New American Standard and I realized through study that some of the other translations are not gonna have some of these words, but the Hebrew text will bear this out. I'm quite sure that Jonah was greatly displeased with the situation that he was, that he sort of felt like God had put him in and how God was operating and he became angry. I mean, his mind was exceedingly distressed in a state of terror as if Jonah was afraid of what God might continue to do and to justify his actions, he became angry. Now this anger that Jonah has is the idea of when you start a fire, you know, and you get it to the point where it just poof, poofs up and you realize, hey, I did it. You know, you do a bonfire or whatever and you keep trying and keep trying and it just won't go and then finally it always, it catches fire. That's the idea here in the Hebrew text. In other words, Jonah blows up at God. He doesn't like, he's not really happy with what God has done here. Later on in the text, in chapter four, we'll find out he knew. He knew what God was gonna do. And that makes it even more complex when you think about it, what the human nature is and what it is capable of not only thinking, but doing. So he blows up at God and Jonah is frustrated with God that he might pardon a Gentile nation like the Ninevites. So we know the history, you can read the history. Nineveh was a wicked city and not only a wicked city, but hated God's chosen people and wanted to do them harm. And they did, and they would, by the way, later on in history, you can't stop man's evil nature. I don't know what Jonah was thinking, but somehow we think that we can somehow. And so Jonah didn't want to be a part of seeing a nation like Nineveh, who hated his own people, come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. God forbid that there could be somebody on the earth that was worse than I was when I came to know Jesus. God forbid. But guess what? There are. And there are some on the other end that we look at and go, wow, why did they need Jesus? They were near perfect. They were good people. You ever been there? Sure you have. On both ends of the spectrum. But we all need the Lord. Would Jonah realize that and understand that? Well, the book will close and it doesn't give us any indication that he ever does. And I'm sure that the Spirit of God had reason for that. But I'm sure that he, like many of his brothers of Israel, feared and hated Nineveh with his whole soul to see Nineveh get the punishment that they deserve because of their wickedness toward the country that he loved, cause rejoicing to Jonah's soul if he could only see that. But he's not going to see that. Now, I'm not a psychiatrist. And I don't play one, but I do like that field of study. And I would want to know what makes him think this way. I don't know, I just would. But the scriptures doesn't tell us. What we do know is that he felt this way. He took comfort in that both for himself and for his people that God might, as we'll see a little bit later, change his mind, relent, and punish the Ninevites for who they were and for what they had done to his people. Jonah is sort of the, someone said Jonah is both the elder son and the unmerciful servant of the Old Testament. Remember in Luke chapter 15, the parable of the prodigal son and the end result, when the son leaves and becomes the prodigal son and then decides later on after many years to come back and the father rejoices and how does the brother respond? Father, how could you do this? How could you do such a thing? That's Jonah, that's Jonah. We read that story and have no problem understanding the feeling of that older brother, do we? And it's sort of like the parable of the unmerciful servant, remember? He is forgiven much debt by his master, and then he goes out and he finds those that owe him and they cannot pay. And what does he do? He puts them in prison, causes problems for them. He does not want to forgive those that are indebted to him. and has problem with his master. That is Jonah. Did Jonah feel as though he had betrayed his people by preaching to Nineveh and possibly seeing them turn to his God? The displeasure and anger that Jonah has prompts a prayer from Jonah. There is one thing about Jonah that we're noticing in this very short book. He eventually does know how to pray. I wish that we could learn that from Jonah. I hope that we can. Prayer truly is a lifeline to the Father. If you're hoping somehow that prayer is a magic dust, you can forget about it. I don't think that's what Scripture teaches, but Jonah does understand. Now hear this, hear this. Jonah does understand he can talk to God at any time. in any condition, in any circumstance, no matter if he's 2,500 miles away spiritually from God, or he's right next door. And so Jonah prayed in verse two to the Lord, and he said, now we may not like his prayer, but God does. Always wants to communicate with us. If we shake our fist at God and say, God, I don't like the way you're doing things, he still loves to hear from his children. When we see the dialogue that God has in chapter four with Jonah, it ought to soften our hearts, because this truly is the father, the father in action in Jonah chapter four. Well, here we go. Jonah prays to the Lord and he said, Lord, please, Was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Now Jonah comes up in 1 Kings, I'm trying to think what chapter, anyway, I'll probably mess it up, but there is another passage of scripture, I think it's 1 Kings, where Jonah's in Gethsemane, and he's mentioned in a couple of lines. And that very well may be where Jonah had this conversation with God. But anyway, this is what he says to God. He said, God, isn't it what I said? In other words, Jonah's gonna say, I told you so, God. I think this is what he's getting at. That I said while I was still in my own country, therefore, in order to forestall. Now, some of your translations may not have this in there. I don't think the King James does. I think a couple others do not, some do. But I think Jonah hits at the heart of it, doesn't he? Because that's exactly what he was doing. He's trying to put God off until hopefully maybe God would relent and change his mind and not punish Nineveh. Even if they didn't repent, that's the idea here, that he would change his mind, even if they didn't or did, didn't matter to him, that he would change his mind. But he said, that's why I put this off and I fled to Tarsus for I knew, and we're going to bring this back around in just a moment, I knew that you were a gracious, compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and one who relents concerning calamity. Now Jonah has a reflective moment, isn't that great? Just him and God now talking. He has this moment with God and he attempts to tell him, you know, I told you so, God. Sort of sounds familiar to Job. If you wanna turn over there briefly, it's just a few books back the other way. If you'll turn there, Job chapter 40. And you may know this already. Job is another familiar story to most of us. And we know how this story plays out, don't we? Job loses everything he has through no sin of his own. And that does happen to people, by the way. He loses everything. And he ends up sitting on an ash heap, for lack of a better word. Breaking open the boils that are covering his arms, trying to get the pus out. I don't know any other way to put it. His wife says, why don't you just curse God and die, old man? You're a miserable human being sitting there. All of his friends, we know, all of his friends, right? All of his friends had something to say. They knew why he was in this situation. It must have been something he'd done. Isn't that the classic? Must've been some sin you committed. Must've been something you did to make God angry at you. Now look at your situation. Well, needless to say, most of us would end up in the very end somewhat like Job. And whoever penned the phrase, the patience of Job, that's not true. That is not true. Job didn't have much patience at all. He didn't really like what God had done. and questioned God as much or more than Jonah did. And I like chapter 40 where God finally says, okay, Joe, I've had enough of this. You and I need to have a conversation. And so he says, chapter 40, verse one, will the fault finder contend with the almighty? Isn't that awesome? Let him who approves God answer it. That's what Jonah is gonna hear from God here. Then Job answered the Lord and said, behold, I am insignificant. What can I reply to thee? I lay my hand on my mouth. Isn't that so practical? Enough said. I get you, God. I got it. Once I have spoken and I will not answer, Job says, even twice and I will add no more. I have nothing else to say, I get your point. Then the Lord said in verse six to Job out of the storm, and I think that's interesting too because that's exactly where he was. And we relate to that as well. It's very difficult to hear the Lord when we're in the midst of a storm spiritually. Now gird up your loins like a man. I will ask you and you instruct me." Don't you love that? That's what he tells Job too. He said, I'll tell you what, you tell me how you think it should go. Anybody want that responsibility, raise your hand. Do you want the whole universe? Do you want to take on a country, a state, a city, a church, another person? Of course not. And so he says, well, I'll tell you what, I'll be quiet. I'll ask you and you tell me how all this should go. Will you really annul my judgment? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like his? Well, I don't know what to say. And I think at this moment, Job felt the same way, and we're gonna see that with Jonah as well. But that really, really sounds very familiar, doesn't it? To what Jonah is gonna go through here. And evidently, Jonah did not think the people of Nineveh deserved forgiveness. He didn't. And that God should grant his grace to them that he himself had received. I don't understand that. But I know that I have probably felt that way before. Someone who is much more wicked comes to know Jesus in a much more simpler way and had to go through less pain than we did. Gets to you, doesn't it? If you multiply that with a nation of millions of people over years, you can almost understand where Jonah is. See, he knew God's tendencies. He knew God's characteristics. He knew who God was. He said in verse two, God, I know you're gracious. I've experienced it. He said, I know you're compassionate because you were compassionate to me. I know you're slow to anger or you would have put me to death and condemned me, but you didn't. In verse two, he says, God, I know you're abundant. You are overflowing in your loving kindness toward individuals. And I know that you relent concerning calamity because my life was a mess and you forgave me. So he knew all about how God operated. He just didn't want these people to experience it. And Jonah certainly understood God's consistency in showing grace and compassion, loving kindness, and all of that in verse two. And he could have shared this with the people of Nineveh with a heart that glorified God, but he didn't. I don't think Jonah goes into Nineveh going, hey, I got good news for you guys, you can be saved. Doesn't appear he went in like that. We don't know the details of it, but doesn't appear to be. the positions and the circumstances which motivate the believer to pray when desperate. And Jonah seems to be recounting this prayer to God. He prayed out of distress from a lonely and a dark place. It seemed like that's where he was in chapter two also, doesn't it? He even says he was. As the Psalmist said many times, he was there too and we probably have been as well. It appears that Jonah would rather die than see sinners come to a saving faith. He even requests in verse three, therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life. And I read that, and then I read, he makes that statement earlier as well, and then he'll make it later on. I think where Jonah is, it appears to be, according to the scriptures, it appears it's sort of a progressive kind of a thing, right? You know, we've all made this statement, right? I'm so whatever, I could die. Well, you don't really want somebody to put you out of your misery, do you? Of course not. And when we think of death as being separation, Jonah figured being separated from what he considered to be this mess of people coming to know Jehovah God is better. It's much better. And I think that's what Jonah saw when he ran from God and separated himself, because isn't that what death is? Separation, one thing from another. When we die, our body is separated from our soul and spirit, so we get that concept. Jonah has had this brewing in him for some time now that he would rather be separated from the situation that he was in with God wanting him to go and preach the good news to these wicked Ninevites. He would rather be separated from that. And that's why he ran. He's still running. Even though he went to preach, he's still running. He's still trying to separate himself from this situation that God has put him in and that God wants because God is sovereign and he knows what he's doing. And so here Jonah is saying, you know, I'd rather God just be separated from all of this. I'm not asking you to take a gun and shoot me. I don't wanna jump off of a cliff. Yet, now later on, I think he does. I think he does wanna physically die, but not yet. But this is a process that Jonah is going through. Is death even ever better than life? You know, I put this down, I said, to give Jonah a little credit, if you did not wanna be a part of what God is doing in Nineveh or anywhere, then separation from this situation would be better than participating, would it not? I mean, if I don't wanna do what God wants me to do, and I think I have a better plan than God, it would be better to be separated from that situation. So God, grant Jonah's request. See, that's what I don't understand about God. He won't do things the way I want him to. And then I go back to Job, and I see God say, okay, Rob, sit down here a minute. No, no, no, no, let me sit down a minute and you get up here and you tell me how you think I should operate. How I should move in people's lives and who I should spare and who I should not spare. Go ahead. And I picture myself standing before the Almighty as Job. I don't have anything to say. What could or would cause a person to get to this stage in life? Isn't it normal for believers to want sinners to experience God's grace and mercy through forgiveness? We all shake our head, but I think we understand, Jonah, I do. God sees Jonah in a place where you might say he was up to his neck in sin. He was in a place where only someone with power could rescue and deliver him, aha. Even God cares about Jonah in this situation. Now come on, at this point, humanly speaking, wouldn't you just go to Jonah, boink? Would you not? I gotta tell you, I have a limit to my patience. And I'm gonna guess as a human being, you do too. I'm not speaking for you, but I would say enough of this. God doesn't do that. You know, somewhere in the scriptures it says, His ways are not like our ways. He doesn't operate like me or you. Aren't you glad? I wouldn't put up with you either. And you wouldn't put up with me either, only to a certain point. Even in the church, we can see that. God help us, even in the church. I mean, we love our brother to a certain point until he does something or she does something that I say, you know, I become God then and I say, hey, wait a minute, that's too much. You've went too far. But God never does. and his loving mercy. Well, I should say he never does. Sometimes he puts a stop to it and punishes us. And I know that's a harsh word we don't like to hear. But that's at his call, not mine. And so we look and we see where Jonah is. And he had no way out. It got deeper and deeper. And I don't think he even knows what he's doing at this moment. Not excusing him, but I just think he's way in too deep. He's run too long, too far. Separated himself too far from God. And now the Lord responds in verse four. Only the Spirit of God can come up with this question. Now at this point, let me ask you a question. If someone had tried you this long, Would you ask them this question? Do you have a really good reason to be angry? I can tell something's not right here, Jonah, with how you've responded and the things you've been saying and how you're acting. Do you have a good reason to be angry? Isn't that so personal? It's like a father speaking to one of his children. And he says, do you have really good reason to be angry? One of the more personal questions in scripture, I think, God speaks to the heart of the matter, and that really was where all this was emanating from, from Jonah's heart. In the flesh, it would be easy to grant Jonah's request, wouldn't it? You wanna die? Okay. That solved the dilemma for God on this end, would it not? God doesn't operate that way, though. He doesn't. God's patience with Jonah includes a desire to help him understand why he's feeling the way he does. You know, if you wanna really read a good passage of scripture, Mark chapter five, read it someday soon, Mark chapter five. And the question I asked there, I preached a sermon many years ago, who cares when you're down? And the bottom line in Mark five, nobody but God sometimes. Nobody. Nobody but God the Father cares for Jonah at this point. Doesn't appear that anybody's coming to Jonah's rescue and trying to counsel him and help him get over this just like Job, but it's just God. And so Jonah non-verbally responds to God in verse five. He doesn't say anything. The scriptures doesn't tell us he does, so we're gonna assume he does. He doesn't say anything. God says to him, do you have a really good reason to be angry at me for how I'm operating here? And Jonah doesn't say anything, but he goes out of the city in verse five, and he set east of it. He made a shelter for himself and set under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. What does he do? He runs from God again. Now this time, when he was in the stomach of the fish, and I'll just picture this, I don't know if this is accurate or not, but I'll just picture this right. Jonah is way over there in the fish's stomach and God is way over there somewhere. Now that's just the way I picture it, you know? And God can deal with us long distance, right? But then sometimes there's those times in life where I'm here and God's right here. He's not 2,500 miles away. He's not a million miles away. This is the point where now I see in my mind where Jonah is here and God is here and they're just having a conversation. And he asked this question and Jonah just turns around and walks away. And he doesn't answer God and he goes east of the city, makes himself a shelter. And here Jonah is, he's running away from the problem again. Maybe thinking it'll all go away. Maybe removing himself from the situation and meditate and consider all that's going on. I'm not sure he could do that at this point. His mentally is all messed up. His heart is all messed up. Maybe in Jonah's mind this once, just this once he thinks God will change his mind and he now would punish the people. Wouldn't you think that's a messed up man? He's hoping that God would do that. And Jonas is homeless and all alone. There's nobody there, like at least his friends, like Job had friends, to tell him, you know, why don't you just admit it? You've blown it. He doesn't have anybody. He doesn't have a wife to tell him to curse God and die. But he still thinks that death would be better than life as we're gonna see here. And I think now, as I said earlier, I think now he's thinking physically death now, physical death now. God is about to gauge Jonah's spiritual temperature. I love that. I love that. He's about to gauge his spiritual temperature. So he appoints a plant shade or a plant to shade Jonah. Now the question is why? Why? It's redundant. He already has built shade. And the shade that Jonah has built is probably bigger and better than a plant. Now you can dice this and slice it and come up with all kinds of reasons why God did this, but it appears from the text that the plant, just like the fish, remember we said in the very beginning it's not about the fish? Not about the plant either. Really has not much at all to do with the plant. He's just gauging Jonah's spiritual temperature. Jonah doesn't need the plant. He already has shade. But here's God stepping in, trying to work with Jonah to convince Jonah where he is. And he does just that. He appoints this plant in verse six. It grows up over Jonah. It'd be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. Now Jonah has two issues. He has physical discomfort and he has internal discomfort, spiritual, I call it spiritual internal discomfort. Now this physical discomfort he had when he was in the fish's stomach, but he hasn't had it in a while. But this spiritual discomfort, spiritual internal discomfort, he's had for a while. It appears to have been sort of boiling and boiling and boiling for years because of this hate for the Ninevites. Then when God tells him to go and preach to the Ninevites, it really erupts. And this is why he eventually blows up at God and tries to tell him that he thinks he has a better idea if God would only listen. And so this is what this is all about. He's gauging his spiritual temperature. But Jonah is extremely happy to have more shade. Feels a lot better than having any of that sun touch his body and just brutally, physically torture you. But the spiritual or the physical discomfort seems much easier to deal with for God at this point than the spiritual discomfort. God sometime later makes a statement concerning his sovereignty in verse seven, because next day he points a worm and the worm eats the plant or at least chews it in half. And it of course is no good for shade anymore for Jonah in verse seven. And we're just talking a few hours of comfort, which he's extremely happy for. And now God says, I mean, when you look at that, almost like, God, how dare you? Are you toying with this man? No, he just wants to get across to Jonah who he is. That's all. Now, if you and I have a problem with that, we have a problem. Now, I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't, but I'm saying if I have a problem with God's sovereignty, I've got a problem. If I have a problem with God doing anything he wants, at any time he wants, to anyone he wants, anywhere he wants, I have a problem, because that's biblical. Hear what I'm telling you. And I have in no place, now God will listen to me. He did to Job, he did to Jonah, he did to many other people in the scriptures, he'll listen to me. But the bottom line is still God is sovereign, he's gonna do what he wants, because he knows what's best. in every circumstance. And it may appear that it is as wacky as can be to me, but it never is, because he knows what he's doing. But anyway, in verse seven, God appoints a worm when dawn came, and it attacked the plant and it withered, and it came about in verse eight when the sun came up, and God appointed a scorching east wind. It's like, he's just punishing Jonah. It's like, God, what is the point? That's the point. He appoints this scorching east wind and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die. Now this is where he physically wants to die, I think. Up to this point, it's just talk. It's just, oh, I'm so tired I could die. I'm so frustrated I could die. Whatever, it's just talk. It's thoughts. Now, Jonah is so miserable. Have you ever been there to where you lay on the beach, maybe, or whatever, you get a sunburn, and then everything after that irritates you? Or something happens to you physically, and up until that point before that happened, stuff didn't bother you. But now it's like, you become a miserable human being. That's where he is. He's to the point where he just, it's way too much for him to bear. And what is he carrying? What's the problem, Jonah? It's not the fact that you're getting a sunburn. It's the fact that his heart was not where God wanted it to be. And this has been going on for a long time. But according to Job in Job 1 21, the Lord gives and, and then, Blessed be the name of the Lord. What is that? What was Job saying in the very beginning when all of it was taken away? The Lord God is sovereign. For any of us to begin to even think, think, mind you, that Job was saying, oh yeah, fine with me. Hey, I'm hip, Pastor Brian. Take as much as you want, Lord. I don't think so. but he knew the score. He knew who God was, and he's gonna leave it at that. He had his struggles just like Jonah did and just like any of us would be. God appoints this scorching east wind connected with the sun to beat down on Jonah's head, and Jonah just begins to wilt, physically, spiritually, so much so that with all his soul, he wanted to die. This man is distressed. Now anybody with a half a heart, am I right, would feel sorry for Jonah at this point. I do. I want to be very careful in reading and preaching and teaching any of this stuff and going, why didn't you get it? Jonah, come on now. Why didn't you get it? What God was trying to do in your life and the life of the Ninevites and the lives of people that would follow you, why don't you get it? until I look in the mirror and then I have to ask myself, Rob, why didn't you get it? Why don't you get it? So I'm not gonna throw stones at Joan. I feel sorry for the man at this point, I really do. And I would think that you probably do too. He seems to really be at the end of his road. I think now he physically wants to die. I don't wanna live anymore. And if a person is at this point, they may be dying inside for a long time at this point. He again convinces himself that it would be better to be dead. Remember back in verse three, how things had changed in Jonah's life in such maybe even less than 24 hours. Earlier it was just thought, now it's really a desire. He wants to die. And God continues this conversation with Jonah about his internal discomfort, and we'll close the book here. Verse nine, then God said to Jonah, Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant? Second time? Was it, they say, third time's a charm? He's already been asked twice. God is reasoning with Jonah. He wants to hear from Jonah's own lips and heart. If he thinks he has good reason to be angry, Now I know that psychiatrists and therapists and counselors say it's good therapy to hear yourself express issues that you have a struggle with. And I think that's probably biblical as well. You know, for me to say, God, I don't like the way you do things would be better than it just seething in my soul, wouldn't it? If I can hear myself say that, You might jog something in my heart that would change the way I look at how God operates. According to Jonah, he had good reason. And he said, I have good reason at the end of verse nine to be angry, even to death. If you wanna take me out, go ahead. It's an interesting concept that Jonah has here. He still doesn't understand. There's only one person that chooses when you're born. And there's only one person that chooses when you die. And he even missed that concept as well, but being in a mental spiritual state that he's in, it's easy to understand. Jonah is obviously frustrated with his current predicament and probably sees no other way for escape other than physical separation now. He seemed to at least intellectually understand God's grace and compassion and loving kindness toward others, but maybe he didn't even recognize that he needed it at this point in his own life. It's easy to see others' needs, especially in a ministry, and miss our own, and then only later to realize that we have them. Jonah is gonna receive a lesson in the sovereignty of God when he is reminded that God is the one that has the authority. to do all that has been done to this point, even to a point, the plant for shade. He's gonna realize this. At the very end, he's going to hopefully realize this. Then the Lord said, you had compassion on the plant for which you did not work. We could stop there. You were happy about something that was provided for you, parentheses, I'm the one that provided, God is saying, which you had nothing to do with. Jonah, tell me about that. Would you like to speak about that? And then he says something that's just staggering. He relates it to people. And which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight, talking about the plant. And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city, which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, as well as any animals. And I've always asked this question. How could you close a book like this? And I have my answer. Because God has said all he needs to say. Because that really is, when you think about it, what the book of Jonah is all about anyway. God is concerned about making himself known. Whether it be a person, Jonah, a fish, a plant, or an entire city of people. So now we all know really, truly what the book of Jonah is all about. Let's pray. Father, as I said earlier, it seems like the older I get, the more I realize that really that's what all of life is about as we live in 2024. live our lives and hurry about and even seek to follow you and be spiritual and to be what you want us to be. It's really all about you. And then I begin to make it about me or someone else or a body or a church or an organization or whatever. And so many times I can look in my own life and see where you've confirmed that and brought me to the point. I must say, I've never been to the point where I wanted to die, but you've brought me to the point where I've had to sit down and have you instruct me and say, hey, Rob, wait a minute here. Do you understand what this is all about? It's all about me, you've told me, Father, and it is. And I'm good with that, I am. And I believe that your people are this morning, and I pray that if there's anyone here that is not, that you would convince them that would not be through a series of situations and circumstances as Jonah had to go through. But even if it is, that it would be a very loving Heavenly Father Instructs and guides and ask the right questions To get us to the point where we acknowledge truly Who you are and may that be the case this morning Bethel Church and Wherever we go this week Father that we could we could tell people about Jesus this week and say hey he is seeking your worship If we could tell somebody that this week He wants you to worship Him. And I pray this in Jesus' name that we would be that kind of people in your name, amen.