Revisiting the Gospel
Jonah • Sermon • Submitted
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Week 1 - Disobedience
Back in Jonah one we saw a man that was about himself. He did not understand why God would spare a nation that has oppressed Israel for years.
This caused Jonah to flee.
Week 2 - The Gospel Can Heal
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Jonah did not get very far when he fled. In fact, the most talked about fish on the planet swallows him and take him back to Joppa.
He does not spit him out however. Jonah has to get right before God in order for that to happen. Jonah throws up one of the most biblical prayer imaginable to God.
This is were we started to see the Gospel of Jesus working on Jonah’s heart.
Week 3 - Living on Mission
The Gospel
The Gospel
Last week, we saw Jonah show up and fulfil his mission and called out to Nineveh that in 40 days, they shall fall.
The Gospel is Available for Everyone
The Gospel is Available for Everyone
This lead the Ninevites to be move into a time of repentance. The king himself evens humbles himself with his fellow country men. They all fast, throw on sackcloth and pray to God.
God relents of the disaster and shows grace and mercy towards Nineveh.
Because Jonah carried out his mission, 2 million people were saved in those 40 days.
This brings us to the last chapter of Jonah were we will see what this prophet has to say now.
Pick up in .
Slide Scripture
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
The Gospel
The Gospel
The Gospel is Available for Everyone
Now the thing that I really want to hit home tonight is that the Gospel is for everyone. It is not for just certain people but it is available for all.
Thought the breakdown of these verses, we will see that Jonah lacks the understanding that God’s grace, mercy, and steadfast love is available for all.
We as Christian can often get caught up and think, “that person does not deserve that. He does not even believe in God.”
I want to my best to lay a foundation that the Gospel of Christ is not only available for all, but it is powerful enough to save all.
Read .
Slide Scripture
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
The Prophet’s Displeasure
The Prophet’s Displeasure
Jonah Angered
Nineveh’s repentance led to the reaction of mercy from God.
Slide Point
What pleased God displeased Jonah
Jonah finds that the time-fuse does not work on the prophetic bomb that he planted in Nineveh.
This phrase, “It displeased Jonah exceedingly”, literally means that it ways evil in Jonah’s eyes pertaining to how God spared Nineveh.
This triggered Jonah’s anger.
On top of that, Jonah’s pro[hecy did not come true. Not he will be known as the lying prophet.
The dude is ticked.
One thing that Jonah failed to recognize was that he was privileged to be used as an instrument of God in a miraculous situation.
Slide Point
Countless numbers of modern believers miss much of the joy of being in God’s wonderful work because of centeredness.
Jonah’s Prays
So Jonah decides to complain to God. We now see a glimpse of Jonah’s old self from come out.
This prayer is not as biblical as his prayer in chapter 2. Jonah uses the word “I” 4 times in this short prayer.
It is very centered on himself.
Here Jonah assumed that God was only with him and Israel verse with his foes the Ninevites.
Jonah has quite a bold complaint in this prayer.
Jonah complains about God’s goodness. He complains about his grace, mercy, slow to anger, and steadfast love.
While Jonah may have become obedient in chapter 3, he lacked a spirit of submission.
Jonah end this prayer with, “Take my life”.
Believers should always be thankful that God knows the depths of every heart and knows every need better than we may know ourselves.
Let’s see how God handles this one.
Slide Scripture
4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah 4:
Jonah 4:-11
4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
God’s Response
God’s Response
The Probing Question
In order to correct Jonah’s bad understanding of God, God asks Jonah a question.
God, being abundant in His steadfast love sought to help Jonah understand his compassion for all people.
Pick up in verse 5.
Slide Scripture
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
2. The Pouting Prophet
So Jonah avoids the question and does not answer it. Actually, he does. He goes out from Nineveh, builds a booth out of branches and what not and then proceeds to pout and look out over the city.
That is Jonah’s answer to God’s question.
Slide Point
Rather than examining himself as the Lord had wished, he examined the city to see if they were the ones who would change.
While God looked upon Nineveh’s turning from evil with delight, Jonah looked upon it and God’s change in plans with anger and hoped for a return to evil.
Our own agendas can often get in the way of the Holy Spirt and we will not be able to see or hear the plans that God has not only for us but also for those around us.
I love these next couple verses. God moves into a teaching time.
Pick up in verse 6.
Scripture Slide
3. Scripture Slide
6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
3. God’s Methods of Discipline
Jonah’s booth worked or awhile until the branches that he used for the roof began to die and wither way.
4. Makes a Booth - Vine Grows
Where it say to save Jonah from his discomfort literally means to save him from his evil.
This plant or vine that God sends brigs a great joy to Jonah. At least for a time.
4. Makes a Booth - Vine Grows
God provides a vine to minster relief to Jonah. God has a lesson in mind.
Where it say to save Jonah from his discomfort literally means to save him from his evil.
This plant or vine that God sends brigs a great joy to Jonah. At least for a time.
5. Worm Kills
God then sends a worm and just like that, the vine is killed and gone. This quickly ends the short-lived joy of Jonah.
Side note, this whole book is about destruction and the only thing that gets destroyed is the vine.
Destruction came not upon Nineveh but upon something that became very important to Jonah.
6. Wind Rises
God keeps teaching Jonah though and sends a wind that honestly, is so bad. God is doing this to show his control or sovereignty over his creation.
This wind sucks all the humidity out of the air. It also carries fine particles of dust or sand. On top of that, it now takes the desert temperature of 110 degrees to upwards of 120+ degrees.
It causes exhaustion, depression, feelings of unreality, and occasionally bizarre behavior.
Jonah may have thought that God was answering his prayer by taking his life. It was that bad.
So Jonah see’s that that is not the case and he repeats his prayer.
Jonah was exhausted. He asked for his life to die. This verse shows Jonah’s total frustration.
Having failed as a prophet, now he failed his God in his heart. He wished to die. This is not the picture of a mature gospel centered christian.
Pick up in verse 9.
Scripture Slide
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”
Jonah 4:
7. The Rebuke
Again, God asks a question in order to teach Jonah.
But let’s be honest, Jonah’s values are topsy-turvy.
Scripture Slide
He had greater concern for his physical comfort by a vine than for the spiritual well being of an entire city.
God’s mercy for Nineveh made Jonah angry and then Jonah became even more angry because the mercy had been taken away from himself.
What right do we have to demand that God should favor us and not others?
At this point, Jonah is extremely exhausted, he is probably dehydrated as well which cause him to answer quicker than he really should. He does not give a second thought to God’s question.
He basically answers, “I am so made that I would rather die.”
God, again, because he is patient, maybe not as tender anymore but patient, has one final thing to say.
Pick up in verse 10.
Scripture Slide
10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
8. God’s Mercy
Jonah has no right to talk about the plant. The plant was a gift of God’s grace.
God as trying forcefully to drive home the final question.
“Who are you Jonah to question me?”
Jonah expressed not only a lack of understanding but also a lack of trust.
Jonah’s concern was for but a spec in God’s creation, a vine. God’s deep concern was about his highest creation, human beings.
At every point in this chapter, Jonah’s attitude stands in the complete opposite to god’s relationship to Nineveh.
God created them, nurtured them, and extended a hand of mercy to them.
We sadly see Jonah answer God’s question incorrectly and therefor shows his lack in understanding not only God but who he is.
God’s question captures the whole point of the book, grace. The point is grace and mercy.
Just as Jonah’s provision of grace and mercy was the vine which he did not deserve, the provision of grace and mercy for the Ninevites was deliverance that they did not deserve based off of their repentance. A repentance that they did not fully understand.
God’s wish is salvation, not destruction.
Slide Scripture
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
The book of Jonah has no conclusion. The final question of the book has no answer unless you are someone who realizes the fullness of the mercy of God.
Application
Application
Jonah’s Understanding of God
Jonah was under the impression that God was to only help those of Israel and lacked the understanding that God cares about all of mankind.
Our understanding of God
We must understand that God and his gift of grace and mercy s free for all to experience. The cross of christ is not just for some but all.
If it was for some and not all, Jesus would have kept most of his ministry a secret.
Sharing Love and compassion
We as christian are to share the love of Christ no matter what our opinion is of a person or people.
This extends from family, to friends, to every those who struggle with their sexual identity.
We are not to preach fire and brimstone to them but rather help those who are lost to understand that God is abounding in steadfast love. Jesus wishes to have a relationship with them.
They too, even lost, were still made in the image of God.
This is our call as Christians.
The gospel is center
As for ourselves, we are to live life’s that are gospel centered. If our life is gospel centered, we will love the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, and soul.
In turn we will love our neighbors as ourselves.
If we lack an understanding of the gospel or God, we will miss the countless time that God uses us as instruments for his glory. Not only this but we will also fail to see God’s goodness in all of creation.
Let’s Pray.