A Mission-Minded Heart - Jonah

, it's great to have the ransoms here. it's a great surprise. I didn't know you're coming, so welcome. I, I serve a lot with Sean.

That's the primary focus in the ministry. So come alongside Sean and the team there in the Philippines. And what's been interesting through COVID, it's actually opened up several doors into closed countries. close to missionaries.

So we actually not only are several, groups that I trained in the Philippines that we train in the Philippines, but also the Lord's opened up doors for some, pastors and church leaders in Malaysia and Myanmar. And recently, I came back from Pakistan. That's why I've got this, garb on. this is the traditional formal wear there.

the Lord opened up opportunity about a year ago. I met a man actually in the Philippines, who's a pastor in Pakistan. He was there in the Philippines going to seminary. And he'd been asking us to, to come to Pakistan and, and do some training there with the pastors, but the Lord just did not open up opportunity till COVID hit.

And then we were able to meet by Zoom. And then a couple of weeks ago, he was able to travel there and actually be with the men in person. And boy, it's a different experience being among the persecuted church. I experienced a wide range of emotions when I was there.

Part of what I did there was, the guys that I'm training, we have a preaching lab, so I assigned them a passage and then they will preach from. We take them through a process of how to study the word on their own, and then how to preach that word accurately and clearly. And, effectively. And so I wanted to be there in person for the preaching lab and was able to hear, I think it was 32 sermons over the course of the week and be able to evaluate.

And these brothers are just amazing. I was so encouraged by their faithfulness, their diligence. Almost all of them preached in English for the first time, for most of them. and I told them, brothers, I'm just going to focus on the, the content, so because it was a challenge for them, but praise God.

They really put the effort in. They really want to understand and proclaim God's word accurately. So I was just filled with joy, but also very humbled when I was with them. I had the opportunity also to preach at several churches, around the country, which was also a very humbling experience.

Most of the churches there, they have guys with armed AK-47s out in front because of the risks that are involved in gathering together. so that was a, a different, experience for me, but just seeing again the faithfulness of the believers there to meet and gather even amidst some of the risks. That they have there. They don't worry too much about the mask issue there, I found, for some reason, they just didn't seem to have that as a high priority.

But I was very blessed to be also very encouraged to have the opportunity to do a couple of conferences on expository preaching with pastors there. We probably had about 6 or 700 pastors and church leaders gather for those, and they were just extremely impacted, very excited, wanted to get more training. So Sean, we're gonna have to figure out what we're going to do there, because there were a few 100 of them that wanted to be trained. many of them had never been exposed to this idea of context or author's flow of thought.

Or just the author's intent. That was new to most of them. And so, a lot of opportunity there. I had a chance to meet with several pastors and their families in their homes to see what they experienced an ongoing basis, hear their stories.

But probably the most impactful part of the trip there was an opportunity the Lord gave to meet with several brothers and sisters from Afghanistan. Who have fled into the country as a result of what has happened there. And they told me of their stories of how they had come to Christ. One family was an American soldier who had shared the gospel with them.

A couple other families, Korean missionaries had, met with them and brought the Lord Jesus Christ into their lives. So that was very encouraging. And then they began to tell me what had happened as far as them coming out of Afghanistan. And, it was very difficult to hear.

They told me of kill lists that have been put together, that the day the US troops moved out, is the very day the Taliban began to go through these lists. They call them kill lists because that's exactly what they were. So they would take families out, kill the children first, then the parents. and so these folks had found out that they were on these particular lists, many of them because they were Christians.

And so they fled in the middle of the night, just the clothes on their back. And so as I'm listening to these stories, obviously I was sobered, humbled, but I have to admit I also struggled with anger. Because of what is happening to our brothers and sisters there overseas, in Afghanistan, and, and these folks now, they're in Pakistan, they're not there legally, so they have to stay in hiding. some of this anger is directed towards, our government leaders, but much of it directed toward those who are perpetrating these horrific acts of violence and murder upon our own family.

Our brothers and sisters. And if I, have to be honest, I still, I'm still struggling a little bit with, with hatred, wishing for judgment, wanting God to bring them to suffer in the way they have made our family suffer. Perhaps you felt this too. I, I'm not here to give them political opinions or anything like that, but just to express to you what I heard and experienced when I was there.

And, as I think about my struggle and as I thought about what to share with you this morning, there's a name that came to my mind. A name, the name Jonah. He struggled with similar issues with the Ninevites, and I thought it would be helpful again to look at this story and see that what the message is for us. And I think it's in a message that connects to all of us, no matter how you might feel about the situation in Afghanistan.

Jonah is certainly one of the most well-known stories in the Bible, right? In fact, when I say that name Jonah, what comes to your mind? Probably the first thing that comes to your mind, right? Yeah, Jonah and the fish, right?

And I know that it's interesting, Jonah and the, and the fish gets all the press, but you realize only 3 out of the 48 verses of that book actually have to do with that miracle. Certainly the, the central message of Jonah goes far deeper than a man being inside of a fish for three days and nights, and the central person in that story actually is not Jonah, it's someone else. To see that, let's, let's reflect, reflect on the story first. Just want to see how well do you remember this story from Jonah.

Take a look with me in Jonah chapter one, verse one. Jonah chapter one, verse one. Do you remember how the story starts? It's an interesting beginning.

He said it says this in verse one, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. And that's what Jonah does, right? Yes, opportunity to serve the Lord. I'm out of the first bus out of here to Nineveh.

I'm gone. I'm going up there. Is that what he did? No, right?

the story. What did he do? Verse 3, Jonah arose, rose up to flee to Tarsius from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarsius, paid the fare, went down into it to go with them to Tarsius from the presence of the Lord.

And so this book begins with an amazing irony, a prophet who refuses to prophesy. And in fact, God told Jonah, right, go to Nineveh, their wickedness has risen up before me, and indeed the Assyrians were known as an extremely violent people. they, their cruelty, their unspeakable acts, things they would do to those they had conquered. in fact, they had come up with a form of torture that the Romans then adopted and transformed into crucifixion.

There's many things I, I can't even share publicly, things they would do to people. So they were known as a very violent and wicked and cruel people. And God directs Jonah, I want you to go to them. I want you to declare a message of judgment, but Jonah says no.

In fact, he does something, he goes the opposite direction. Jonah lives in central Israel, and instead of going northeast to Nineveh, he goes southwest to Joppa and gets on a ship to go to the far east. Tarsus is probably modern day Spain. It's a journey over 1200 miles.

Why did he do that? Why does he take a 60 mile journey through the desert to get to the coastline and then get on a ship to take him far away? Well, notice it wasn't that Jonah wanted to get away from Nineveh. There's something repeated in those first few verses.

Notice it says there, he wanted to flee from the presence of Yahweh, the Lord. Now I'm sure Jonah was aware of David's words in Psalm 139, that God is omniscient, that he, that there's nowhere we can flee from him, right? Whether in heaven or hell or anywhere on the earth, there's nowhere we can flee from his presence. I'm sure Jonah knew that.

I don't think he wanted to escape God's sight. He wanted to escape his service. You want me to go where? I'm going the opposite direction.

I'm out of here. And this is where the story gets interesting, right? What happens? How does God respond?

Jonah gets on the ship, right? Verse 4, take a look with you there. The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to break up. And then we learn in the following verses that the sailors were full of fear and they're crying out to their gods, and they, they run to Jonah and they tell him, who's sleeping, get up, cry out to your God.

Another irony in the book, cause God's the last person Jonah wanted to talk to. And then verse 7 says the sailors, right? They cast lots, they want to see what, who's, someone must be responsible for this storm. Let's find out who it is.

And guess what, the lot happens to fall upon Jonah. And so they're asking him, who are you? What are you doing here? What, what's going on?

And, and Jonah tells them that he is a servant of Yahweh, the God of heaven and the sea. Well, that gets their attention. So they asked Jonah what to do. He says, throw him in.

And so that's exactly what they do, right? Verse 15, take a look there. They picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord.

And made vows. And now here, as Jonah is sinking to the bottom of the Mediterranean, here's where that that famous, most famous sea creature in history shows up, right? And he swallows Jonah. Jonah's in the fish.

We see that in verse 17, the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the stomach of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. Now, some say it's a whale that swallowed the prophet, but the Hebrew word there is, is, is a word for fish, a great fish. So I think it was a, a large fish that swallowed Jonah.

And the miracle wasn't that the fish swallowed Jonah, right? There's others who've been found inside of large fish. The miracle was the guy's still alive after 3 days. And in fact, the second chapter is a, a prayer, a psalm of, of Thanksgiving that Jonah delivers while inside the fish.

I'm still trying to figure out what did he use to write it out while he was in there. I, I don't know. Anyway, he got it to us, and then it says in verse one of chapter 2, from inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord. A little side note, as I was studying this book, there were some liberal scholars who claimed that the, that actually Jonah was staying, that that wasn't referring to an actual fish, but that he stayed in a place called the Fish Inn.

No lie. Yeah, I laughed too when I saw that. So again, chapter 2 is a psalm of expression of thanksgiving and praise to God from Jonah. And then we come to the end of chapter 2, verse 10.

Look there with me. The Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on to dry land. In chapter 3 verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I'm going to tell.

you. So Jonah arose, went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh is an exceedingly great city, a 3 days' walk. Jonah began to go through the city, 1 day's walk, and he cried out, yet 40 days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.

So again, picture the scene, right? Joanna in the fish, the fish vomits him up. I won't go into a junior high description of what that might look like, but the fish vomits him up back on the shore. Now picture that moment, right?

There's John, he's been inside a fish for 3 days. What do you think the guy looks like? How do you think he smells? He's probably hungry, he's probably thirsty, probably white as a sheet laying in that stomach acid for 3 days.

Probably some seaweed and other stuff stuck to him. And then God says, OK, Jonah, now are you ready to go? So he goes, right? He takes the 500 mile plus journey up to Nineveh, which is modern day Mosul in Iraq is where it's located, the city.

And Jonah arrives there. He delivers God's message of judgment. Now just how would these pagan Innovites respond? What would we have expected?

Here's some foreign prophet, some guy coming in and telling us about some god named Yahweh that's gonna, gonna destroy us in 40 days. Well, amazingly, take a look at verse 5. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God. They called a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation. And it said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.

But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. Brothers and sister, this is an amazing response. If we were to really understand who these people were, what their experiences were, what they worshiped, what they did to others, we, this is amazing.

The entire city here, incredibly, they repent and believe, it says they believe, they put their trust in God, and they demonstrated that faith through acts of repentance. They're putting on sackcloth and ashes. this was one of the greatest revivals in history. I don't think Billy Graham ever converted an entire city of pa pagan idol worshippers.

This was amazing. And so in response to that, this is what God does in verse 10 of chapter 3. Look there, when God saw their deeds that they turned from their wicked way, God relented concerning the calamity which he declared he would bring, and he did not do it. God showed mercy.

Now these 1st 3 chapters of this book present quite an amazing story, don't they? think about all that has taken place. We have this, this incredible calming of the great sea of the Mediterranean. We have a, a prophet who Jonah, who obeys, who repents, it seems, and, and obeys, and we have the Ninevites who come to the Lord in faith and repentance.

And then we have a large fish no longer suffering from indigestion. it's, it's an incredible story, really. And we think, wow, this would end nicely here. Jonah carries out the task, the people of Nineveh repent, wow, this is incredible.

But notice, There's another chapter. The story's not finished yet. As we arrive at the end of chapter 3, there should be a question that's nagging the reader, that's nagging us. And that is this, why did Jonah refuse to obey God in the first place?

you would think what he felt about these Ninevites, he would be glad to go and, and proclaim this message of judgment, right? Why did he refuse? And then even get on a ship and, and take a perilous journey as far away from God as he could get. Why did he go in the opposite direction?

Did he fear persecution from these ruthless Assyrians, perhaps even death? Did he realize, if I go there, they're not gonna listen to me. This mission is, is pointless. Why should I go?

It's a long journey, it's a difficult journey. Maybe he was just done with the hard life of being a prophet. What was it That was such a big enough issue that Jonah directly rebelled against God and refused to go. That's why we have chapter 4.

It addresses and answers that question. Look with me at verse 1, chapter 4. But it, that is God's respons of mercy in the previous verse, it greatly dis displeased Jonah, he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country?

Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshi, for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore, now, oh Yahweh, please take my life from me, for death is better than life. So stop there. we learn here, there was a conversation that Jonah had with the Lord at the very beginning.

But, interestingly enough, it's a conversation the author did not tell us about until now. Why did he do that? Well, here we're given the reason Jonas says, this is exactly why I didn't want to go, God. This is exactly why I know you are a compassionate and gracious God.

He's really quoting or referencing Exodus 34:6, where the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and, and, and declared himself as one who was compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness. And Jonas says, I know that's true. I know what you're doing here. You were not sending me to proclaim a message of judgment, you were sending me to proclaim a message of warning.

I know you're gonna show them mercy. I know you're a god of second chances. And frankly, Jonah did not want these people to have a second chance, did he? Jonah actually would have preferred these pagan Ninevites burned in hell.

So he didn't want to go. And it is in this complaint in chapter 4 that we find the theme of this book. Really a, a, a, a major theme in all of the Bible, that God is a God of compassion. And we see God's compassion demonstrated all throughout this story, don't we?

Where do we see it first demonstrated? With the sailors. You have to ask yourself this question. Was that storm for Jonah?

Or for the sailors. Because certainly, if God wanted to get Jonah's attention, there were many opportunities for him to do that before Jonah got onto that boat. It's a 60 mile trek from where Jonah lived to get down to Joppa. As he's walking there, there will be many opportunities for snakes or robbers or earthquakes.

In fact, there was one prophet who's described, and I think his first Kings 12 or 13 who disobeyed the Lord, he was eaten up by lions. So if God was interesting in bringing consequences upon Jonah, he could have done that at any point in time, but he waits until Jonah gets on that ship. Why? And then when Jonah gets on the ship, the Lord brings the storm.

It terrifies the sailors. They cry out to their gods to find out what the problem was. Again, the lot falls upon Jonah, and then the sailors find out who it is that Jonah's serving, what Jonah has done, and immediately when they throw him overboard, it says in the Hebrew text, immediately the sea became calm. Does that remind you of another time?

Disciples, right? On the boat. And you remember when that happened, when Jesus calmed the sea, the same way, and immediately became calm. What is it those disciples realized?

The same thing, the sailors now realized, well, this is the one true God. They knew that ocean, and to see that happen. It became very obvious to them, and notice it says in verse 16, their response was this, they greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and vowed vows. Now some just just dismissed this as, well, he was a pagan idol worshippers, so certainly they just added God to their, to their idols and, and no, I think actually something transformative happened here.

Notice that Yahweh, God's personal name is repeated twice here. And notice they didn't say Jonah's God or Israel's God or, or the God of the sea, they said Yahweh. Specifically, notice too, it says they feared Yahweh. That's an Old Testament term often used as an act of true worship.

The sailors' fear of death had turned into a fear of reverence and awe. Notice too, it says that they not only offered a sacrifice, but that they vowed vows. I think all of this together tells us this was more than some perfunctory exercise that they offered to some deity. They now recognize God is the one true God.

It's an amazing story. These sailors were not just saved from perishing into the depths of the sea, they were saved from perishing in hell. You see God's compassion here? These pagans left port as, these sailors left port as pagans, and now they return as God's children.

Chapter 1 here, I think focuses more on the sailors than it does Jonah. In fact, the sailors are the emphasis in 12 of the verses in this. Chapter, Jonah is 9 verses. There's more attention given to them than Jonah, actually.

God's compassion in the story was not just limited to those sailors, was it? There's another group of people that experienced his mercy, right? We find them in chapter 3, the Ninevites. Again, God could have, God could have let those Assyrians continue on in their wickedness, in their idol worship, in their violence, and all the sins that they committed.

He could have let them continue. In that path and then suffer just judgment, right? But instead, he chooses to send. This Israelite prophet to a lost and sinful people, and he showed them true compassion and just like the sailors, they too believed in God.

Notice in verse 5, it says that they believed in him, that that that's the idea of trust. They trusted in God. They demonstrated their faith and outwardly with these acts of repentance. And as Jonah 3:10 says, God did not bring judgment, the judgment that he had said he would bring, but they repented.

They put their trust in him. They believed amazingly. And so in this story, we see God here is not as a cruel, vengeful God looking for every opportunity to destroy, but one who reaches out in his compassion to save. But God's compassion.

Didn't end with the sailors and the Ninevites in this story, did it? There's someone else who experienced it as well. Who's that? Jonah himself, right?

The prophet experienced it, cause you remember again how this story begins. He's running away from God in direct disobedience. He gets on this ship, he's trying to get as far away from God as possible, and normally prophets don't get away with that a response, right? So he gets on the ship, the sailors, throw him overboard.

God sends this fish to rescue Jonah, not punish him. If God wanted to punish Jonah, he would have sent a great white shark, right? But he sends this fish, the most unique life vest in history, actually. Fish swallows Jonah, preserves his life, and as Jonah's sinking to the bottom of the Mediterranean, and, and he's swallowed by this fish, Jonah cries out, Lord, I, I prayed and you heard my voice.

Jonah experienced God's compassion firsthand. And God shows compassion to this guy, not just once in this story, but twice. And we see the 2nd time in chapter 4. Take a look with me at verse 4.

In chapter 4, after God told Jonah told God he wanted to die because of his anger and because of how the Ninevites responded, and because of how God responded, he said, I just wanna die. Verse 4, Yahweh said this, do you have a good reason to be angry? Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head and to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up, God appointed a 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, saying, Death is better to me than life.

OK, stop there a minute. Jonah, Jonah gets so angry at God's response. He, he stomps out of the city and, and he ignores God's question even. Jonah, do you have a right to be angry?

He does it again. He walks away from God. He goes up on the, on the hill, and he sits down and he camps there. Now again, this is in Mosul, Iraq, it can get up to 130 degrees.

In the summer, pretty hot place. And then we of course read here how God causes this plant to grow miraculously over Jonah's head, and it, and it shades him as some large vine or ivy plant, something that was large enough to provide him shade. It seems again, Jonah, God's showing compassion to this guy, right? By bringing him this relief from the heat of the sun.

Notice it says in verse 6, the plant grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head. Earlier, God had delivered Jonah from drowning by sending the fish. Here it appears God is again delivering Jonah from the heat by sending this plant. Or is something else going on here?

Notice in verse 6, there's a second purpose statement that the author gives why God sent the plant. Look there, he says, the plant grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head and listen, to deliver him from his discomfort. Now, at first, that sounds like it's the same thing, right? God's providing this, this shade for him so that he's not suffering in the heat.

The NIV translates that phrase that to ease his discomfort, the ESV says this, to save him from his discomfort. In fact, if you have a, an ESV Bible, you may notice that the word there it's indicates the word it's to save him from his discomfort. God's compassion here wasn't providing that plan, cause what happens the next day? The worm comes, the plant dies, right?

he sent the plant, not just to shade Jonah, but to save Jonah. But to save him from what? a couple of translations the New American Standard ESV have to save him from his discomfort. The net Bible says to save him from his misery.

I mentioned the ESB Bible a minute ago. Those of you who have one, you may have a footnote there by that word discomfort. Now I see who has ESV Bibles, the ones that look down. Now, it's a great translation.

And here's what makes it one, because notice there's a footnote next to discomfort. It says actually literally evil. That's a Hebrew word that's used throughout this book, the Hebrew word Raa, which means evil, evil that someone does or evil or bad, something bad that happens to a person. Now that's an interesting statement.

Should we literally read it as this, God sent the plant to save Jonah from his evil. Hm. Hold that thought a minute. Here's where we get to the heart of the story.

You see, God was more interested, more than, than rescuing Jonah's body from the heat of the sun. He wanted to rescue Jonah's burning heart from the heat of his anger, among other things. He wanted Jonah to understand what is true compassion. Certainly, again, the Lord could have let Jonas sit out there in the heat and sulk as he's sitting outside of the city.

He could have let this prophet go on in his wicked, hateful attitude towards the Ninevites. He could have a judge this rebellious prophet who not only once ignored God and walked away, but twice in this story. But instead, God shows compassion upon him and brings circumstances in this situation in order to show Jonah his own heart. Look with me again at verse 1, chapter 4.

Notice it says there, it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. Now the word there for anger is burning, furious, as he was irate. He was hot. Why was he so furious?

Again, verse one says, there, it greatly displeased Jonah. What is the it? Well, exactly what happened in the previous verse, God showed mercy on the Ninevites, and it that greatly displeased Jonah. And so he's so angry, he says, God, just kill me.

That's pretty, that's, that's a lot of anger. There's another irony here. If you remember, you remember Elijah when he fought the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel? And, and after that great victory, he, he goes out into the wilderness, and he realizes Ahab and Jezebel are still on the throne, that the people are just going to continue on in their bal worship.

And Elijah there said the exact same words Jonas said here, basically, take out my life, Lord, take my life, I want to die. And the irony is there Elijah wanted to die because the people were going to continue in their sin. Here, Jonah wants to die because the people repented of their sin. So again, God asked Jonah, do you have a right to be angry?

God is exposing the horrible self righteousness and racism and hatred in this man's heart. Again, Jonah doesn't answer, he walks away. Verse 5 says he, he goes out of the city to the east of it. and I think this is what happens.

Jonah comes in, he's coming in from the west, the southwest, he enters into the city. And he goes through it one day, he just walks through straight through the city, proclaiming, his message of God's judgment, and he goes out of the east gate of the city, goes up onto the hill and sits down. I think that's the picture here. Why does he do that?

Why didn't Jonah just, OK, I did what you said, God. I'm going back, first train back to, to Israel. I'm out of here. Why did he go up on that hill and sit there?

given what we know of Jonah, I think we know exactly why he did that. What, what do you think Jonah was hoping for? Yeah. I hope those Ninevites that they, that this is just some false profession and they actually go back to their wicked ways and then God will smack them down.

I think that's what he's waiting for. Don't miss the another irony in this. This is an amazing story, full of irony. While Jonah is sitting down in his arrogance, wishing for God to bring judgment, at that very moment, the king in the city rises up in humility, wishing for God to spare them.

The Hebrew prophet of God wishing judgment, the pagan king. Wishing for mercy Now, before we think, well, didn't Jonah have a change of heart? he did obey the Lord. And when God told him that second time to go, yeah, his actions changed, but not his attitude.

In fact, the author points out to us in chapter 3 that the Nine city of Nineveh was a 3 days' walk. How many days was Jonah in the city? One He just went right on through. What was the content of his sermon, by the way?

And I think this contains the whole of his sermon here, yet 40 days and then it will be destroyed. Just 5 words in Hebrew. And now he's mad at God for showing mercy. Do you think his heart really changed?

No. No, he did the job that God gave him to do, for the most part. But he still did not want that job to have been effective. Go back to Jonah 4:1 for a moment.

Notice that phrase there, it greatly displeased Jonah. That word translated as displeased is that Hebrew word Raa that I mentioned before, evil. Literally, this verse says this, and he repeats that word twice. It was evil to Jonah, a great evil.

What was evil? God's mercy. To Jonah, that was the evil thing in this book. It's incredible for him to accuse God of being evil, because of how he showed mercy.

This guy was messed up. He thought God was doing something wicked. That word Raa really ties this whole story together. It's used throughout the book.

Again, it's a word that is translated as it means evil, evil that a person is, or evil that happens to a person. Let me just follow me for a minute here. How the author uses this word throughout the book. If you look back at the second verse of chapter one, it says there the wickedness or Raa of the Ninevites had come before the Lord.

So that's why he sent Jonah. Then in verse 7, the sailors say this, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this Raa, this calamity has come upon us. And then again in verse 8, they asked Jonah, tell us on whose account has this, this calamity come upon us. And then after hearing Jonah's message, the king of Nineveh tells the people of Nineveh to that each of you need to turn from your Ra'a, from your wicked ways.

And then verse 10, it says, God relented concerning the Ra'a, the calamity he was about to bring, and then we come to verse one where Jonah says, God's action was a Raa, a great Raah, a great evil, and then don't miss this verse 6. Jonah 4:6 says God brought the plant to deliver Jonah from his ra. One commentator said the greatest evil in the book is Jonah. Martin Luther said that Jonah was worse than the Ninevites because he tried to keep heaven from them.

And so when God brings this plant, it's really an object lesson to Jonah to save him from his evil. He's showing compassion, he wants Jonah to see his terrible, wicked, self-righteous, proud, racist heart. And so he sends this plant to get Jonah's attention, and when he sent the plant, remember how Jonah responded? It says he was happy, very happy.

Now, now Jonah's happy about something, but then the, the worm or grub or whatever it was comes up, chews up the plant the next day. And then God not only removes the plant, he, he brings that hot wind. God's responding to Jonah's burning anger by bringing burning heat, right? And then notice verse 8, Jonah is again, he's miserable.

He's sitting out there, probably suffering heat stroke, and then he mutters again, I just, I just want to die. And verse 9, God asks him, Do you have a right to be angry? God seems to be repeating Himself a lot to this guy. Well, this time, Jonah answers, I have a right to be angry.

I missed my plants. Now Jonah cares about something. He didn't care about Nineveh. You don't want to go to them to declare his message of judgment, but because he knew what God was going to do.

He didn't care about the sailors. He'd rather be sleeping on the ship, and he didn't care if they perished or not. And then he didn't care about the Ninevites that God wanted to save them, and actually was hoping for judgment upon him. But now he's so upset that he wants to die because he cares about this plant.

Obviously because it was doing something for him. And here's where we come to the point of the story. The last two verses, the author has been leading us to these last 2 verses. Look with me at verse 10.

Chapter 4, then Yahweh said, you had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand, right and left hand, as well as many animals? this God says to him, you cared about this temporary plant, which actually you didn't even put there. You didn't plant it, you didn't cause it to grow, but you cared about it.

Met your needs. Should I not care about these 120,000 human beings whom I've made in my image? Lost souls on their way to eternal destruction. And boom, the story ends.

There's no answer. Right, as we're reading, I was curious, wait a minute, what happened next? Did Jonah respond? Did he finally get it?

Did he stay there in the city? What did he do? Did he, did he see his racist, evil heart? Did, did he, did he go back into that city?

Did he repent? Well, now we see the purpose of this amazing little book. The entire story has been building up to this very question in that last verse. And no response is given here because God's question is not just aimed at Jonah.

It's aimed at you See, the point of the story wasn't to focus on Jonah and how he would answer this question. The author wrote this story to focus on us and how we would answer. This question. You see, as we, as we read this book, we can get so caught up in in criticizing Jonah, and I guess, well, we should, right?

This guy was, was bad news, especially as a prophet of God, but we can get so caught up in focusing on him and just how bad he was that we can fail to look at ourselves. Because when I treat someone else with contempt, because he or she is not like me, I, I, I'm like Jonah. When I don't care about the spiritual needs of those around me. I'm like Jonah.

When I don't consistently pray for the loss to come to Christ, I'm, I'm like Jonah. When I fail to tell others the gospel, when I have the opportunity, I am like Jonah. When I don't care for the souls around me, here or in foreign lands, I'm, I'm like Jonah. When I wish judgment.

Upon those who murdered our brothers and sisters, I am Jonah. When I don't care whether another person goes to heaven or hell. I am Jonah. Brothers and sisters Not only was the nation of Israel called to be a light to those around them, so too.

Are we, right? The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said this. If sinners be damned, and at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions.

Let not one go unwarned and unprayed for. We have the wonderful opportunity to bring a message of God's compassion, don't we? And how much more so just in all that's happened these last couple of years. We have a message of hope, not despair.

We have a message of Of salvation. A message of good news, a great joy that shall be for all peoples. Isn't that what the angel said? That a savior has been born, not just for Israel, but for all nations.

We have a wonderful opportunity of letting others know what God has done for us that we could not do for ourselves, right? Jesus said in Luke 6:36, be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. Brothers and sisters, let us beg God for this heart of compassion that we might learn the lesson of the story of Jonah. And that through that, through seeing God's example, through seeing his heart for the loss, that we would be motivated in the same way, not by guilt or obligation, but by understanding of who our God is, His great compassion, that that moves us to have the same compassion.

God is indeed God of compassion. We see that not only here in Jonah, but all through the scriptures, don't we? He showed compassion, certainly on the sailors. He showed compassion on the Ninevites, he showed compassion even on Jonah.

And he has shown compassion. Upon us, hasn't he? We're just like those Ninevites, honestly. The only way you and I could escape judgment was how?

Through our own efforts, because we figured it out. No, God had to chase after us, just like he sent Jonah. He sent someone into our lives to bring the message of salvation. And through his spirit transforming our hearts for those who responded in repentance and faith.

Listen, the only way for us to escape the judgment of hell that we all deserve, every single one of us, not just Jonah, not just the Ninevites, not just those sailors, every single human being on this earth, because what does the Bible say? We have all turned away from God, just like those Ninevites. Maybe we didn't do the same things that they did, but we certainly did not worship, put our trust and love the one true God, did we? God could have let us continue on in our sinful ways.

But he showed compassion. Right, we sang about it earlier. And sending his son. To die For the sins of those who put their trust in Him.

That's compassion. That's mercy. He didn't have to do that. And he did.

He paid a debt I couldn't pay. Why? Should I not care for the 120,000? Souls who do not know their right from their left.

In his compassion, he has also brought us a message for others. But I would first appeal to you, have you genuinely put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe in him? The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, that is submitting to him as the king.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, that is you're acknowledging that he is the one and only sacrifice that can pay for your sin. If you recognize that and cry out to him, I'm a sinner in need of a savior, he will answer. He will forgive He is a God of compassion. But there's another side to that coin, because one day that compassion will run out.

When we stand before Him at the throne of judgment, and if you have not put your trust in His Son, There will be no compassion that day. So I would just plead with you, please. Where are you at with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you, have you truly put your trust in him?

You might ask, well, how would I know if that's happened? You'll see a change in your life. Not perfection, but the direction will be towards that because you will want to, out of love for what Christ has done for you, you want to please him. You'll see a change in your desires.

You wanna spend time in the word, you wanna be with God's people, you want to spend time in prayer, you wanna tell others about this wonderful message. But please, Ask yourself, have you truly put your trust in him? And if you have, then you've experienced his compassion, and now you have the privilege of proclaiming that compassion. Should we not for the 120,000?

Around us for the glory of Christ. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this. Story, we know what truly happened.

It's in your word. You've inspired it. Thank you, how it shows us. The Tremendous depth of your love and compassion and mercy.

Not just upon those in the story, but it reminds us of your compassion upon us as well. We've been privileged to To hear the message of your son, who has come to seek and save the lost. For those who have put their trust in him, he would provide eternal life. Lord, I pray first and foremost, if there are any here who have not yet truly put their trust in you, that you would move in their hearts in this moment.

Grant them repentance and faith. And Lord, for those of us who have. Lord been saved by your wonderful grace that we would. With joy and gratitude in response to your compassion.

Proclaim that To those around us. I thank you for these. Dear people, my brothers and sisters here, I pray that you would use this church in a mighty way. Not only here in Riverside and the surrounding communities, but even around the world.

May the name of Christ be lifted up through the testimony of my brothers and sisters here, and we pray in Christ's name. Amen.