Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet - 21
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction: We finished two weeks ago with Jonah sitting under a booth. He left the city and sat on the east side of the city, waiting to see what would become of Nineveh.
Text: Jonah 4:1-11
Jonah, left the city upset. The indication based on Jonah’s words and his actions is that he desired for judgement to fall upon Nineveh.
He saw their repentance and understood that God is merciful and gracious.
Two weeks ago we looked at:
B. Jonah’s Condition v1-9
1. His Words v2,3,5,9
2. His Actions v1-4, 5-6
But now we begin with verse 5 and see Jonah sitting under a booth.
The book of Jonah closes with several object lessons given to Jonah by the Lord.
We will focus on those today.
Let’s read starting in verses 6-11.
And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
C. Jonah’s Instruction v4-11
1. The Questions v4, 9
2. The Object Lessons v5,6-10
3. The Conclusion v10,11
I want you to realize this morning that God is always teaching His people.
God is teaching you this morning.
God is teaching me this morning.
And in our lives, because He is faithful, He is working to bring about a great change in us.
Is it necessary? I pray you would agree with me that it is.
People get concerned with all manner of things in this life. Most of what we concern ourselves with ends up being the “lesser” things.
The Bible tells us in Romans 8:29 speaking about Christians, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
And we might at first glance just take this one verse and think God will certainly change me one day and I will be conformed wholly to the image of Jesus Christ when I leave this world.
And while that is true, the previous verse sheds light on the truth that God is accomplishing that work now in the life of His children.
The verse prior Romans 8:28 declares,
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
What is the good that God is working in our lives?
We might think wealth.
We might think health.
We might think fame.
And God perhaps has provided to you a measure of wealth.
And we can all certainly praise God for the physical health that we do have this morning.
My friend, God is conforming us to image of His dear Son which is the most blessed thing!
The Bible clearly makes us distinction for you and me, that as His children that we are being conformed to the image of His Son and we are to resist being conformed to the image of this world.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2
Here is Jonah being taught by God.
He is receiving personal instruction by God.
Example: Talking with and shaking hands with Dr. Sexton was special. As special as this is, what is more precious is that God Himself is teaching me.
God is revealing truth to Jonah. He is helping Jonah to see clearly.
Not with temporal eyes and man’s wisdom, but to see truth.
God is helping Jonah to see Himself and this world as he truly is.
He is helping Jonah to understand His purpose and His role in this life he now lives.
I would to God that every Christian fully understand their purpose this morning.
That you would have a full understanding of their responsibility toward our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Just as God is teaching Jonah in this passage we would understand this morning, that this lesson is for us.
Pastor James may be opening this blessed book and reading from it this morning, but God is teaching us through His Word.
As we look at these verses, we can’t help but notice this verb ‘prepared’.
The word that is used in the Hebrew language is not indicating a creative act, but rather an appointment or an allotment.
In other words,
The Lord God commanded that the Gourd should sprout and come up over Jonah. v6
The Lord commanded that the worm should smite the gourd. v7
The Lord commanded that the vehement wind should come from the east. v8
Just as the Lord commanded the Sun to shine. v8
He assigned the gourd to this purpose.
We see here that His purpose was to teach Jonah.
It is so interesting to me when you deal with all of creation around us, it speaks to God and His purpose.
The Bible says concerning His creation,
Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”
This simply tells us that all around us is God’s creative work and sustaining work is an undeniable witness of Him and His order of this universe.
God assignment to this gourd is to overshadow Jonah.
He shows that all of creation is at his disposal.
Plant life is obedient to Him.
The weather is obedient to Him and even the creeping things are obedient to Him.
God in conjunction with these object lessons asks three questions.
One of those questions is found in our concluding statement in verses 10 and 11.
1. The Questions v4,9 (11)
The questions are thus:
Doest thou well to be angry? v4
Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? v9
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? v11
We see not only these questions, but also the object lessons.
2. The Object Lessons v5,6-10
The first of these object lessons is the gourd.
God prepares or command this gourd to come up out of the ground.
Please do not miss this, the Bible points out to us that God caused the gourd to come up to “deliver him from his grief...” (vs 6).
Quite literally to deliver Jonah from his evil.
This is the realtime display of Romans 8:28 in the life of Jonah.
The problem is when we look at Romans 8:28 our judgment of what we think is good is based on our perspective and often carnal reasoning.
God is working in our lives to deliver us from the dredges of wicked living.
We understand as a Christian that we are eternally secure because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have recieved the Lord Jesus Christ through faith by God’s grace are saved.
We posses eternal life at the moment of Salvation.
John 3:36 “36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
That can never change.
But at this moment, Jonah is living in the filth of sin.
His feet need to be washed.
He is living with a wrong heart attitude toward His God and God’s ways.
And God desires to deliver Him from this.
So, He begins by causing a gourd to come up over Jonah’s head.
God’s ways are perfect.
I have tried to become a better planner in my life. My wife is a better planner than I am and so I lean on her often to help me.
(You and I would never have come up with this plan to deliver Jonah from this evil. Further, we never could have executed a plan such as this to deliver Jonah from this evil.)
That alone should teach us that we are in dire need for God to work in our lives.
This gourd was not the end of the story.
The gourd is just one step in God’s teaching process for Jonah.
We might rightly ask the question this morning, what is God teaching you today?
You and I need to come to place where we realize that God is always working in our lives to change us and refine us.
Jonah like you and I would be “exceeding glad of the gourd.”
Jonah rejoiced with great joy!
Why do think Jonah was glad for the gourd?
Jonah could see the benefit to Himself in this gourd.
Now notice this phrase concerning Jonah.
He was “exceeding glad of the gourd...”(v6) but he was “displeased … exceedingly....” (v1) concerning God sparing Nineveh.
Jonah’s ways or we could say his judgment was not right.
The Bible a direct example of this in the nation of Israel when it states in
Ezekiel 18:29-30, “Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
The truth is with us, that even as we are often certain our judgment is right, we are convinced of it, we believe we have it figured out… that often our ways are not equal; they are skewed without the wisdom of God.
John Butler said this to illustrate this point, “He was overjoyed to have some relief for his physical body from the hot burning sun; but he had no joy, only anger, when souls were given relief from the burning heat of Divine wrath.”
Examples such as this can be multiplied in our own lives.
Think about how often our emotions are moved for such things as a well done movie or tv show and yet we are not moved by the preaching of the cross.
I think about the lesson on Wednesday night concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, praying prostrate to His Father. And I think about the agony of that moment… oh how that should move us and teach us about our wonderful Savior and our wonderful Father in heaven. Oh, how that should move us to fervent praying!
Jonah was grateful for the overshadowing of this gourd… and he should be grateful… but he was not stirred by the grace and mercy of God toward the poor souls of Nineveh.
Secondly, we ought to understand that this gourd was a product of God’s commandment.
God declared for this gourd to take its position and shade Jonah.
Do we read that Jonah thanked God or just that He was exceeding glad?
If Jonah thanked God, we are not told.
I would like us to turn to Luke chapter 17 for a moment.
Read Luke 17:11-19
Notice with me what the Bible says,
“And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Here we see ten lepers separated from the rest of civilization.
They were cut off because of their infirmity. The Bible says,
v12 “...they stood afar off...”
How long they had been in that state, no one knows.
They were outcasts. They were inflicted with a terrible disease.
And as they see the Lord Jesus Christ, they petition Him.
What wonderful providence, perhaps they knew something of Jesus because they seek Him to have mercy on them.
They cry out and say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
And the Lord granted deliverance. He required them to act in faith. He instructed them to “shew themselves unto the priests.”
The Bible says, “As they went, they were cleansed.”
But the shocking punchline is given to us in verse 15, the Bible says, “And one of them...”
We might expect to see all of them stop and turn back.
But the Bible says, “…one of them...” “…when he saw then he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God.”
He laid prostrate before the Lord Jesus Christ and gave thanks.
And Lord Jesus Christ answering said, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.”
This man was considered a foreigner and by disease an outcast. He is called a stranger; a Samaritan.
And this man recognizing the goodness and mercy of God gave glory to His holy name.
This attitude of thankfulness for the blessings of God, but not thankful to God for the blessing is evident in the other nine lepers.
And I believe is evident in our text with Jonah.
God first begins to teach Jonah with this gourd.
What’s the lesson?
The lesson is:
God’s design is to work in our lives to conform us to image of His dear Son. ---What is God doing in my life today?
You and I like Jonah need the revealing work of God in our lives.
In our carnality, our ways our not equal. Our judgment is skewed. Consequently, like Jonah what we value and prize is often skewed.
It is a blessed truth that God loves me and speaks to me through His Word.
We have much that we fail to thank God for. Are we just thankful for the blessings or for the God who blesses us?
As we close, we might think about this, Jonah was exceeding glad for the gourd. But was Jonah glad for the vehement east wind? Will Jonah be glad for the worm? Is Jonah glad that God loves Him enough to teach Him?