Angry at God's Mercy

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Isn't that an amazing stanza? Verse 3, because your love is more than life, my lips will give you praise. God is good.

Let's turn in our Bibles to Jonah, chapter 4. Jonah, chapter 4. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 817. Jonah chapter 4, brothers and sisters, this is God's perfect word. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

So he prayed to the Lord and said, ah, Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in love and kindness, who relents from doing harm. Therefore, now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, Is it right for you to be angry?

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was grateful for the plant, But as the morning dawned, the next day God prepared a worm, and it damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint.

Then he wished death for himself and said, it is better for me to die than to live. Then God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he said, It is right for me to be angry even to death. But the Lord said, You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock?

Prayer for Illumination

That's where the Lord leads the story. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that your word is true and endures forever. Father, we pray that now as your word is preached, Lord, we pray that your spirit would make it an effectual means unto salvation. Lord, we pray that you would please teach us. Please apply it to our hearts, apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't have time to give you a cute little introduction. We're just going to jump both feet into this because we got some serious ground to cover.

Sermon

And so I need you to know that the original exegetical point of this passage is God is compassionate. This passage is about God's compassion. And the truth I want you to take home this week is that you need to cling to your compassionate King. Your call this morning, what I hope you'll remember and do this week, is that you cling to your compassionate King.

Often we come to Jonah, and we kind of scoff, and we think, man, how can he be so dense? How can he be so dull? How can he be so cruel and just dumb? And we can often think we're so much better than he was. And yet, And yet, how often do we in our lives find ourselves wanting justice now? These people wronged, these people are evil, and they deserve justice my way today. That's how Jonah's thinking. Remember, the Ninevites are the Assyrians. They are the enemy of Israel.

And what we need to learn Jonah needed to learn as well, if we actually wanted God to truly lay out all of His justice right now, all of His holiness right now, all of us would be doomed. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. By nature, we want to believe that we are the righteous ones. But interestingly, when we're wrong, We're the same people who want to be the objects of God's mercy. I don't think we're so much different than Jonah.

I think the Lord gave us this historical narrative for a reason. And so I hope that the main application will be that you walk away from here cultivating a humble heart of gratitude. A heart who believes in the God who says he is. That you'll have the same attitude in you which is in Christ Jesus. that humbled himself and died on the cross for sinners. I pray that we would be those who would turn from our pride and show compassion even to those who sin, whether it's in our community, in our workplaces, in our homes, even in the government, and even in the church. And why do this? Why would you want to cultivate a heart of humility and compassion and want to be like this? Because in doing so, you mirror your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And you get to show the same compassion that Christ shows. And God gets all the glory. So first, I'd like for us to look at God's compassion and Jonah's confession in the first four verses. Look at God's compassion and Jonah's confession in the first four verses. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

So he prayed to the Lord and said, "'Ah, Lord, was this not what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, one who relents from doing harm.'" By the way, he's not trying to say he likes that about God. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." Then the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry?

Jonah, we didn't know exactly why in chapter 1 he fled to Tarshish. We don't know why he went down to Joppa and got on a ship. God didn't tell us that for three more chapters. We didn't know back then why he was leaving. But we find out here in chapter 4 what was going on in his heart.

He knew that if he went to Nineveh and he preached this message of repentance, that God might actually relent. Because God had shown himself that he is this type of compassionate God. He did it all the way back in the book of Exodus. In the book of Exodus, what we find is the people are worshiping the golden calf. They're at Sinai, they've done all this evil and affront against God. And this is where we find out about God's compassion. Exodus chapter 34. This is what's in Jonah's mind, Exodus chapter 34. And the Lord said to Moses, this is after this golden calf incident, cut two stablets of stone like the first ones. And I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.

So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain. Let neither flocks nor herds feed before the mountains.

So Moses obeys, verse 4. So he cut two stones of tablet, like the first ones, And then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hand the two tablets of stone." Now notice what happens next, verse 5. Now, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there before him and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

And the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God. merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions for sins, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generations. Did you catch it? Did you catch it there?

The Lord Himself is declaring that He is merciful and gracious, patient and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy. Keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving transgressions and iniquity. Jonah knew that's what this God was like. Why'd I run to Tarsus, Lord? For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God. Slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. You told that to Moses. I know that, but I don't want that to be true for them. Jonah knew the Lord was compassionate and Jonah didn't like it. Jonah wanted compassion for himself, for his people, but not for them. No, not for them, Lord. That can't be true.

And the Lord, I love how the Lord asks these questions. And the Lord said, verse four, is it right for you to be angry? What right do you have here? Is this okay? Is this the way it should be? I gotta tell you, the Lord loves to do certain things. Sometimes He likes to ask questions, and sometimes He likes to give demonstrations in our lives. You know what this is like, right? Sometimes you'll read the Word, or maybe somebody will confront you with the Word, and that hits one way. But when the Lord brings a providence in your life, where He puts you in a situation, sometimes the Lord teaches you huge things when He applies His Word to your life. That's what He does here in the second part of Jonah chapter 4. Look with me at God's object lesson in verses 5 through 10. does here.

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as the morning dawned, the next day God prepared a worm. And it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement west wind, east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And notice God's question again, almost verbatim of verse four. Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? So it is right for me to be angry even unto death.

What is Jonah doing? Jonah walks out of this city where he's just preached repentance, where the king has taken off his robe, where the people have even put sackcloth and ashes on their animal. They said, we have sinned against the God most high, and we need to repent from our violence. Maybe God will have mercy. And in response to that repentance, Jonah leaves.

He walks out the city. He goes out the gate. He finds himself probably up on a hill. And there, he's sitting there. When's God going to do it? He makes himself a little camp. He's waiting for Sodom and Gomorrah. He's waiting for fire and brimstone. He's waiting for God's judgment and justice. He wants to see God's wrath upon his enemies.

And as Jonah is there, showing what's in his heart, the Lord shows him compassion. Brings up a plant. Miraculous, absolutely miraculous. God, the Lord himself prepared a plant. Notice verse six. Not some accident. And the Lord God prepared a plant. God made this plant spring up so that it would give shade to Jonah and he would find relief in the shade. And man, did that make Jonah happy. And then the Lord of creation did something else though in verse seven. But as morning dawned the next day, notice who's the subject of the verb here. God prepared a worm. The worm isn't the subject, it's God. God prepared the worm. Why did God prepare the worm? Because He knew it was going to damage the plant so that it would wither. Because God had a lesson to teach Jonah.

And so the plant withers. It's no good for the shade that he enjoyed anymore. But that wasn't enough for the Lord. No, look with me at verse 8 again. Who's the primary mover here? And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind. Did you see that? God prepared a plant in verse 6. God prepared a worm in verse 7. God prepared the east wind in verse 8. Who's in charge here? Who's doing something? It's the Lord Himself. He prepares this east wind, and the sun beats on Jonah's head.

I gotta tell you, it seems like summer came upon us fast here in Eastern Iowa. It seems like just last week we had rain and mild temperatures, and it was enjoyable to be outside. Minus the gnats, but that's why God gave us bugs either. But the point is, it was nice outside. This week I called someone on the phone, I said, how you doing today? They said, good, I've been inside all day.

Because you don't want to be outside all day. It's hot. The sun beats on you. The hot wind blows. And sometimes there's just no relief. And imagine being in a desert region. That's where Jonah is. And the sun beat down on his head. And it's almost as if he's at the point of heat exhaustion or even heat stroke. So that he grew faint. And he wished for death for himself. I mean, this is quite a pit of despair, isn't it?

It is better for me to die than to live, is how he concludes verse eight. And this is where the Lord steps in again. That's where the Lord shows the irony of Jonah's pride and the irony of Jonah's anger. God confronts him with the question again in verse nine. Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? Jonah's not going to hide it. I'd rather just be dead. But notice God is using this to teach him a lesson. The Lord himself is teaching Jonah about his compassion. Look with me at verse 10. God's compassion is shown in verse 10. But the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored. Who labored for the plant? The Lord did. Nor made it grow. Who made that plant grow? The Lord did.

Which came up in a night and perished in a night. It was a quick life. And notice verse 11, and should I not pity, you could translate that word also, have compassion or mercy. Should I not also pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons. God is showing him, Jonah, you've got this all messed up, man. You were happy about a plant giving you shade. You were mad about a plant dying. You didn't do anything for the plant. I knit together 120,000 people. I created them in my image, in my likeness, and I decided to show them compassion. And you would rather the great city of Nineveh be wiped out, their blood fill the streets. God would have compassion on the people and even on the animals of Nineveh.

At first I kind of scratched my head at the very last part, right? The last one, two, three words of Jonah are kind of interesting, right? And much livestock. But I think God's getting us to a point here, and Jesus makes it extremely clear in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will?

God knows even when the sparrows fall to the ground. That's how much care our Heavenly Father has for animals, and Jesus takes it one step further. but the very hairs of your head are numbered." God cares about the sheep next door and the cows up the road.

But He cares even that much more about you, Christian. He counts every hair on your head. And He counted every hair on the head of those who repented in the city of Nineveh also. He knew Jonah and he knew the Ninevites. And it was his father's sovereign prerogative to save whom he wanted to save. This is exactly what Romans 9, verses 22-24 teach us.

What if God, wanting to show His wrath, to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of His wrath prepared for destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

God is teaching Jonah, buddy, you don't get to choose who I save. If I'm going to show compassion, I'm going to show compassion. If I'm going to show mercy, I'm going to show mercy. We may not like those people, we may not want to talk to those people, but if God has determined that they're going to receive His mercy, He's going to bend heaven and earth, prepare whale or prepare big old fish and a prophet to go. because it's His sovereign prerogative. This is how God's compassion is going to play out.

And this is the Father's compassion that we see according to Jesus. You see, Jonah wanted justice. Jonah wanted payment for sin. But what he didn't know was that God's justice was going to be satisfied. But it would be satisfied in Jesus Christ laying down His own life for those people in Nineveh. The same way Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. Jesus teaches us about the Father's compassion and how it is absolutely incompatible with pride.

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells us of a parable. As the Pharisees are mad about Jesus sitting with sinners and tax collectors, Jesus tells a parable of a father who has two sons. You can put Jonah in the older brother's camp and the Ninevites And the younger prodigal son, I bet you children know what story I'm talking about. You know the story where the boy goes to his dad and he says, hey dad, I want all my inheritance right now.

He doesn't wait for his dad to die. He goes and he squanders all his wealth. He goes and he's so destitute that he has to eat. He's not even allowed to. He's working with pigs and he's so desperate for food that he's willing to eat the slop that the pigs are eating. And when he realizes, when he comes to his senses, what I've been doing is wrong, and he repents and he goes to his father, his father runs to him, receives him back, puts a signet ring on his finger, slaughters a fattened calf for him. But there's an older brother who won't come to that festival. Why? He wants justice. And his pride will keep him from seeing the amazing compassion that the Father shows. The early church, the disciples especially, really wrestled with this. I mean, they really, really struggled with this. This was not easy teaching for the people to hear this from Jesus. When Jesus told them about forgiving people, Peter would come to Jesus and say, Jesus, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother?

When will justice be served? Jesus says, whoa, hold on. 70 times, seven times. And backs it up with the parable. of the unmerciful servant who has been shown great compassion of all this debt, and he can't ever pay it back, and his lord says, it's fine, go ahead. The king says, you're forgiven. And then that servant goes, and he tries to choke out one of his fellow servants, trying to extract every penny of justice from him.

Pride is incompatible with the kingdom of Jesus. No, Jesus shows us what the Pharisees are like. When he specifically points out the two people who come into the temple, we talked about this last week. One of them comes, a Pharisee. God, thank you so much that I tithe and that I'm not like these other people, sinners, like that tax collector over there. And Jesus upholds that repenting tax collector who won't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but cries out, God have mercy on me, a sinner. There's no pride in that type of prayer.

This is specifically why Jesus says at the end of the Lord's prayer, Matthew chapter six, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

It is easy for us to be filled with pride and want our way, want our justice. But if we don't model the love that God has shown us in Jesus Christ, do we understand the love that God has shown us in Jesus Christ? This is why Jesus told the Pharisees that the sign of Jonah was the only sign the Pharisees would receive because Jesus was doing that work of reconciliation and that work of mercy and ministry. And this is why the men of Nineveh would rise up in judgment over the Pharisees. The Father's compassion is not compatible with pride.

And our call is to cling to our compassionate King. But again, we need to spend ample time in the last few moments we have together, knowing that the Father's compassion has been shown to us in Jesus Christ. God doesn't just talk the talk. Our Heavenly Father walked the walk. It's easy. It's easy for us, if we've been Christians for a while, if we've been walking with the Lord for a period of time, to forget that we're the objects of His mercy. We might strive for righteousness. We might strive to be holy as He is holy. But sometimes self-righteousness creeps in, and we forget who we once were.

And this is a beautiful thing that God tells us time and time and time again. I'm just gonna read three different verses to you. This is God's way that he reminds us time and time again of who he is and the amazing work he's done. 1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse nine to 11, the Lord says this.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Oh, the self-righteous person will say, yeah, that's right. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's right. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And the self-righteous legalist again will say, that's right, that's right, they're not going to get it.

Verse 11, and such were some of you. I was that drunkard. The Lord shows sovereign mercy. And we must not be those who are so filled with pride that we think that somehow they deserve justice without forgetting. But you were washed. You were sanctified. But you were justified, not by your own work's notice, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. This is God's sovereign work.

It should wipe out all pride from our hearts and make us stand in awe that He is this amazing, gracious, compassionate, long-suffering, merciful God who shows mercy to those who do not deserve mercy. even to people like those in Nineveh, even to people like us. Ephesians 2 says the same thing. You didn't know I was going to read this part right before you, Jim, but here it is.

And he made you alive who are dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who is now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespass, made us alive together in Christ. By grace you have been saved. Do you see? You cannot hold grace in one hand and pride in the other. It's oil and water. They do not mix. They are heterogeneous. They cannot come together.

In the Christian life, we walk with humility and with love for a Heavenly Father who has shown such grace to sinners like us. This is why we cling to our compassionate King. This is the grace He showed to the Ninevites. This is the grace He displayed to us in fulfilling His justice in Jesus Christ. So remember who God is and what Jesus has done.

Cling to your compassionate King. He has called you to holiness, but not to haughtiness. He has called you to gratitude, but not to pride. He has called us to humility and not superiority. This is why it rings so true, that line that Charles Spurgeon was often known to say. Not written by him, but he loved to say it. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Do you cling to the cross of Christ? Remember who you once were. Remember who God is. Remember the great salvation that he has given you.

Closing Prayer

Cultivate a humble heart of gratitude. Cling to your compassionate King. Let's pray. God, you're amazing. Lord, you are better than life. We sing of your salvation because you're compassionate and you have given us a great redemption. Lord, we pray that you would please let us cling to you. Where there is pride, Lord, we pray that you would humble us. Lord, we pray that where there is holding off of telling the gospel to others, we pray that you would break down those walls. Lord, make us holy but not haughty. Continue to do your miraculous work of making people reborn. taking out hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh. You can still do it today, Lord, because you've done it in us. We pray these things in Jesus's name.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural Southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.