Jonah: The Relentless Love of God Part 4: Resentment Raymond Woodward

0:01 Tonight we finish a series on the short little fourchapter book of Jonah. And as you can tell, it doesn't take a lot of chapters for God to speak to us. Sometimes you can get hung up on one verse as you're reading the Bible. And I'm thankful for God's word. Jonah, of course, was the prophet called to preach to the massive city of Nineveh. And he didn't like that call very much because the Assyrians were sadistic and savage and Nineveh was a city he did not want to go to. It was associated with cruelty and brutality. And we stand at a very similar spot and we've talked about this because the city of Nineveh, God wanted to extend mercy.

0:48 A century after Jonah, God's mercy would be finished with that empire. and he would send another prophet and that prophet would prophesy judgment again and that time judgment would fall. But even though judgment was coming, there was still time for repentance. And that's why God dispatched us. Judgment is coming on our world. The signs of the time say that. The word of God says that. If you listen closely, the spirit of God is warning us about that. Judgment is coming. But as for right now, as for tonight, as for this place, there's still time. Mercy is still here. Prayer can still be offered. If you've

1:33 got family members that are outside of the ark of safety, they're outside of the wonderful truth of God's word. Don't you dare stop praying. Don't you dare stop loving and reaching. Because while judgment is coming, there is still time. And that's where our story begins. Because although God wanted to send Jonah, Jonah didn't want to be sent. He was a rebellious prophet. He knew if the Ninevites repented, he knew God enough to know that God would forgive them. He did not want them to be forgiven. He did not want to preach a message of mercy. He resented God for loving his enemies and the enemies of Israel. And so that's the story. That's how it starts. He ran

2:20 from the presence of the Lord. What a dumb move that would be to run from the presence of the Lord. And that's how he ended up on a ship sailing in the opposite direction. That's how he ended up in a storm. That's how he ended up eventually praying to God in the belly of a great fish. He did not want God to extend mercy to Nineveh. But he surely wanted God to extend mercy to him because if God had not extended mercy to Jonah at that moment, he would not have lived. So he came out of that experience finally willing to at least go to Nineveh. But there is more to Jonah's story than what we see on the surface. And we've mentioned this a couple of

3:06 times now. Jesus actually identified himself with Jonah's three-day burial in the belly of the great fish. He used that story to foreshadow his own death, burial, and resurrection. And when Jesus had an a conversation with the Pharisees, they wanted him to provide them a sign that he was who he said he was, Jesus said, "You're only getting one sign. It is the sign of the prophet Jonah." probably one of the most famous stories out of all the lives of the prophets. In fact, Jonah is the only book where what happened to the prophet overshadows any words the prophet said. And Jesus unequivocally said, "You're getting one sign." And the sign of the

3:53 prophet Jonah, as we've seen, it foreshadows the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And that sign just happens to be what proves unequivocally that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. He could give his life. He could shed his blood. He could even go into the tomb, but he could come out of the tomb on the third day and he is alive forever more. And so the most significant verses about Jonah are found outside the book of Jonah in the Gospels. Here's Matthew's account. Jesus answered and said unto them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign given

4:40 to it, only the sign of the prophet Jonah." For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah was in the whale's belly. Jesus was in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation. This is a very strong statement from the master. They shall condemn it. When Nineveh stands in judgment, they will condemn others who looked at Jesus face to face and heard him preach. Because they, the citizens of Nineveh, repenting repented at the preaching of Jonah. But Jesus said, "Behold, a greater than Jonah is here."

5:28 If Jesus, God manifest in the flesh could say that then. My goodness, those of us filled with his presence the power of the Holy Ghost, we can surely say that now. A greater than Jonah is here. A greater than Moses is here. A greater than Solomon is here. A greater than David is here. Jesus is here. So Jonah goes to Nineveh. He preaches the shortest sermon in the Bible. Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It's worthy of note that he gives no altar call, only a proclamation of doom. And he seems to be quite happy about that. But against all expectations, the entire city of Nineveh repents.

6:13 God's judgment is averted, destruction is avoided, and Nineveh is saved. And if this little book had only concluded at the end of chapter 3, history would have remembered Jonah as the greatest prophet of all time. After all, he saw an entire city turn to God. It was one of history's greatest revivals. But unfortunately, Jonah's character didn't live up to his calling. Instead of getting excited about people turning to the Lord, Jonah got angry. Jonah didn't like it that his enemies and Israel's enemies had a second chance. He

7:00 didn't like it that they came to God. He didn't like it that they responded to preaching. Now, we can sit at a very comfortable distance from Jonah, maybe 3,000 [snorts] years uh ago, he lived. And we can sit at a very comfortable distance and we can shake our head and click cluck our tongues and and we can say, "That's terrible, Jonah." But can I tell you sometimes we can develop an attitude about people that are so messed up, so far gone, and have had so many chances and have abused and misused God's mercy so many times that when they come crawling out of their latest vacation in sin and turn back to God, we can get the same attitude as Jonah. We have to be

7:48 very very careful that we have the same spirit as our merciful God because his mercy is as high as the heaven is above the earth. We have to be careful. Jonah wasn't careful. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. We often see this in scripture that someone whose heart isn't right before the Lord, they become angry when God blesses somebody else. When God accepted Abel's offering, the Bible says Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. When Jacob received the blessing from Isaac, Esau hated

8:35 Jacob because of the blessing. When Joseph's father gave him a special coat of many colors, his brothers hated him and could not speak peaceibly unto him. And when the prodal son crawled out of the pig pen and came home to an unexpected party, the elder brother, the Bible says he was angry and would not go in. And then when the 11th hour laborers received an equal wage to those that had worked all day long and these came in at the last hour and got a wage equal to theirs. The Bible says the other workers murmured against the good men of the house. We often see

9:21 this in scripture that when someone has a heart problem, they resent what the Lord does for somebody else. When Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day, the Bible says the Pharisees, the religious leaders were filled with madness when he loosed a woman bound with a spirit of infirmity for 18 years. The ruler of the synagogue, the Bible says, answered with indignation. When a little woman came to worship him and she brought her alabaster box and she broke it open and she anointed his feet with that precious expensive ointment. The Bible says the spectators had indignation within themselves. And

10:08 when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they even began plotting to put Jesus to death. All through, not the Old Testament, all through the New Testament, we see insiders who get angry when God extends his mercy to outsiders. The synagogue members in Nazareth were filled with wrath. And the Jews in Antioch were filled with envy. Paul just mentioned the Gentiles. and the mob in Jerusalem, the Bible says they cried out, cast off their garments, and threw dust into the air. And when Peter returned from preaching to the Gentiles, there were elders in Jerusalem. The

10:55 church elders who contended with him, the Pharisees constantly criticized Jesus, and they scornfully said, "This man receives sinners." And Jesus had the best comeback you could ever imagine. He said, "They that are whole don't need a physician, but those that are sick. So don't you tell me who I can go to or who I can reach for or who I can move upon. They're sick and they know they're sick. And I'm going to be the physician that steps into their situation and heals them." If you think you're whole, THEN I'M NOT coming for you. I'm coming for those that are sick and they know they're sick. In every case

11:41 where insiders get angry about outsiders being blessed by God, in every case we see similar attitudes. Here's a warning sign for us. We see attitudes of comparison, entitlement, jealousy, pride self-righteousness. And that is exactly what happened with Jonah. And Jonah is meant to be a warning for all of us. Jonah after this revival, he got angry about it. He didn't want to see the results of that great move of God. It troubled him. It angered him. It displeased him. And he prayed unto the Lord. And he said, "I pray thee, oh Lord, let me talk to you,

12:29 God. Was not this my saying? I told you God when I was yet in my country, I WAS BACK OVER THERE IN MY village of Gath Hepher and I told you God, this is why I fled to Tarsus. I tried to get as far away from your calling as I could because and he starts quoting scripture to God. I knew the thou art a gracious God. I knew you were were merciful. I knew you were slow to anger. I knew you were of great kindness. And I knew, God, you would repent of the evil. I knew if they repented, you would turn around and not judge them. Therefore, now, oh Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me.

13:16 It is better for me to die than to live. Now, that's pretty dramatic. Anybody ever prayed dramatic prayers that you really didn't mean upon reflection? Your uneasy laughter tells me that's an absolute fact. GOD, YOU CAN JUST KILL ME. YOU DIDN'T MEAN THAT. You got a head cold the other day and asked for special prayer from the elders at the church. You don't want God to kill you. Jonah's just grumbling and complaining and mumbling. Remember, Jonah had prophesied blessing on the nation of Israel under King Jeroboam. Second, one of the worst, most morally bankrupt leaders Israel had ever

14:02 known. The nation was bankrupt. The king was immoral. And Jonah prophesied blessing on the nation of Israel at that time. He was fine with God's mercy when it flowed to his own people, the people that were just like him. But when God sent him to Nineveh, everything changed. Jonah was not afraid of Nineveh's cruelty toward Israel. He was afraid that God would show mercy toward Assyria. He wasn't running from God because he didn't know what would happen. He was running from God because he knew exactly what was going to happen. And now he quotes scripture back

14:47 to God. Not in thanksgiving, but in anger, not in worship, but in whining, not in rejoicing, but in complaining. And this is one of the scriptures that he's referencing. There are several that refer to the attributes of God, but this is probably one of them, and we've read it a couple of times in this little series. Psalm 103. You want to thank God for these verses. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and in case you didn't catch it the first time, he's plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. And he could. And he would be justified in doing it because our sin is a stench in his nostrils. You say,

15:33 "Well, I'm kind of righteous." Our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. So, he could keep his anger forever. But the Bible says he has not dealt with us after our sins. He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities. For oh my goodness. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. You can't get all the way to God's heaven. There's not a rocket ship or a spaceship that can approach his throne. But as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those of us that fear him. And we already talked about this one. As far as

16:19 the east is from the west in a neverending line. That's how far he has removed our transgressions from us. Stop thinking you are a collection of all your past mistakes, errors, faults failures, and sins. You are not. God has removed those so far from you that when you bring up something that you repented of, something that you put under the blood, God doesn't even know anything about it. He doesn't even remember that. It is that far removed. You remember it. And some of your friends remember it. And some of your friends, they've got such an attitude against you that they bring it up every once in a while just to make sure they keep you in your place and they keep you humble. And they never

17:06 let you forget that you failed and you messed up and you came short. But our gracious God, his mercy is so high. HIS MERCY IS SO WIDE. HIS MERCY is so deep. He draws a blank when you bring up your past before your new birth. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. >> Oh my God. Jonah's not happy about all of this. Jonah certainly wanted God's mercy for himself when he was desperate in the belly of the great fish, but he doesn't care if anyone else receives that mercy. You can hear the disgust IN HIS VOICE. GOD, I KNEW YOU WOULD DO THIS. He throws

17:53 God's word back in God's face as an insult. And then he prays for God to kill him on the spot. Jonah is saying, "I'd rather die and take my chances than to live with a God who would forgive them. They're so evil. They're so wicked. They're so perverted. They're so twisted." Careful, Jonah. You're getting awful close to where we live today. Because there are all kinds of people that their lifestyles are loathome to godly people. their their attitudes and their philosophies and the things they justify in their sin and their behavior. It's disgusting and abhorrent to us. But you better be careful to distinguish

18:40 your recoiling from their sin. You better be careful to distinguish that attitude from the powerful mercy of a God who can forgive somebody who crawls out of the deepest pit that hell has ever dug. who crawls out of their past and crawls out of THEIR SIN AND CRAWLS out of their perversion. We're pretty sheltered in our beautiful little city. We have sin like everywhere else. And there are all kinds of things that go on in the darkness that thank God we don't even know about in our city. But let me tell you, we're pretty sheltered here. The overall atmosphere of Frederickton, New Brunswick, Canada, is pretty mild and pretty tame. But you want to know, I don't care what city you go to, what

19:28 great metropolis you go into the slums and into the scum. God can reach right into the middle of all of that. And he can redeem, he can change, he can deliver, and he can MAKE SOMEBODY THAT YOU THOUGHT WASN'T worthy of anything, he can make them into a saint. Hallelujah. >> If we're going to grow God's church, and thank God for all of the wonderful new believers that have been added to CCC recently, if we're going to grow God's church, God is not going to do it according to your preference or my preference. God's going to welcome into this great family of God some people that you think they're just a little bit extreme. He's going to welcome into this family

20:13 some people that are very, very vastly different than you or me. He's going to bring people into this family that their worship isn't kind of dignified like your worship. They don't get it yet. They haven't learned your little You don't know the cost of the oil in my alabaster box. [applause] If you could see where Jesus brought me from to where I am today, you would know

21:00 the reason why I love him so. Lift up a praise to the Lord. [snorts] >> A good praise, a great praise, a worthy praise for a worthy God. Lift up a praise to him. [snorts] And then said the Lord, "Doest thou well to be angry? Are you right to be angry, Jonah? Is this the attitude you should have? Is

21:47 this the way you should feel?" Let's be very clear here. An omnisient God, a God who knows everything, who reads every mind and every motive. He doesn't ask questions because he needs information. >> God asks deep, penetrating questions because he wants us to consider our answer or sometimes to consider our lack of an answer. Jonah's anger is clouding his judgment because anger always clouds judgment. The Bible tells us in Proverbs alone that anger produces recklessness. It provokes conflict and it multiplies

22:33 sin. James warns us that the wrath of man workketh not. It never works the righteousness of God. And Paul declares that anger opens a door to the devil. He says in Ephesians 4, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil." So I knew this would happen at this moment. I need to just depart from Jonah for just a second and I need to ask you the question God asked the prophet. Are you right to be angry? Doest thou well to be angry? I don't know who you're angry at. I don't know what you're angry about, but your anger

23:20 will eat you alive. It'll chew up every legitimate, beautiful emotion in your life and spit it out. It will divide. It will devour. Anger, can ruin a marriage. It can hurt a parent child relationship. It can divide very friends. It can do all kinds of harm. It can do all kinds. It can wreak havoc and carnage. And so the question from the word of God, every once in a while, a verse like that just stops you up. Are you RIGHT TO BE ANGRY? DO YOU WELL to be angry? Several years ago, a preacher wrote a book and I stole the title and preached a sermon. This has been a couple decades ago, I think. I'm not mad at God.

24:06 I know God hasn't always answered every one of my prayers. I know I've still got a laundry list of things that I want him to do, that I think he should do, and that I think he should have already done. But let me tell you something. I'm not angry at God. I'm not mad at God. But it's not enough to love the God that you haven't seen if you don't love your brother whom you have seen. So I can't say I'm not angry at God if I'm angry at you. >> Do you well to be angry? Is it right that you're angry Jonah? But Jonah isn't listening. He hoped to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh and then wait on a nearby hill for 40 days. He was anxiously waiting

24:54 for God to judge the Assyrians, for his judgment to fall on Nineveh. He was planning on enjoying every minute of it because it would vindicate his own attitude toward Nineveh. So, he ignores God's question. He stomps off to a nearby hill and he camps out exactly as he had planned. And here's what he's hoping. I hope those Ninevites repent of their repentance and then God fries them. That's what he's hoping. So Jonah went out of the city, and he [snorts] sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord prepared a gourd, a vine,

25:42 and he made it to grow up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief, to give him a little bit of solace. So Jonah, this is bizarre. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. I think he's out of his gourd. Verse one tells us Jonah was exceedingly displeased when the city of Nineveh is spared. And verse six tells us he's exceedingly pleased because of a gourd. But before you judge him too harshly, maybe ask yourself this question. Have I ever become more provoked or more passionate about temporal things than

26:31 about eternal things? I've been in ministry a long time and I've spent more than half my life at this wonderful church with this wonderful church family. I don't recall ever having a conversation with an agitated person about anything eternal. Not one time. I can't remember some somebody coming to me, tears gushing down their face and all agitated in their spirit. You know, we're not having enough of a move of God. We're not praying enough. I don't recall one of those conversations. I recall all kinds of conversations where people were very agitated and upset about things that five years later they don't even remember they were upset about.

27:19 So maybe we shouldn't criticize Jonah before we ask about our own lives. Because that's easy to do, isn't it? To get all upset and all worked up and angry and displeased about temporal things and never give a thought to eternal things. Jonah is much more concerned about his own comfort than he is about Nineveh's fate. And so God does something that's a little bit unique. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day. And that worm smoked the gourd that it withered. And then the second blow. It came to pass when the sun did arise that God prepared a

28:05 vehement east wind a very strong wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wished in himself to die. He really has a death ri this prophet and here he goes again and he said again it is better for me to die than to live cuz I lost my shade. This this is unreal. God is still trying to teach his rebellious prophet a lesson. That's why he sent that tiny worm to kill that vine plant that's been shading Jonah from the sun. He's only had the shade for a day, but he's become very attached to his comfort. And so he's very angry when it dies and

28:53 disappears. And once again, he complains. Huh? It's better for me to die than to live. That's getting a little bit tiresome to me. He wanted the sailors to kill him. He said, "Cast me forth into the sea rather than go to Nineveh." He wanted God to kill him rather than see Nineveh receive mercy. And now he wants God to kill him rather than have to suffer any personal discomfort. You see, Jonah cannot tolerate God's directions, God's decisions, or God's disciplines when they disagree with his own desires. Jonah is a lesson to us. His It's not his prophetic words. They're hardly here

29:38 in the book. There's hardly any words spoken by Jonah of prophecy in this book. He's not a typical prophet, but Jonah's life is shouting at us with a megaphone. You've got to be very careful that you don't live like Jonah. He couldn't tolerate when God directed him or corrected him. He couldn't tolerate any of that if it disagreed with his own desires. That is a very, very dangerous way to live. There's a Hebrew word here. It appears four times in the book of Jonah, mana. And each time mana is translated in the English Bible, prepared. And it's not just prepared. It's not a casual word. It's not the Hebrew word for make or create. Maniah emphasizes

30:25 intentional preparation within a big master plan. So it's the idea of appointing or assigning something. In chapter 1 verse 17, God prepared a great fish. And then in chapter 4:6, God prepared a gourd. Chapter 4:7, God prepared a worm. Chapter 4:8, God prepared a vehement east wind. So you've got a fish, a gourd, a worm, and a wind. You've got this great fish. God assigned that fish. People, we talked about this in week one. People debate, well, I wonder if that was a whale or I wonder what it was. And they get measuring and trying to figure out. It doesn't matter

31:12 because God prepared. He assigned that fish. That could have been a one-off in all of creation, in all of history. But that great fish was big. Somebody say big. >> And then God prepared a gourd. Just a vine plant. A typical vine plant that could grow anywhere in that part of the world. But God prepared this particular gourd. It grew up very, very fast and it shaded Jonah. And that was just something ordinary. Everyone say ordinary. And then God prepared a worm, a tiny little worm that got into that vine. And that worm killed that vine by chewing on it. Now, when it says God prepared a worm, we don't know if that was like a whole uh host of worms that

31:58 attacked that plant, uh we don't know. But God prepared that worm. He assigned it just a little small thing. Everyone say small. >> Small. >> And God prepared a vehement east wind. The Bible says in the words of Jesus, "The wind blows where it listeth." You see its effects. You don't see the wind. So the wind's invisible. Everyone say invisible. So here's what God prepared for Jonah. Something big, something ordinary, something small, and something invisible. And the point here, I believe, is that God prepares, he assigns, he anoints, he directs the big things in our lives, the ordinary things in our lives, the small things in our lives, and even the

32:44 invisible things in our lives, things that we don't know about, we don't see them coming. These are to direct us and to correct us. Nothing about mana, prepared, assigned, appointed. Nothing about this is random or accidental or incidental. The great fish was not just about transportation. The gourd was not just about shade. The worm was not just about decay. The wind was certainly not just about the weather. each circumstance functioned as a divinely commissioned servant to carry out God's will and to communicate with

33:29 Jonah. Could it be as we study this little book that there are things in our lives, big things, small things, just ordinary circumstances, and sometimes invisible things that we don't even know that God is assigning. He is preparing because he's trying to direct us and trying to correct us. Just like Jonah, GOD IS SO BIG and he's so amazing that he can assign specific circumstances for specific moments for specific purposes. But here's the bad thing about Jonah. He begrudgingly accepted God's sovereignty when it directed him. That was the great fish. He begrudgingly accepted, "Okay,

34:16 I'll go to Nineveh because God was directing him." But he outright rejected God's sovereignty when God was trying to correct him through the gourd and the worm and the wind. And it is possible to have the same attitude. We only want good from the hand of God. Never anything bad, never anything negative, ne never anything difficult, never anything challenging. If I could push you a little bit tonight, we need to be very careful that we receive what God sends into our lives from his hand. No, I'm not saying that you take some kind of terrible tragedy just laying down. I am saying that you take it to God in

35:02 prayer and you don't just ask God um you know for deliverance from it. You also ask God, "Teach me something in the middle of it. God can teach you when you're laying in a hospital bed. God can teach you when you got issues and trouble and fissures and fractures in your family. God can teach you something." I remember years ago, this has nothing to do with a lesson. Pardon me for the distraction and the detour, but I remember years ago we were uh renting space, not even renting, I think we were giving space in the church to another group uh here in town and they were wonderful people and we were trying to help them and they had a small congregation and so we let them use the youth chapel and uh they were wonderful folks and and they became uh friends of

35:48 our team and and they were wonderful. They were wonderful. They had a friend who came to visit and he came to visit in a um travel trailer and he was not so wonderful. Um they called and said we don't have room for him to park his travel trailer in our u driveway. So could he park it at the church? and we said certainly thinking that he's going to park it in some remote corner of the parking lot and just kind of set up for a few days and it's all good. We said certainly. We had no idea that he thought that the view from the crest of the driveway downing street was a wonderful place to

36:35 set up camp. We also had no idea that he liked to get out just prior to Wednesday night service time and flip burgers on his grill. And we also had no idea that he liked to do that in a speedo bathing suit. We had no idea of these things. Some of you may have been here long enough to remember this guy waving at you as you drove to Bible study that night. But that wasn't the real problem. The real problem is we have traffic here in the middle of the night and it's not the angels. There's people that drive through our parking lot and back then before they did all this wonderful landscape and they had a straight shot to the woods and they used to go out to the woods and we're not sure of all the different trades that went on in the woods but there were many of them

37:20 and we just have kind of a live and let live attitude. It worked for us for like you know goodness we've been on this hill since 77. It's worked for us for a long time. They don't bother us. We don't bother them. And it just went on until this particular night when Speedo guy showed up and every time somebody drove through the parking lot and woke him up, he called the police. By the morning, our friends that inhabit the woods and the dark regions of this hilltop, they they were quite offended at us. So, they decided that they would show their wrath. And by the time we arrived the next morning, they had thrown a a big cement block through the office doors. Uh they had torn all the letters off the old church signs,

38:06 scattered them all across the lawn. Uh they had ripped a down spout off of the roof uh and just thrown it and uh it was amazing. And they'd taken all the bricks that used to be in the planter for the sign and thrown them all over the lawn. and our friend, this wonderful pastor, he um he was feeling so bad for us and he said, "I'm so sorry that happened." And and we moved Mr. Speedo to a a campground and and he he was so apologetic and he said to us, um actually he said to me, Pastor Jack was in the conversation, but at this moment he was addressing me. He said, "So, Pastor Raymond, um I just think God's trying to speak prophetically to you guys." and his eyes got a little bit glassy, I think. And he started

38:53 interpreting everything that had happened. He said, "You know, the letters ripped off the sign, thrown into the woods, that's dispersing the word." He said, "And and the and the glass door." He said, "That's that's revelation. That's seeing and vision." I'm thinking, "No, that's a board on our office door." And then he said, and he really got anointed here. He said, "And the downspout, the place of outpouring." And so he had uh all kinds of wonderful interpretations for everything that happened to us. And then he said the line that just made me so mad. He said, "Pastor Raymond, what do you think God is trying to teach you in all of this?"

39:42 I did not need to hear that at that moment. Sometimes that's exactly what God's saying to us. What do you think I'm trying to teach you in this moment? What do you think I'm trying to teach you through these odd circumstances and these troublesome times? And are you going to just take good from my hand? You're going to come to church really and you're going to take good. You're going to pray for good. God bless me. God heal me. God deliver me. You're going to take good. And if anything negative happens, you're going to get an attitude like Jonah. Remember Job? Oh boy, do we. The oldest book in your Bible is about human suffering and pain. Job chapter 2. His wife came to him. Job had lost everything. His

40:27 family, his possessions, his kids were gone. He's sick in his body. He's trying to scrape sores on his body to get some relief. and his wife comes to him and says, "Do you still retain your integrity? You really going to take this, Job? Why don't you just curse God and die? It's the same thing as Jonah. It's better for you to die than live. You can't live like this. You're in pain. You can't live like this. We've had setbacks and disappointments, and God must be mad at you." And that's when Job said, "You speak like one of the foolish women speaketh." Now, we sometimes in preaching, we interpret this in a comical sort of way.

41:14 It's not it's not comedy. He says to her, "What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? You're telling me that I should check out of my relationship with God because I prayed for my kids every day and yet something happened and I'm disappointed and I'm disillusioned and I'm devastated. Are you telling me I should check out of my relationship with God? Shall I receive all the good from the hand of God and never receive any evil, never receive any issues or trouble or stresses? Are you telling me that you're speaking like a foolish woman? And in all this did not Job sin with his lips?

42:01 Shall we receive only good for the from the Lord? Shall we not walk with him faithfully? Shall we not still come to church and lift up our hands and our voices and praise him and weep tears of joy and thank him even when life has turned upside down? That's what Job learned and that's what God's asking Jonah in this moment. You say that's Old Testament. Well, here's New Testament for you. And we know that all things, good things, bad things, hard things, sad things, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So, I take a moment in Bible study to say to you, God may be

42:46 trying to teach you something. God may be trying to bring glory to himself out of your situation. YOU SAY, "I'M SULKING BECAUSE MY PRAYER HASN'T BEEN ANSWERED." I add one word yet. You don't know what God's going to do next week or next month or a year from now after every doctor gave you up and every situation said it was impossible. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT GOD'S GOING TO DO. And he's going to bring you good and he's going to bring HIMSELF GLORY. SHALL WE ONLY ACCEPT GOOD FROM THE HAND OF THE LORD and never any bad days? There's an old song we sing. The young people don't really sing this one anymore. It says, "GOD IS SO good to me. GOD IS SO GOOD TO ME, MORE than this world can be. He's so GOOD TO ME. HIS SPIRIT came

43:34 to me and gave me victory. My God is so good to me that I can't complain. I've had bad days and I've had hills to climb and I've had sad days and often a weary mind. But when I look about AND I THINK THESE THINGS ALL OUT, ALL OF MY GOOD days outweigh my bad days, so I can't complain. Sometimes the clouds hang low and I'd like to SEE THEM GO. AND I ASKED THE QUESTION, LORD, why so much pain? But he knows what's best for me, although I cannot see. SO I'LL JUST SAY

44:19 thank you, Lord. I can't complain. >> I COULD COMPLAIN. I'M NOT COMPLAINING. God's been too GOOD TO ME. I COULD GET AN ATTITUDE I REFUSE. My God's been too faithful to me. I COULD BACKSLIDE. NOT ON YOUR LIFE. MY GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL TO ME. I COULD CHECK OUT OF CHURCH WITH MY FAMILY AND TAKE MY TOYS AND GO HOME. NOT IN A MILLION YEARS. My God has been too good to me. I can't complain. Now, I'LL GRANT YOU MOST OF WHAT GOD'S GIVEN ME IS BETTER THAN GOOD. But there

45:06 are some things I do not understand and quite frankly I do not like. And if I could swat them away, pray them away, fast them away, I would. But I can't. But I will accept not only good from the hand of the Lord. I will accept tough days. I will accept difficult days. I will accept sad days. THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M NOT GOING TO pray to be delivered. Even Jesus did that in the Garden of Gethsemane AND ON THE CROSS. I'M NOT TELLING YOU NOT TO PRAY to be delivered. I'M SAYING WHEN DELIVERANCE IS DELAYED, DON'T YOU CHECK OUT OF YOUR GOD AND YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. WHEN DELIVERANCE IS DELAYED, DON'T YOU START GETTING AN ATTITUDE AND SAY, "I'M NOT WORSHIPING UNTIL GOD COMES THROUGH. I'M GOING TO

45:51 SHOW EVERYBODY HOW SAD I AM. I'M GOING TO SHOW EVERYBODY HOW DEPRESSED I AM." WOULD YOU STOP THAT FOOLISHNESS WHEN OUR GOD SAVED YOU FROM A BURNING HELL AND HE GAVE YOU A HOPE AND A FUTURE AND A HEAVEN? [cheering] >> I'm sorry. I'M NOT BAITING YOU OR PUSHING YOU. I WISH SOMEBODY would lift UP YOUR VOICE AND THANK GOD FOR EVERY BLESSING YOU CAN THINK OF. THANK GOD FOR EVERYTHING GOOD YOU CAN THINK OF. I PROMISE YOU WHEN YOU ADD IT ALL UP, YOUR GOOD DAYS WILL OUTWEIGH YOUR BAD DAYS. >> I'm sorry that's not quite up there to par. Push a little bit. CC [cheering]

47:06 Yeah. [snorts] And God said to Jonah, "Dust thou well to be angry for the gourd?" Are you kidding me, Jonah? And he said, "I do well to be angry even unto death." For the second time, God asked Jonah that same question. Jonah, is it right for you to be upset about a gourd, a vine that perished when you weren't even upset about a city that came within a hair's BREATH OF PERISHING? IS IT RIGHT THAT YOU'RE more upset about your personal discomfort than their eternal destiny? God has set Jonah up to teach him a lesson and to expose his character. But shockingly, Jonah is not

47:53 afraid to rebuke God. I DO WELL TO BE angry even unto death. And sadly, those are Jonah's last words in the book. His story could have ended in a great revival. And instead, it ends with resentment. He's mad at the Ninevites. He's mad at his life. He's mad at God. And his story exposes THE DANGER OF RECEIVING THE MERCY GOD GIVES TO us and those we love while resenting the mercy that God offers to those we don't like. And this, as we've discovered over the last four weeks, is a strange little book because the characters do exactly

48:40 the opposite of what we would expect. God's prophet rebels against the Lord and runs from him and resents him for SHOWING MERCY. THE PAGAN SAILORS AND THE HEATHEN KING AND THE WICKED CITY, THEY repent and turn to the Lord in humility. They are more receptive to God than Jonah is. But through it all, no matter who does what or why they do it, the relentless love of God never stops reaching, never stops working, and never stops showing mercy to people. Then said the Lord, you had pity on the gourd for which you didn't labor, you didn't make it grow, and it just came up in a night and perished in a night. JONAH, YOU

49:28 DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH the blessing I GAVE YOU. YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO do with my goodness toward you. AND SHOULD NOT I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score,000 persons, there's 120,000 people that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and all so much cattle. Jonah, THERE'S 120,000 CHILDREN. THEY'RE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW very much. And then there's all the adults and others. So it is God who speaks the final words of this book. He rebukes Jonah for becoming so emotional over a withered vine that he had nothing to do with that he didn't work for or plant or make it grow but he was depressed when it died. So God's last

50:15 question is aren't human beings more valuable than vines? Isn't it okay for God to feel at least the same emotional intensity over this city, Jonah, that you feel about this vine? And Jonah, shouldn't you feel this way? And the book ends right there with God basically asking Jonah for permission. Won't you let me show mercy to your enemies? And what is Jonah's answer? Well, the book never tells us because Jonah's answer at this point is not the point. The point is that this strange little book from a minor prophet is actually designed to mess with you and me. God's question is really

51:03 addressed to you and me. Are you okay with the fact that God loves people you don't even like? And before you answer too quickly, remember Jesus conversation with the Pharisees. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and they will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of a prophet who didn't even want to preach to them and behold a greater than Jonah is here. That's the understatement of the series. Jesus did what Jonah refused to do. Jonah ran from Nineveh. Jesus ran to us. Jonah resented the Gentiles who repented, but Jesus received them. Jonah went down into the sea unwillingly. But

51:49 Jesus went down into the grave willingly. Jonah sat outside the city hoping for judgment. But Jesus wept over the city offering mercy. So I say again, a greater than Jonah is here. Jesus told the Pharisees, Nineveh repented with less light from a resentful prophet. you refuse with more light, more revelation from the son of God. So ultimately, brothers and sisters, the message of the book of Jonah is to love our enemies as God loves them. Even wicked, sinful, immoral, perverted, evil, opposed people

52:35 just like the Ninevites. Because here's what you may have forgotten. In your years of serving God and being faithful to church and living a godly life, God's relentless love always reaches for whosoever. Whosoever believeth, whosoever shall call, whosoever will. We do not get to limit the list because we don't like their lifestyle or because we resent their rebellion against God. God's mercy cannot be controlled by our prejudice. His grace can't be confined by our preference because his relentless love never gives

53:22 up. So, at the end of this series, let me tell all of you wonderful apostolic people, I love you so much and I'm so proud of you. Yes, we live a separated lifestyle according to the Bible. And we're going to keep right on obeying God's word and living a separated lifestyle. But we can't ever become so pro-holiness that we become anti- evangelism. We can't ever. Jonah failed as a missionary prophet. Israel failed as a missionary nation. We cannot fail as a missionary church. There's a real heaven

54:10 to attain and a real hell to avoid. And there's real people to reach. And so the cry that started this odd little book, arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, is the same cry that comes to us from the throne of God. Arise and go to your neighborhood. Arise and go to your co-workers. Arise and go to YOUR CITY. IT'S A GREAT CITY not because of its size. It's a great city because God sees the potential of lives that are not yet in his family. And when they show up led by God, walk in the door, don't have a clue how to act, they're scared to death of some of the folks that some of the things that you folks do in worship. We

54:57 we got some little feedback uh on the weekend, I think, if I remember right, and it was just somebody that the spirit of God got moving and it just kind of creeped them out. This is different for people. We don't know how they're going to feel or what they're going to think. And so, the most important THING WHEN THEY SHOW UP IS PROBABLY NOT your worship. It's probably NOT YOUR ENTHUSIASM. IT'S PROBABLY NOT your gifts of the spirit and all of that. The most important thing is probably the love that you show them and the acceptance you have for them because we want them to get all THE WAY IN. NOT JUST BE EXPOSED TO A GOOD SERVICE, NOT JUST BE EXPOSED TO some wonderful people. WE WANT THEM TO KNOW THAT JESUS CAN GET IN THEIR FAMILY AND CHANGE THEIR LIFE.

55:43 THAT'S WHAT HE DID FOR NINEVEH. THAT'S WHAT HE WANTS TO DO for Frederickton and every other TOWN AND VILLAGE AND CITY THAT MIGHT BE WATCHING ON TONIGHT. God wants to do it, but he wants to work through us. Would you stand with me right now? Thank you for your kind attention. And now I'd like you to lift up your hands. And as we've done every week, I want you to begin to pray over the commission that God has for all of us. Would you lift up your voice? The most important thing you're going to lift up right now is not your hands, but please lift up your hands. Now, lift up the most important thing. lift up your voice in prayer and let God commission you and call you, maybe convict you, maybe correct you.

56:28 Because we can GET SO FOCUSED ON our own comfort and our own needs that we forget WE'RE NOT CALLED TO JUST HAVE EVERYTHING COMFORTABLE. We're called to reach people that don't know Jesus. There's prayer wants to