 verse 1 through verse 3 Jonah chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 it displeased Jonah exceedingly he became angry so he prayed to the Lord and said oh Lord was not this what I said when I was still in my country therefore I fled previously to Tarshish for I know that you are gracious and a merciful God slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness one who relents from doing harm therefore now oh Lord please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live what a whining baby we might say let's look at this and see what we can can glean from this passage that might be of some practical use in our own lives we know that Jonah has preached to the city of Nineveh his message was a simple one it was an eight-word message yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown that was his message yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown now imagine for just a moment what an incredible act of obedience and even what an incredible act of courage this was he enters into an incredibly large city in Jonah chapter 1 verse 2 as well as chapter 4 will see in verse 11 God refers to Nineveh as that great city and so it's been said the true and accurate measure of anything is what God calls it and God called Nineveh that great city as mentioned Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire it was intimidating and it was large it took three days to walk around the outskirts of the city and the Bible tells us that Jonah had walked for a day and he didn't even reach the center of the city because he was moving from place to place as he was doing that during this time its population was no less than 120,000 we'll see that at the conclusion of our study that would have been children more than likely so imagine what it would have been like as Jonah walks into the city how small he would feel one man against an ancient populated and sophisticated city not only was it an ancient city sophisticated in many ways but it was also known for its evil and known for its violence and so for him to enter into a city known for evil and violence and to proclaim a message like that 40 days this city will be overthrown was a courageous thing to do so as he is entering in and approaching the heart of the city is crying out judgment you see Sodom had been overthrown and as Sodom had been overthrown so will Nineveh be it will be a rapid and it will be a complete destruction from the hand of the Almighty God and so as he's going through the city and he's beginning to proclaim this message we have to ask ourselves what I what will the reaction of the people be will they be mocking him will they erupt in violence will they reject him well as we've been looking at this book we've noticed they began to listen to him and they actually heard his message and then upon hearing the message the people of Nineveh immediately repented chapter 3 verse 5 tells us they believed God they proclaimed a fast and they put on sack lot and these are emblems of what would be called genuine repentance they believed God meaning they understood the message that was being given was not from Jonah the message that was being given was from God that by the way is a very important thing to not allow to get past you the message of the gospel was not created by men and Paul was not the originator of the gospel Jesus Christ who's a word of God communicated this that we call the gospel to us and the word of God originates with God himself and so when the word of God is being proclaimed that is what God intends to use to bring people to a salvation knowledge of himself through Jesus Christ Hebrews 4 12 says the word of God is living and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart see that's why it's so important by the way for the word of God to be to be preserved and communicated because that's how God intends to save people is through his word so he goes through and they recognize that this message was was not from Jonah some angry man but it's from God himself and and the response was they proclaimed a fast now when it says that they proclaimed a fast that demonstrates that they humbled their heart before the Lord because fasting is a demonstration of humility in the book of Joel chapter 2 verse 12 it says even now declares the Lord returned to me with all your heart with fasting and weeping and mourning so fasting is is an outer kind of a demonstration of mourning and weeping or true repentance and so they fasted they also put on sack cloth which is a visible sign of mourning and so the result is that God saw their works and he saw that they turned from the evil ways and had repentance and so he spared the great city now I want to develop this a little bit further before we get into chapter 4 by saying in this we see four elements of turning a city around for God one if you want to turn around a city for God there needs to be faithful preaching of the word of God if you want to turn around a city for God there has to be the preaching of God's message Romans 1 16 and 17 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ it is the power of God and to salvation we're living in a time and I'll say this briefly but we're living in a time where we have to return to the roots of the Christian church which is that all churches ought to be doing by the way and that is teaching and preaching the word of God let me let me give you a very brief glimpse into current trends many pastors believe right now and I have quite a number of people I know that are discussing this magazines are being written books are being written there are many people right now who are thinking that this younger generation that's coming up really doesn't have a respect for the word of God and therefore you should be very careful not to bore them with Bible studies that's the truth I think if there's anything technology has done technology is great and I'm thankful for the tools that we have we're able to use technology for so many good things and I thank God for it it also can be used to dumb down people and and that actually has happened we see even in things like Facebook and Twitter and various other ways of e-messaging and e-mailing and all that people in reality the reason that we send emails many times is because we don't feel like talking to the person so we have a phone that we could actually use and say hey but we don't we just send them a mail and message right we just write them a little no bang send it out why because I really don't feel like talking to you right now but I would like to communicate something to you I mean and that and that's that's just a fact and what has happened is we have substituted we have substituted the personal for the impersonal but in the impersonal we think we're being personal you think that we're still connected and you know this and I know this I'm just talking to people who are aware of that that's what happens that's what has happened what we have done is we have substituted the impersonal for the personal to the degree that we don't even see the value of interpersonal relationship we preach a gospel a gospel message that speaks concerning God himself wanting to be personal with us I mean isn't that what the incarnation is God dwelt amongst men God wants us to know him the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed him he dwelt amongst men so that this God the invisible God has taken upon himself human flesh so that man can see God as God walks around with men that's a is that not a personal kind of thing I mean obviously it is all of us understand that to be true and yet what we're doing with this personal message of the gospel because each individual on earth who hears this gospel is to respond to it is a personal message to people that speaks concerning a personal life you see what happens is you get saved and you're not saved to be all alone you're saved and you're brought into a community of people who are like-minded it's called the church and so the church is is supposed to be a place of community where we have quenana or fellowship with one another and so you read your Bible love one another pray for one another exhort one another encourage one another confess your faults one to another as one another one another one another because that's what Christianity is it's about us being together in him the church in the original was originally together and they remained in the Apostles doctrine and prayer and the breaking of bread and and all of those things that was the element of the early church right but what we've done is we have taken the message of the gospel depersonalizing it and we have made it a message that can be communicated but you don't necessarily have to have a living breathing individual who's doing that and we know that already because you can be driving when you go home and you can turn on the radio you can turn on K wave KKLA and you'll hear a message some voice coming over the air waves into your car or you can go home and turn on a television and if you want you can watch a Christian broadcast all of that by the way I'm blessed that we're doing and able to do but if that's the only way that you're receiving your feeding you're missing out on the personal the personal like it or not because some people don't like it but like it or not it's better to be in a room where somebody's shoulder just touched yours and you're saying oh cooties it's better it's it's better that there's a human being next to you than for you to be alone what is the first bad thing you find in scripture the first thing that ever is said it is not good it is not good that the man should be what alone why because God created us to have relationship that's why and the gospel intends to produce a format for that and so it's not simply the preaching of the gospel it is the preaching receiving and living of the gospel and we have to be careful to realize that if we want to turn a city around that city has to have a gospel message preached and lived by those who claim to believe it because what I am speak so loudly that some people can't hear a word that I say and so we communicate this message called the gospel so if we want to turn a city around the gospel has to be preached and lived secondly there needs to be a genuine trust in God if somebody is going to really come to faith in Christ they need to turn away from sin and turn to God there are there are actual studies that are done concerning sometimes some of the crusades or evangelistic efforts at many churches throughout the United States go through and do where they will actually interview the people who went forward and will ask them now that you've gone forward why did you go forward and can you give us some insight into how you're living now that you have gone forward in a crusade and and overwhelmingly the people who are being interviewed are saying well you know yeah I went forward but I still don't go to church why would I go to church I don't want to go to church you know well why did you go to that crusade I like the music the music was cool it was good it was free at a good time I like that kind of thing if you spend some time anytime at all and you start looking at some of the formats that some churches have today for church services it's more like going to a rock concert than it is a worship service that's a fact we have to be very careful even in this because I like high-powered music I like that that's the kind of music I listen to you know before I got saved I was a you know metalhead you know that's what I was I like loud music sorry and I'm going deaf so I don't even notice it I'm not going deaf but I've always liked energetic I do and that's that's you know we're not trying to have concerts here just saying that it's that's kind of music I prefer I like to worship and praise God I like that an awful lot but we're not doing concerts the worship is not you know with a bunch of lights and smoke and things like that you know because I think that obscures the reason that we're together the reason we're together is to worship Jesus Christ and so we need to remember that and a third thing there needs to be a taken of action and what happened here is they proclaimed a fast to put on sackcloth because that demonstrates genuine repentance and then finally there needs to be a turning away from specific sin what they had turned away from was their evil and their violence you see when when a person truly repents they are no longer going to be characterized by their sin so God spared the city now Jonah's an evangelist you would think that Jonah would be overjoyed that that's the heart of any evangelist listen to see an entire city a huge city like this turn to Christ turn to God in the Old Testament sense to turn to God and so God spared the city you know yet 40 days an interval shall be overthrown they all repent and this evangelist ought to be saying man God you're too much but that's not what we see verse 1 it displease Jonah exceedingly and he became angry and he prayed to the Lord he said oh Lord was not this what I said when I was still in my country therefore I fled previously to Tarshish for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God slow to anger abundant in loving kindness one who relents from doing harm therefore now oh Lord please take my life from me it's better for me to die than to live imagine Greg Laurie doing that it's better for me to die than to live the whole city came to know you oh just kill me God showed incredible mercy God has shown incredible mercy think of it to Jonah God has shown incredible mercy to those sailors on that ship God has shown incredible mercy to the city and yet it displeases him and he becomes exceedingly angry remember Nineveh is evil Nineveh is violent in Jonah's mind Nineveh does not deserve to remain it should be destroyed again God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and those surrounding cities for similar sins why did he not destroy Nineveh and so his response first to simply says he prayed to the Lord he complains to God and what is he complaining about notice with me he's complaining that God is gracious merciful patient and of great kindness he's complaining to God for being good I think he preferred the message of destruction I think he wanted them to die it's like when Jesus was about to go through a city that refused him entry and James and John approached Jesus and say would you like us to call down fire like Elijah did and consume them there are some who have that kind of attitude Jonah obviously in the Old Testament did here's something for you think about this in this complaint Jonah is trying to prove that God is wrong for showing mercy even today we can refuse to desire God to forgive a terrible sinner we can refuse to believe that he will we can refuse to desire that he would when you when you read the New Testament we all are familiar with the man by the name of Paul and Paul was by his own testimony a terrible sinner when he speaks concerning his previous life prior to Christ he says like in Acts 22 4 he says I persecuted this way to the death binding and delivering into prisons both men and women when he was writing to the Galatians in chapter 1 verse 13 he said to that church you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it his testimony was so widespread that he was so dangerous that when he got saved people refused to believe that he could be saved the Lord speaks to a man by the name of Ananias after God has dealt with with Saul his name was Saul at that time and he says I want you to go and I want you to pray for this man and when the Lord said that to it's recorded in Acts 9 13 through 14 and Ananias answered and said this this is amazing I Lord I have heard from many about this man how much harm he's done to your saints in Jerusalem and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name listen I know you've been running the universe and you probably haven't noticed this so if you don't mind let me explain to you why I'm not about to go and pray for this man he is a destroyer and Ananias didn't believe it the church didn't believe it Acts 9 26 when Saul had come to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple you cannot join us we don't trust you your reputation is so incredibly bad there's no way we believe that you actually came to faith in Christ anybody in here know anybody anybody at all that you believe is just too far gone to ever be saved never forget that's probably what somebody thought about you too far gone too crazy I've told you this story I just think of it forgive me for those who've heard it thousand times I'm young believer in a Christian concert band comes up in plays in front of me as a motorcycle gangster big old guy I estimate him at 6 4 about 300 pounds that's a good size guy he was so big I couldn't see the stage true I was leaning over to look past him he had this long hair he's wearing his his his Levi jacket that was cut he had his colors on huge and I couldn't even see the stage because they're so close I had to lean over to my ride I'd have to lean over I didn't tap him on the shoulder and ask him to move I just let him be the wall that he was but I'm thinking as the next band JC power outlet that's what it was called I think hard rock Christian band at that time they got up and this evangelist just started giving the word and I'm looking at this guy he's right in front of me I'm just staring at him he can't get saved he can't get saved I'm actually thinking that I remember he can't get this is a waste of his time he can't get saved and then the man who is giving the message says if you need Christ and you want a new life stand your feet and come forward and this mountain stands up in front of me and he starts rubbing his eyes because he's crying and he makes his way through the aisle I'll never forget this stumbles into the aisle he's crying so hard and stands up there this huge man standing around these other people he's in the center right in front of the man who gave the invitation the spirit of the Lord has a way of speaking to your heart and his spirit spoke to my heart and I've never forgotten when he said I can save anyone I can save anyone never forget that don't give up keep praying don't forget that God can save anyone pray for him seek the Lord because that's really what it's all about isn't it you see Paul had been saved salvation he had experienced and he says in 1st Timothy 1 12 through 16 how thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ I hunted down his people harming them in every way I could but God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief oh how kind and gracious the Lord was he filled me completely with faith in the love of Christ Jesus this is a true saying and everyone should believe it Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I was the worst of them all but that is why God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners then others will realize that they too can believe in him and receive eternal life well instead of him rejoicing at what is taking place he reveals really the reason that he ran away the reason he went away from his calling was he knew that God was gracious and God was merciful that God is slow to anger and God is abundant in loving kindness aren't you glad that he is by the way aren't you I am so grateful that he is so he's angry because God isn't going to destroy these evil people so what's your prayer request Jonah Lord please take my life from me it's better for me to die he's a man of prayer but he's not praying in a way that pleases the Lord isn't it a good thing that God doesn't answer every prayer that you pray with a yes so God begins to speak to him look how gracious and merciful God is to this man verse 4 the Lord says this is it right for you to be angry well many lessons begin with a question Jesus is a great example of this way of teaching when you read his words he asks questions listen to some of his questions these are questions Jesus asked why do you worry about your clothing who do people say the Son of man is who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven who is it that you're looking for what good will it be for a man if he gained the whole world yet forfeits his soul what can a man give in exchange for his soul why do you call me a Lord Lord and do not do what I say Jesus asked a lot of questions and the questions that he would ask were intended to elicit from us a response because the response is going to reveal our hearts and when God asks a question he wants us to reveal our hearts and and as as you answer the question it reveals your heart but the point of this question is very simply this which one of us between you and me is right Jonah who has the proper perspective here am I right in showing mercy or are you right in desiring judgment well in that question verse 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city there he made himself a shelter sat under it in shade till he might see what would become of the city he went out there waiting to see you know what they're going to blow it and maybe God will destroy them and I want to have a front row seat when that takes place how did you answer that question Jonah here's something for you might want to remember this always how did you answer that question Jonah I answer that question by avoiding giving an answer he's a good politician I answered the question by not answering the question there are a lot of people like that here's something for you that's practical I've been here and I and I will be in the future and I will be in that place in the future when I say it like this I have heard messages or I've been reading and preparing one where the Holy Spirit asks me a question concerning me and that passage and I can hide by saying well I'm preparing this for people who need to hear it and the Lord saying no you need to hear it because before you preach it you'd better live it before you give it you better understand it and I have to tell you every preacher preaches above what they actually can live that's just a fact because the lofty claims and demands of the gospel without God's help are impossible in any way to attain to that's a fact but that doesn't give to us any excuse to just disregarded either and a lot of times in church services even like this there is a discomfort level that begins to hit the heart of the person and they begin to find things about what they're hearing that they disagree with and they get angry about and rather than answering the spiritual question where God says am I speaking to you right now and do you hear what I'm saying they run just like Jonah did because they are set in the way that they think and they're thinking there's got to be a loophole somewhere there's got to be something that can be done in his case he avoids even answering the question he just steps out goes and he begins to wait he wants to see if God's going to do something maybe maybe they won't change in 40 days and maybe the judgment will be brought about because God's just postponing it so let's hang around and see so what does he do well let me give you a couple things here one what does he do he quits his mission by leaving the city God didn't tell him to leave he just decided to on his own he should have remained he should have taught them the way of God but he didn't second he built himself a shelter which means he isolated himself from the people who had responded he desired no fellowship with these people who are different from him he could say this I have nothing in common with them why do I want to be around people like that here in the United States if we don't feel comfortable with the people that were seated next to will go to a place that we feel comfortable did you how many of you have a brother or a sister please raise your hand did you choose them did you did your mom if you're older did your mom and dad walk up and say oh by the way we're planning on having a brother or a sister what do you think oh yes that would be marvelous did they ask you my parents didn't ask me they didn't say oh by the way you've got an older brother whom you did not choose but we want a couple more what do you think Dave nah say if we can get rid of him and it just be me that be fine I did not select my sisters did you did you select a brother said did you I didn't I didn't nobody asked me nobody consulted me nobody asked me permission they just went on and had other brats how wrong is that can you select your brother or sister in Christ and and if you can't hear something it's practical not trying to be mean or weird it's just practical if they're your brother or sister in Christ can we love them and do we have to flee to somewhere else where there are more people like us is that what we do but we're uncomfortable let's just move to where there's some people more like us you know the church still has to get over its prejudice still does body of Christ still has to deal with that kind of thing love covers everything we ought to love one another I cannot choose my brother or sister in Christ but I can choose to fellowship with them and I can choose to love them and I can choose to bear with them and I can choose to have fellowship with I can make those choices I didn't choose them to be saved but I certainly ought to do everything I can to have fellowship with those people who have been a third thing he waited to see if God would destroy the city and therefore he became a spectator he openly hoped that God would change his mind perhaps they were really not saved at all here's something here's some ancient history I'll say it quickly as I'm looking at my time I better hurry this up the Jesus movement which for many of you is just a footnote in history it's not something that you were even alive when it began but I can tell you this is somebody who got saved during that movement I can tell you this that when hippies like me we're getting saved hippies like me we're getting saved we did not look we did not look like the church of our day we did not look like them the church in our day short hair the men short hair wore suits and ties to church very formal very formal time women would wear their their dresses you know and always dressed up you know they used to call that the Sunday go to meet and close that was very real that was very real when I was young my mom would actually wear a hat to church it was much more formal you know and though hippies are now getting saved and we're going to church barefooted and we're not cutting our hair and we've got rock music which people were writing about saying it's satanic they brought voodoo into the church they believed it was satanic music because you had drums and because you had electric guitars and the world church world stood back saying let's just watch and see what really happened if they're really getting saved books were written about the Jesus movement at that time it was just a flash in the pan wasn't going to last it's just a bunch of hippies who think they got religion that's what people do sometimes unfortunately Jonah's waiting for them to fall too so what happens well let's rush to a conclusion verse 6 the Lord God prepared a plant made it come up over Jonah that it might be shaved for his head to deliver him from his misery Jonah was very grateful for the plant but as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm and it damaged the plant that it withered and it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind and the Sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint then he wished death were himself and said it's better for me to die than to live and God said to Jonah shut up God said to Jonah is it right for you to be angry about the plant he said it is right for me to be angry even to death the Lord said you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored nor made it grow which came up in a night and perished in a night and should I not pity Nineveh that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between the right hand in their left and also much livestock okay God begins a work of preparation he prepared a plant this plant is a shrub it has broad leaves like vine leaves it has a very dense shadow it sustains this south by a trunk it can grow very rapidly even in the natural it can grow within a few days and look like a small tree God did this work he did a miracle and he he prepared this plant he prepared the plant to provide shade for Jonah to deliver him from his misery this could provide him enough comfort to consider his own heart second he prepared a worm to destroy the plant this removed the comfort of the shading caused him to experience a full sun he even went into some said even a form of a sunstroke third he prepared a strong wind to combine with the heat of the sun and in doing these three things of preparation a fourth thing he prepared Jonah he prepared Jonah to be taught so God says to him is it right and Jonah says listen it's better for me to die than to live God pushed him to his limit God broke him is it right for you to be angry about the plant well God said to Jonah is it right Jonah said he's saying to Jonah you know Jonah you care for yourself you care for even something like a plant but this plant you didn't you didn't plant it you didn't tend it you didn't water it you didn't cause it to grow what you did is you took pleasure in it because it provided something for you it grew and it perished and because it grew and perished you felt sorry for it you felt pity because it was pleasing to you and you were comforted by it well Jonah I feel pity for Nineveh it's filled with people who don't know any better you see in verse 11 when he says there are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left right hand in their left those of you who are parents know that you can tell your your three-year-old you know go to the left do they know what you mean no no take a right do they know what you mean they don't know what you mean a three-year-old doesn't know left from right we used to say he doesn't know his left hand from his right where do we get that same from well it's a biblical saying it's a way of saying that these are people who have yet to mature so there are two things one some are saying that it's saying that these are these are spiritually immature people who don't know the left from the right they're not really able to make spiritual judgments and some will say that this 120 but it's more common to believe that he's speaking of the children and he's saying they've got 120,000 babies there and beyond that you have to you know during that time that the number of actual population it would have been several times more than that and so he's saying this is a huge and immense city you feel sorry for a plant Jonah and I have pity on a city you're an evangelist and you're supposed to take my message you were glorying in the judgment and not the grace you wanted me to be angry when I'm not angry you're misrepresenting my heart because I want to save these people should I not have pity on these who really don't know any better yet and I gave them a chance by giving them a message it was a warning what's interesting to me is the book actually ends with a question and that question continues to this day it hasn't ceased it's still a question are you angry at me because I'm good are you angry because I saved the one you didn't want to get saved you wanted them to perish and go to hell they harmed you yes they caused pain in your life indeed I remember and I'll give you one last story I remember sharing with somebody who was very dear to me at that time was going through very deep stress in their marriage and they were going to divorce this is many many many years ago and as I was speaking to them as a woman I was speaking to her I said God can heal your marriage God can heal your marriage hang on her husband at that time wasn't saved and she wasn't saved but I said hang on don't let go God is a wonder working God I knew her very very well I don't know since we're in high school I was greatly concerned for her but she had a friend she had a friend who had been divorced and her friend was influencing her and her friend said to her my husband my husband divorced me broke my heart he was an evil man but now he's a Christian now he's a Jesus freak why should he be happy and why should I be miserable and she kept pouring that into this girl because this girl's husband had gotten saved and I was telling her your husband can be the man you want him to be God's changing him hang on but the bitterness of the heart of her friend overrode this woman's desire to see God do something in her husband they ended up divorcing and I saw what happened not only to her and her husband but also their two children through that kind of mentality some people think they don't they shouldn't get saved look at what they've done we have to get past that guys you know how you can know when you really understand forgiveness is when you can pray with sincerity for the one who has hurt you when you can pray with sincerity for the one who has hurt you when you can say God be merciful upon them instead of being like Jonah get 40 days and you're gonna be dust God you answer prayer don't you kill them in Jesus name the way you know that God is unhealing in your heart is when you can say God be merciful to them they know not what they do