Jonah's anger and apathy after Nineveh's repentance reveal a flawed heart despite outward obedience. The sermon explores Jonah's self-centeredness, exemplified by his distress over a withered plant while indifferent to the city's salvation, contrasting his focus on personal comfort and reputation with God's compassion. The core lesson is that true spirituality involves valuing God's purposes and the souls of others above personal possessions or pride. Ultimately, the message urges listeners to examine their own 'gourds'—things that bring temporary gladness—and to prioritize eternal values and God's work.
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appreciate your prayers. This place is a delight. I mean, you know, there is no place in the world quite like Park of the Ponds. I really mean that. I wouldn't mind living here myself if I got old enough. You know, you've got to be a certain age before they let you in here. But, man, this is a great place and What makes it great is not the palms, but the people. But the palms add to the people. I mean, it's wonderful. And I just feel so at home.
Some of you may be a little antsy. You say, well, you know, we've gotten through all those sermons so far, and the old Baptist hasn't embarrassed us yet. So I feel more comfortable with you than you might with me, but I just feel at home here. It's a delightful place. And what makes it delightful, in addition to what I said, is that you have a library here. I don't think it was a place like this around that has a library with good stuff. Now, there are a lot of libraries with junk. But I mean, I borrowed three books this week. I've already returned them. And it's just an oasis.
It really is, and I appreciate being invited. This is my third time with you, and it has been a delight to fellowship and to be together. You'll enjoy Brother Gibson. He has been for many years. How many years, Brother? Twenty-seven years as a professor at the Lancaster Bible College. It used to be called, I think, at Lancaster School of the Bible. And, boy, he knows the word. But now, brother, these people know the word too. I mean, man, they'll check up on you. I see them. When I said Jonah was dead, I thought the old Bibles would flip like all over the place here. They're great people.
We're in the book of Jonah. Turn there with me, please. And we are in chapter four. Now, you say, well, now you are covering four chapters. and you had four more sessions to go, what were you going to do? Well, I was going to take a few excursions and I'll tell you later if you're interested in some specifics. But we're in Jonah chapter four and we're going to read the outline to you. I think it's important that you understand that in chapter one we had the commission of God's Word and the response of Jonah the Patriot.
God said go, Jonah said no. And in chapter two, we have the confession of Jonah's wrong and the restoration of Jonah the proud. He was restored on dry ground. Chapter three, the greatest revival that has ever taken place. We have conformity to God's will and the result of Jonah the preacher. Now in this chapter you have the compassion for the world and the rebuke of Jonah the powder. I came across this little thing some time ago.
It goes like this. The whale put Jonah down the hatch but coughed him up because he scratched. Burmishave. Remember the Burmishave signs? He don't see them much anymore. So that's an old one. Well, God said go and He finally did, and He preached, and the whole city got converted. Now, Jonah wrote the book. I'm sure he would like to have ended the book with chapter three. Because in chapter three, he turns out to be the hero. In chapter one, he's the hero because he said, throw me over.
It was really good of him to say that. although he was running away from God. He's still the hero in chapter one. Throw me over, you'll be saved. In chapter two, he finally prays and says salvation is of the Lord, and God answered his prayer. And in chapter three, he's the hero because he preaches and he gets results. Oh, then he turns to God. So I think Jonah would like to have ended the book with chapter three. And he lived happy ever after. But that's not what happens. In chapter four, we read these words. Look at them with me.
But, you know, we just read, God saw the work that they turned from their evil way, and he spared them, but it displeased Jonah. You've got to be kidding. He's been preaching. It displeased John exceedingly, and he was very angry. Now, there are three questions I want to ask tonight. You might want to mark them down. Question number one, what makes Jonah angry? You know, I could tell a lot about you if I found out what really gets to you. If I can find out by conversing with you, what really tees you off?
What really gets you upset? What gets you exasperated? I could ask your wife. She would know. Oh, boy, if you bring that subject up, I mean, he gets angry. Or if you take that away from him, oh, he's like a cat. What makes you angry? This man is angry. And he prays unto the Lord. Listen to his wine. He prayed, and you said, I prayed thee, O Lord. Was not this my saying when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art gracious God and merciful and slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. He is so angry that God spared the city and responded to his preaching That he said, I've had it. I want to die. Take my life. What is wrong with him?
Do you know it is very possible for us to do everything right mechanically, perfunctorally, everything is done properly and still have a carnal heart? Are you aware of that? I say that to you Christians, and I'm sure that the application is not as good with you as it would be with others, because we have a lot of godly spiritual people here. But I know this, it's possible for us to do everything right and to have a wrong heart. Here was a man that preached, and the whole city responded, and he is angry.
Now, I'm not quite sure why he was that angry. Someone said, well, he was exhausted. After all, if you were in a ship that was tossed to and fro, and then you got thrown over, and God put you in Whale Seminary at sea bottom campus for a postgraduate course for three days and three nights, and you came out of there, his face probably was all different colors as a result of the acid from the stomach. And then he goes right to Nineveh and he preaches and gives himself fully to preaching. Now he's exhausted. Sometimes when you get just so tired, that's why you ought not make decisions at night when you're tired.
You ought to make them in the morning when you're fresh, if you're ever fresh in the morning. So he may have been exhausted. Or it may be that he just didn't like the Ninevites. He may have said, now, God, I don't like the Ninevites. Well, God never said you had to like them. You had to preach to them because I told you to. People say, well, I'd go to Africa, but I don't love the Africans. You don't have to love them. You need to preach to them. And then if you do that enough, you'll love them. But the real reason why he didn't want to go is because he was a prophet. Now, what does a prophet do? A prophet tells the future, among other things.
And he told that city that God was going to punish them. And he didn't. Now, what's that going to do to my profession? What's that going to do to my reputation? I'm a prophet. And I tell them that God's going to destroy you forty days and forty nights, and God didn't do it. Now, Lord, I knew you were not going to do it. I told you that before. That's one reason why I left. Because I know you're a gracious God, slow to anger. He had good theology. He knew about God. His problem, even though he was a good preacher and used of God, was pride.
You know, some time ago I ran across a quotation from Alexander White. You know who White was? He was a Scottish preacher. and a great, great man of God. And he wrote a book on prayer. He has written a book on all the characters of Pilgrim's Progress. And during his day, he probably was the greatest preacher in Europe. Great man, Alexander White. He wrote the book, Lord, teach us to pray. And everybody respected him. Great, giant. of a preacher. And here's what he said.
Now listen, I'm quoting Alexander White. He said, I am a Jonah. I used to say, let me die first before I am eclipsed by another in my pulpit. I fought with a Jonah-like fierceness. against the remotest thought of my reputation ever passing over in my day at any rate to another. I kept my eyes shut to the decay going on roundabout in the pulpit until I could shut my eyes to it no longer. That's Alexander White. He said the idea of someone eclipsing my ministry, I live and die first.
We preachers are like that, you know. We... I mean, I hope you like Brother Gibson, but boy, if you say, man, why? We should have had him all week. Don't write and tell me about it. You know, I'm going to be in my pulpit Sunday morning for my tenth anniversary, and they always do a blow trumpets and have a hoopla. I'm there ten years. And they give me a nice gift and say a lot of nice things. And they love me in my church. But Warren Wurisbee was the head of me. And once in a while I heard them say, you know, we really appreciate you and the church, but it's not quite like when Wurisbee was here.
Wurisbee. They say, you know, Warren Warren B. wrote a hundred books. How many of you written? Two? Well, more than two, but not a hundred. And we can be that way in our fellowship, in our churches, in our chapels, in our assemblies. We are so worried about our reputation. That's why he got angry. And God is so patient.
He said, the Lord said, Do us thou well to be angry. Jonah. So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. and there made a booth for himself. And he sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. Now, can you believe this? He should have been making plans to disciple the people that got right with God. But he is detached from them because he doesn't like them and he's not happy with God because God spared them.
And it feels like he was betrayed by God because he said they would die and they didn't. And he's more interested in his reputation than their eternity. So he makes a booth. And he sits under the booth. Now, I don't know what he was thinking under this booth. Maybe he was thinking, well, maybe they aren't that good after all. Maybe it wasn't real. Or maybe God will change his mind. and he is detached from what God has been doing. So question number two is why was Jonah apathetic? He's resting unto the booth.
Now verse six, and the Lord God prepared a gourd. Now have you noticed how many times God prepared things in this book? He prepared a fish. prepared to be east wind. He prepares a gourd. Later he prepares a worm. And the Lord 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. Now, question number one is what makes Jonah angry.
Question number two is what makes Jonah apathetic. And the third question is what makes him happy. Because if I know what it takes to make you really happy, I can tell a lot about your spirituality. What turns you on? What makes you delighted? Well, with Jonah, look at it. God made a gourd. So Jonah... was exceedingly glad for the gorge. Have you noticed this is the first time in the whole book that we have any indication of happiness? First time. Chapter one, God delivered the mariners. Praise God.
Chapter two, God delivers Jonah. Praise God. Chapter three, God delivers the whole city. But the only word of gladness and praise in this whole book is Jonah's gourd. Oh, he said, I love this gourd. I think I'll polish it up. God gave me the gourd. Thank you, Lord. You know, gourds come in all sizes. Gourds can have two hundred and fifty cubic inches under their hoods.
Gourds can, you can pull gourds behind your car from city to city. Great, traveling gourds. Gourds can be your finance, your checking account. before you go on that shopping tour. Say, man, why would I like this gorge? Now look, I'm not against gorge. Gorge can have blue eyes and blonde hair. What a gorge. Gorge can be a hobby. It can be your workshop. It can be your grandchildren.
Gorge can be your house. You know, it used to be if you had a house with two bathrooms in it. That was good. But now every house has two bathrooms. Now it's how many garages you have. You got three garages. And if you got a bathroom in the garage, ah! A gorge can be a gorge can be a lakefront property. Gorge can be your annuity. Now have I gotten to you yet? I'm working on this. Now look, I am not, I don't belong to the society for the prevention of gourds. I'm not against gourds. God's not against them.
God gave the gourd to Jonah. So he should have been thankful. But should he be that thankful? A city got saved, a whole city turned to God, and the only sign of gladness in this whole book is his gourd. You got to be out of your gourd. And he said, man, I like this gourd. Two-thousand-one marvel with rearview mirrors. But, verse seven, God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, and it withered.
And it came to pass when the sun did rise, that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he fainted, and he wished in himself to die, and he said, It is better for me to die than to live because you took my gourd. You see, the problem here is not whether or not it's right or wrong to have a trailer or to have a nice house. that looks out on the lake or an annuity or whatever. That isn't the point. The point is, where does that fit in to what is really valuable and important to you?
That's the whole lesson in Chapter Four. It's not, let's have a gourd bonfire and burn up the gourd. That isn't the point. The point is, how important is it to us? And I fight this myself. I was telling some of the people tonight that when I was holding meetings in Tucson, Arizona, and right before I got up to preach, somebody came down the aisle and the usher and gave me a little piece of paper. It said, please call your wife immediately. Well, I get your attention. And I called her on the phone.
And she knows I'm preaching. And I called her on the phone. And she said, honey, we've been robbed. really she said everything of value that we had in this house is gone and I said what about my cameras that was my gourd and God talked to me about that later that that important to you I preached this message once in a college on earth forget it and the students the next morning They had a big sign and they put it on the president's sailboat and it said, the president's gourd.
Whoa. And I fled to Tarsus. But I want to ask you a question now, what makes you happy? What would really make you elated? The stock market? Because if I know what makes you angry, if I know what makes you apathetic, if I know what makes you happy, I can learn a lot about your spiritual temperature. And God says in this passage, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death.
And then the Lord said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madeest it grow. And when it came up in a night, it perished in a night. Somebody says, oh, Dr. So-and-so died. How much did he leave? All of it. He left it all. I have never in my life seen a U-Haul behind a hearse. That's how much he has. Now the Egyptians do that. They bury all their treasure with the people that have died because they have this kinky idea that they carry it with them. You don't carry it with you. All in one life shall soon be passed.
All that was done for Christ will last. It's not just old-fashioned poetry. And then the Lord nailed them. The Lord says to him, And should not I... Fair Nineveh, that great city in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and all so much cattle. I mean, you are so absorbed with your gourd, which came and left. It was so ephemeral. It was so temporary. It was so patsy. You want to get your values straightened out.
What's really important? Shouldn't I spare a hundred and twenty thousand boys and girls who can't discern their left hand from their right? And God tells us a little bit about His compassion. I think I thought of that verse when I heard my granddaughter died. Little daughter, little granddaughter, can't discern the right from the left. usher into heaven because God loves her. And he's a compassionate God. Oh, that I could share some of his compassion.
Oh, that God would get to me in my heart and say, you know, I want to sit down and look at my life and what I have and what I own. And then I want to see how valuable is this to me. Really, after all, it's been done. And when you're ready to be ushered into the presence of God, these things seem so insignificant. And God says to Jonah, Jonah, wanting to reevaluate even what I gave you. That's what he's saying here. I gave you the gourd. Not long to have it. It's all right, but don't let it have you. And I hope you'll take that and apply it to your own life.
I don't know where you're going to apply it because I don't know you that well. But I hope that you will tonight search your own heart and say, Lord, is there something that I own or that I have that is so dear to me that I want to die if I lost it and it's more important to me than God or God's work? So I learned a little bit here about God. When I listened to Jonah, I heard Jonah say, I know that thou art a gracious God and a merciful God and slow to anger and a great kindness, and I know that you're a God of compassion.
I learned all those things about God in Jonah chapter four. Now could I go one step further than that? I want you to take your Bibles, keep your left hand in Jonah, and I want you to go over to the book of Nahum, two books over, Jonah, Micah, Nahum. Will you do that? Now, you may not know it, but in the Hebrew Bible, Jonah and Nahum are together. In our King James or in our English Bible, You get Josiah, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum.
But in the Hebrew Bible, Jonah and Nahum are together. And I'll tell you why. They both deal with Nineveh. The only difference is this, that Nahum was written one hundred years later. So when I read these verses, I'm going to read about God here, but you must understand it's a hundred years later. Now in Jonah, we read God's gracious, God's slow to anger, God's compassionate, God's loving, God spared the city, God worked through Jonah, and he loved the city and saved them.
Wonderful. Now, a hundred years later, verse one, Nahum one. The burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum. Verse two, God is jealous. And the Lord avengeth. The Lord avengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. He resurgeth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and he will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Verse Nine, what do ye imagine against the Lord?
He will make an utter end. Affliction shall not rise up the second time. But while they are entangled together like thorns, and while they are drunk like drunkards, they shall be devoured like the stubble fully dry. Ooh, chapter two. Look at verse ten. She is empty. He's talking about Nineveh. She is empty and void and waste. and the heart melteth, and the knee shall smite together, and much pain is in all loins. And the faces of them all gathered blackness. Verse thirteen, Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers.
shall no more be heard. And God judged Nineveh. One hundred years after they all got converted, they were as wicked as ever a hundred years later. And God says, I've had it with you. And you can't even find Nineveh today. You can't find it in Israel. It's Do you know what that says to me? That tells me more about God. I learned from Jonah that he's loving and compassionate and that he is merciful and that he will save.
But I learned from Nahum that he will break his silence and he will judge justly when man keeps saying no to God. Just a hundred years. Now I ask somebody to bring these three chairs up tonight because I want to end my sermon with these three chairs. Chair number one. Here is a man who is in the assembly or in a church.
Baptist church or a brethren assembly. It makes no difference. He's a godly man. He loves the Lord. He loves breaking bread with the brethren. He praises God. He's a good man. He's an example. And here he is. I mean, whenever the doors are open, he is in the chapel. He wants to be there. He loves the Lord. This is his son. Well, he's not like the old man, but he goes to the chapel at least once a week.
He doesn't have the rules and regulations the old man had. He thinks that, after all, this is two thousand one. and there can be a little compromise. I really think, says Chair Number Two, that as much as I love Chair Number One, I think Dad was a little bit legalistic. That's the word we use when we want to get away with our sin. We call everybody else a legalist. And I'm not going to be a legalist. This man is up to date. He doesn't like the old music. He's got his own music.
It may not be that bad, but it's... The morning worship service is okay, but you go to an evening too. And prayer meeting. Come on. Prayer meeting. That's okay over here. Prayer meeting. But I've got other things to do. I love the Lord. I just Share number three. He's not even saved. He can't understand his dad, and he certainly can't understand his granddad.
He likes to take a drink once in a while. He may even taste a little whiskey or be on little drugs, and he's foot loose and fancy-free. He's a modern guy. He calls himself a Baptist, like his dad and granddad. Or he may even say, I belong to the Assemblies, although they've long since thought he was gone. And here he is, just two generations away. And my friend, that is happening all over America today.
This is not a fiction. This is happening. And I travel quite a bit preaching around, and I'm in a lot of churches, and I meet a lot of people, and I still see a few of these around. I think you've got more than your share here, praise God. And I see a lot of these, too. They're breaking all the rules and changing the way you do things, and everything is just, everything has changed, and don't get too excited. Bible exposition? Well, that was... Just give me a little text and a little application and I'll go with it. And here is a man who just has no time at all.
He is as far away from his grandpa as you can be. Happening all the time. And if you want to see an illustration of this principle, read Jonah and then read Nahum. In Jonah, they all are right with God. A hundred years later, three generations, they've gone to pot. And here they are. Now, you may say, well, now, Dr. Wagner, why are you telling us these things? Because you still should have an impact upon your children. That's why. And you still ought to have some impact upon your grandchildren.
Don't write them off and say, well, that's, I don't know. It's just a different day. Now, you have an obligation to them. I have an uncle who was for many years in the brethren assembly in Detroit. And he finally left the brethren and became a Baptist. Now, you might say, well, that was his problem right there. But he became a Baptist. And he was the most knowledgeable man I've ever known on the Bible. As a matter of fact, if you're around the Detroit area, you probably know there were three Sweetlands, three brothers.
They were all preachers, and they were all saved in the assembly. They were Episcopalians, and they came over here, and they got saved, and they all became pastors. But my uncle Bert... He was a wonderful man, but he let his kids go. They're rich. I will say that. They have a lot of money. They have a good education. But I think that their sons are atheists. No time for God. None. I see it in my own family. And this scenario scares me to death because When I see my church, I've got a wonderful church.
I'll preach to over two thousand people Sunday morning. It's a wonderful church. But I'm afraid to leave. I'm almost afraid to resign. I'm going to have to do it one of these days. Because I'm worried about what's going to happen three generations down. I see signs already of the people just beginning to say, well, now, just don't be so... Don't be so rigid. You got to loosen up a little bit. I came from the Calvary Baptist Church of Hazel Park, Michigan. I was raised in that church. It was one of the largest Baptist churches in America when I was there as a member.
My pastor, David Allen, was one of the greatest Bible expositors I've ever known. And I dedicated one of my books to him. because he meant so much to me. When he left that church, he was followed by another man who was less committed and another man which was less committed. And this thing happened. If you go to that church today, and it's a big church, it'll hold four thousand people. They have their service in a little side room with about fifty people. They've dropped their missions. Missions are gone.
I know because my mother-in-law was a missionary supported by them. They dropped her. They said, we've reevaluated what we're doing. And they got a praise team to get up there and sing off the wall and all that stuff. And they got a lot of entrepreneurial things going on. But, man, they have lost it. And the last I heard, they were getting ready to sell that magnificent building to the city to be used for the city hall. And I could cry. And I said, that was my church. And I keep telling my board that I'm worried about this.
And that I can't stem the tide alone as your pastor. But I can tell you that this is what happens, and this is happening every day in America. And we over here in chair number one, we've got to get with it and really understand what's important. More important than your money or your trailer or your boats or all of that is the heritage we leave with our children and how much we impact them for God. And if you want a good example of that, just read Jonah. And then read Nahum. And at Jonah, God reaches out, and he saves the city. And at Nahum, he says, I am against you, O Nineveh.
And he judges the city at last. Now, I'm all through. But I want you to visualize these three chairs, and I don't want you to forget it. because our nation is in peril. I'm trying to find somebody to take my place at Calvary Baptist in Covington. I'm having a rough time because I need a man that's a Bible expositor who still has a burden for the lost and did give some leadership. And there aren't many around because some of them are entrancing.
from here to here to here. So go to your home tonight and sit down with your wife and say, Honey, let's thank God for the gorge that we have, but let's face it, are any of them so important to us that we can't sacrificially give to missions? Are they so important to us that we can't be more involved in God's work? Are they more important to us than people and caring? Doest our will to be angry for the gourd.
Lord, will you speak to our hearts tonight? I don't know how applicable this is to these wonderful people. These are good people. This is the cream. But we may have some people here tonight that aren't looking through your eyes. They are not evaluating value based on their relationship with you. And I pray for them. With every head bowed and every eye closed, could I just say this before I pray?
Finish my prayer. Is there anybody here tonight in our little chapel that would say, Pastor? I think God's getting to me tonight. I think he's speaking to my heart. I think I've got some gourds. I think I got a little warped view of what's really important. I want to have more of a compassion for the loss than I do. I get so absorbed in my own life and my own little bubble that I'm just, that's my gourd. And God's spoken to me.
Would you just raise your hand? I'm not going to ask you to come, but just, yes, thank you. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Let me pray for you tonight as I close. They say, Lord, God, Lord, you've kind of gotten to me tonight. I see myself. And believe me, I see myself every time I preach this sermon. I say, oh, Lord. Anyone else? Yes, thank you. Thank you. Amen. Someone else? Yes, thank you. Well, wait a minute. Anyone else?
Anybody here unsaved? You see, I've never trusted Christ as my Savior. I'm in this church, and everybody thinks I'm saved. I don't think I am. I'm not sure I know the Lord. I need to know Him. I'd like to be saved. I'd like to be sure I am. Would you pray for me? Would you put your hand up so I could see it? Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for revealing yourself to us in both Jonah and