Jonah's reluctance to preach to Nineveh, despite knowing God's merciful nature, reveals a deeper issue of prejudice and disobedience to God's purposes. While Jonah was angry that Nineveh repented, God used the prophet's concern for a withered gourd to illustrate his own compassion for the vast population of Nineveh and its cattle. The sermon emphasizes that God's judgment is a "strange work" and that His ultimate desire is salvation, a truth embodied in Jesus Christ. The core lesson is that believers, like Jonah, must overcome personal prejudice and exclusivism to embrace God's heart of compassion for the lost world, recognizing that salvation is not for ourselves alone but to be shared.
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It's amazing to see Dave Nethery dressed as he is tonight. Because a few years ago when he had a tractor, I went to see him and he was dressed with a suit and a tie, working his tractor in his neighbor's field. But as our brother Sutton prayed, you know that they had a little experience with their mobile home. It completely burned on... highway fifty-two near going up the mountain at Fancy Gap and all their clothes were in there or microwave and other things and it all went up in smoke and it doesn't take long to do it so if you wonder why Dave doesn't have his suit and tie tonight I thought I'd just let you in on that and our hearts go out to them because it isn't easy to lose so much at one quick evening and they were on their way to the graduation exercises at moody bible institute or mrs nethery's brother graduated from there or he graduates from there and then the next
day i think it is he graduates from a community college as well and i'm afraid they're going to miss that great exercise at moody but We're just thankful that they're here because you can always replace clothes or a car, but you can't replace people. And I remember the night that Paul was in an accident with our car, and he was real apologetic when I got there. I said, I'm not worried about the car. I'm just glad you're all right. It is people that is most important.
Now we're in the book of Jonah. We're in chapter four. In fact, I've had very little to say about chapters one, two, and three. Because I believe the message of Jonah that we really need to grip our souls is in chapter four. And we want to read this chapter because God sent Jonah to Nineveh. And of course Jonah is a rebellious prophet. And having gone to Nineveh, finally, after the word of the Lord came to him the second time, after he learned that good theology in a strange seminary, as Spurgeon said concerning Jonah chapter two, where from the belly of the fish Jonah cried, salvation is of the Lord.
That's good theology. but he learned it in a strange seminary. But Jonah finally goes to Nineveh and Nineveh repents. But verse one of chapter four says, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was very angry. Here's a report, friends, in the book of Jonah, of one of the greatest revivals. Yet the man used of God to bring the revival... for God uses human instruments. Salvation is of the Lord, beloved, but he uses human instruments. We then as workers together with God beseech you, Paul wrote to the Corinthian church.
The angel of the Lord said to Cornelius, send to Joppa for Peter, who's in the home of Simon of Tanner. Why didn't the angel tell him how to be saved? God has ordained that we deem sinners tell the message. And it's like I've said before, often I feel like Moses' mother. When I think of the gracious way in which the saints of God have provided for our needs over the years, I'm doing what I do.
They like to do more than anything else. Preach the word. And yet I'm being paid to do it. Can you imagine being paid to do the thing you like to do the most? That's what Moses' mothered to happen to her. There's nothing that she wanted to do more than nurse Moses. And now because of her obedience to God, she had that privilege and she gets paid for it. You can never out-guess God. You can never out-give God. And there are many other things that we can say about our relationship with him. Our God is able. He's on the throne.
So verse one, and it displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray to you, Lord. Was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tosheth, for I know that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Now therefore, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, just how well to be angry.
So Jonah went out of the city and 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 God prepared a gourd, and made it 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 glory 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, and 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, That's how well to be angry. That's the second time he said it. He said it in verse four, and now he says it again. Does 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 which thou hast not labored. Neither made us it grow, but it came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city were in a more than six-score thousand persons. that cannot discern between the right hand and the left hand and also much cattle.
You notice that God even cares for the cattle. He created them. And the scripture tells us that a righteous man regardless of life of his beast. There are three great books in the Bible that deal with the love of God. The Book of Ruth. It speaks of God's love for his church. The book of Hosea, God's love for Israel. And the book of Jonah, God's love for a lost world. Why was Jonah reluctant to go to Nineveh? He was reluctant to go because he knew God.
God only sends those to go who know him. And Jonah was reluctant to go because he knew God. You see, he knew that it wasn't going to go the way he wanted it to go. He knew that it was going to go the way God desired it to go. And the way God desired it to go was not the way Jonah wanted. Therefore, Jonah didn't want to go. How sad. Now, we spent the last two weeks ago. We looked at the basis for... The book here, the book of Jonah, we compare the book of Jonah with what is revealed in Romans chapter nine.
Who does God use? God uses those who know him. What do they know about him? The very thing that God said to Jonah or to Moses, when Moses said, I beseech thee, show me my glory. God said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And that's the great argument of the ninth chapter of Romans. God is pleased to have mercy on Nineveh. And God is pleased to have mercy on a wicked sinner like me. Until I meet the Lord in glory, I'll never stop marveling that God could love the likes of me.
For the more I know of myself, the less I like myself. And the more I marvel at the grace of God, which brought me into fellowship with himself. What do we read concerning Jonah's knowledge? In the second verse, in the end of the verse, Jonah says, For I knew that thou art a gracious God. Do you realize tonight how gracious God is? I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful. slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent the sea of the evil.
And as I mentioned last week, God repented because he can't change. That sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? Because the word repent really has the idea of a change of mind. But God repented because he can't change his nature. He's one of love and compassion. The very thing that Jonah said he knew God to be. God cannot deny himself of his very nature. The scripture says in the fifteenth of Matthew, and our Lord is a speaker, and he says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And out of the abundance of God's heart, God has spoken for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh because he knew God. Now, let us look next at the reason for Jonah's anger. Jonah's anger was not caused by ignorance of God. His anger was caused by a hatred of Nineveh. On the human plane, I can understand Jonah perfectly. And I believe you can too. You see, Nineveh is guilty of cruelty and abominations. And for which, one hundred years later, as we're going to study next, the book of Nahum.
You see, a hundred years later, the prophet pronounced her doom, and it came, just as a prophet said, the prophet Nahum. I can understand Jonah's feeling, for Nineveh was merciless and cruel. Jonah was rebellious against her being spared. For Jonah knew God. Why did God announce judgment? He announces judgment that it will not be experienced. That's the message of the book of Jonah. He announces judgment that it won't be experienced.
He that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. And the message of God to a lost world is, Turn ye, turn ye, why will you die, saith the Lord. Furthermore, God's message to a lost world is, repent or perish, judgment is coming. It is announced in order that men flee from the wrath to come. The wrath to come is just as real as this morning's sun. You may say, well, I didn't see the sun this morning. Well, it was there. And the stars are out every night, whether we see them or not.
They're very real. You see, the responsibility, therefore, of those who are called to represent God is just one thing, obedience. And that's what we sang tonight, didn't we? Trust and obey, for there is no other way. And it's obedience to God's purpose rather than to my desire. It's an obedience that my prejudice must be overruled by the purposes of God. And the purposes of God must govern my prejudices. And I must submit to him. Now there's a result for disobedience. The result of disobedience is estrangement between the messenger and God.
And that's what happened to Jonah. And you see it in chapter four. That's how well to be angry. Now the reason for Jonah's anger, it was not ignorance. It wasn't ignorance. It was disobedience to the purposes of God. Now, that brings us to the message of the Book of Jonah. The message of this prophecy is made more sure in all its suggestiveness of God, for it has been embodied for us in the person and in the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Its teaching comes to us even with greater force when we take into account that God loved us when.
When we were without strength, When all those things that are mentioned in Romans chapter three were two of us. Our feet swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in our ways. The way of peace are we not known. The poison of asps is under our lips. Our mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. All these things which describe us. And when we get down to Romans chapter five, we read when we were enemies. We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The message of this book is found in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world, who was sent, just as Jonah was sent to Nineveh, our Lord Jesus was sent by the Father to be the Savior of the world.
No wonder the Lord Jesus could say, as Jonah was, so shall the Son of Man be. Ninever repented at the preaching of Jonah, but behold, a greater than Jonah is here. So the mission of our Lord far eclipses the mission of Jonah. But you see its teaching comes in greater force because we are more light than Israel had. We are more light than Jonah had. I should profit from Jonah's life. I should not be disobedient as Jonah was. And here we see something else.
We behold the compassion of the divine heart. The compassion of Christ. It is a picture of the attitude of the Christ. A movement toward this city. But not only that city, toward all the cities of the earth. Movement. Do we care for the plant? that comes up and perishes. That's what God said to Jonah. You thought more of that gourd that came up because it gave you a little shade than over the souls of men that are lost. And often we have far more interest in things that profit us.
than in the things that have direct bearing upon the souls of man. God said to Jonah, should I not have pity on Nineveh? Should I not have pity on Nineveh? You know, beloved, you and I will never be missionary enthusiasts until we come into fellowship with this one word, pity. We can sing about missions. We can give a little of our missionary money. But we'll never be missionary enthusiasts until we get into this word, pity. Now, since our Lord pities men, and that's what Jonah said, I know that the Lord a God of compassion.
Since God pities men, then God needs us. He needs us. You see, God always needs a man to stand in the gap. And God through the prophet Jeremiah says, I looked for a man to stand in the gap and to make up a hedge, but I couldn't find any. He said that concerning Israel during the days of Jeremiah. You see, the word must be incarnate before it becomes. the word to someone else. In other words, we who are the people of God must live that word that we claim that we believe.
We must live it. It has to become incarnate. For it is by the human voice, the human voice, the actual living messenger that the word of God is made powerful. When you see it, You know, we had a letter from Mrs. Patterson, and she talked about her all-girl rallies counseling them to salvation. Do you know when she begins on a Saturday for her rally, it takes her about three hours to collect the girls. Then she works with them for about two hours, and then it's about three hours more to take them all home. That's a big day.
That's a big day. And she's about seventy years old. Why does she do it? She does it out of love her souls. When I think of a person who labors that hard, Mr. McNeil was down there and he worked with her. He was down just about a year and a half ago. And he says, that woman goes. That woman goes and she does the work. And God is honoring and God is saving and God is blessing. By the way, why cry against Nineveh's wickedness anyway?
For that's what Jonah was sent to do. Well, I tell you why we should cry against the wickedness of Burlington. Because God would save Nineveh. That's why. And why should we cry against the wickedness of Burlington? Why, because God would save Burlington. You see, judgment is God's strange work. And that you read in Isaiah, verse twenty-one, his strange work. And whenever God announces judgment, there's always a period of time before it comes. And you see this especially in the book of the Revelation. I'm thinking of chapter eight. There's a pause. There's silence in heaven for the period of a half hour.
between the sixth seal and the breaking of the seventh. As heaven stands in awe, as God does his strange work in judgment. That which comes out of God's heart is that which speaks of compassion and love. Therefore, we must cry against that which blights and that which spoils. It's a necessity. Oh, what lessons we learn here in this book. But now, let us all ask ourselves the question, how far have we obeyed?
You know, it's easy to criticize Jonah. You can't go through this book without criticizing him. And rightly so. But what about ourselves? When Jonah in chapter one, he flees from the presence of the Lord. He wanted to go to Tarshish. And he found a ship going down to Joppa? Everything just fell in place. Oh, it must be the will of God. Everything's just falling in place. This is what I prayed for. Everything's coming to pass. It's like I told you often. I'm always scared when everything falls in place.
I'm scared. I'll tell you why. I have an enemy and I've lived long enough to know that I have never won a spiritual victory going downhill coasting. Never. And when I think of coasting, I think of the time when I lived in Pennsylvania near Indian Town Gap and it was during the days of World War II and they were having exercises out there. And these soldiers were lying on their back and they had these fellas peddling like a bicycle, you know, up in the air. And one fellow, he just stopped. And the sergeant yelled at him, Zeke, what are you doing?
He said, I'm coasting. You see, I'm coasting. You don't do that in a Christian life. You never win a victory coasting downhill. Every one I've ever won has been a struggle against odds, going uphill. Isn't it amazing everything fell into place for Jonah? And he even had the money to pay the fare. And he paid the fare thereof. Ma, when you think of it, the circumstances, Joppa, the ship, and the fine independence of being able to pay my own way. You see, he could do it, but it never ensured his reaching Tarsus. Never ensured that he would get there in spite of everything falling into place.
For you see, God said, I want you to go to Nineveh. He got to Nineveh, but my what a circumvented route he took. There was a storm. God was in control of the storm. And then there were the sailors. And then, of course, there was a fish. And when Jonah cried from the fish's belly, salvation is of the Lord. Even the fish couldn't stomach that good theology. He spit him out. Then he finally went to Nineveh.
You see, the secret of our failure in missions is not what we don't know about God and His compassion. We do know God. And we do know about his compassion, for he loved us. We have experienced in a measure the victories of the compassion of Christ. Why did we then halt? Why are we slow when it comes to missions? I'll tell you why. For exactly the same reason that Jonah halted. There is no bitter difference between Philip and Jonah.
There is no bit of difference. Why did Jonah halt? He hated Nineveh. How can we overcome this difficulty? How can we really overcome this difficulty? Now, we can say, oh, I'm going to try to love them from here on up. But you and I know that's impossible. You and I know that's impossible. There's only one way that we can remedy the situation. We must fall in line with the command of our Lord. And that, because we know Him.
And when I fall in line with the command of my Lord, because I know Him, I know something of His heart, I know something of His purposes, I know something of His ways. Then my whole attitude toward Nineveh toward Burlington, toward anywhere else will change. You see, the whole lesson of the book of Jonah is that of the sin of exclusivism. That's a wicked sin. The sin of exclusivism. The sin of imagining that we have received light.
And that light is for ourselves alone. Why did God save us? He saved us in order to tell others. We teach that chorus to the boys and girls, don't we? We're saved, saved to tell others of the men of Galilee. We're saved, saved to live daily for the Christ of Calvary. You see, if we fail to tell, we fail to tell, We're missing out on the most glorious privilege in life. Now let us go to our Ninevehs. Our Nineveh. Our Nineveh is wherever we are.
During the day or wherever we happen to be. And when we go to our Ninevehs, we go because God commands it. And we're in line with His purposes and we know His heart. What is the heart of God like? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. I'd like to ask you a straight question tonight. When you were somebody new that you haven't met before, you've been introduced. Does it burn on the inside of you for a way to tell them how to be saved and to find out whether they are?
You care for the souls of others. Jonah cared more for a gourd than he cared for the souls of men. How about us? Now Jonah liked the gourd because it gave him shade. You see? And we are a comfortable people. Do we care for the souls of man? Oh, that God would enable us to behold afresh the heart of Christ that sent him from the blessings of glory in order that you and I might be his.
Second Corinthians five fourteen says the love of Christ constraineth us. For we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died and rose again. Who are we living for? Are you living for others? Are you living for yourself? When I ask that question, I'm speaking to Philip. It won't be long till we're all home in glory. And what we've done, it will be too late to undo.
Let's get on with the business of world missions. Let's pray. Our Father, if we have a spirit of Jonah, all deliver us from it. Work with us as individuals and with us as an assembly of thy people. Give us a heart of compassion to reach the lost. And may we tell it.