0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the bottle radio in
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0:13 for an encouraging message from God's
0:16 Word but first let me remind you to
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0:39 it's very disquieting to read a story
0:42 and turn the page and discover we don't
0:44 know the ending and yet the Book of
0:47 Jonah is a book without a completed
0:52 ending you see in chapter 3 the city of
0:55 Nineveh repents and God saw their
0:57 repentance and God said I will not judge
1:00 them now according to modern standards
1:03 the story should have ended at Jonah
1:06 chapter 3 verse 10 Jonah did his work
1:09 the city was rescued and they lived
1:10 happily ever after
1:13 however we have chapter 4 in Jonah why
1:16 because God is more concerned about the
1:19 worker than he is the work you say well
1:22 God got what he wanted the city of
1:24 Nineveh repented and the message was
1:26 preached what more could God want he
1:29 wants the heart and the love of his
1:32 servant you see if you stop in chapter 3
1:35 of Jonah Jonah looks very successful he
1:38 preaches a great revival he's had a
1:41 marvelous experience sharing the Word of
1:45 God and yet what happens well God has to
1:47 go deeper with Jonah and teach him one
1:51 more lesson let's review just a little
1:54 bit in chapter 1 we have resignation
1:57 Jonah says I will not do the will of God
1:59 and he learns the lesson of God's
2:01 providence you can't run away from God
2:05 in chapter 2 we've called it repentance
2:07 and there he learns the lesson of God's
2:10 pardon God does forgive when we come and
2:13 we ask him in chapter 3 he learned the
2:15 lesson of God's power we called chapter
2:19 3 revival but now in chapter 4
2:21 he has one final lesson to learn let's
2:24 call chapter 4 rebellion but it
2:28 displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was
2:32 very angry rebellion Jonah has to learn
2:36 the lesson of God's pity his heart was
2:39 angry at God and angry at the people who
2:40 had repented
2:44 you must remember that Jonah was a
2:47 patriotic Jew Nineveh was going to be
2:51 the great enemy of Israel and actually
2:55 Jonah wanted God to judge Nineveh for
2:57 two reasons one Nineveh was their enemy
3:00 - he knew that his own people needed to
3:04 be warned about their sins it's very
3:06 likely that Jonah was saying in his
3:09 heart Oh Lord how can you forgive these Ninevites
3:10 Ninevites
3:13 why don't you judge them and make them
3:17 an example exhibit a to our own people
3:19 that they might turn away from their
3:22 sins what it really boiled down to was
3:24 that Jonah did not have love in his
3:26 heart for the people he was preaching to
3:29 God looks at the heart man may look at
3:31 the outward appearance but God looks at
3:32 the heart
3:34 you see Jonah was not living on
3:37 resurrection ground he's like some of us
3:40 today we have been identified with Jesus
3:41 Christ and death burial and resurrection
3:46 and yet we're not living as we should we
3:47 haven't set our affection on things
3:50 above our attention on things above we
3:53 don't love the lost sinners around us we
3:55 don't like the things that they do we
3:57 don't like them sometimes we don't only
3:59 hate the sin we hate the sinner now
4:02 there is a godly anger in the Bible no
4:05 one will deny that Moses had a godly
4:09 anger when he when he took the golden
4:12 calf and he smashed it broken into bits
4:16 Jesus had a godly anger when he cleansed
4:19 the temple Ephesians 4:26 says be angry
4:20 and sin not
4:24 but Jonah's anger in chapter 4 of Jonah
4:26 is not a godly anger it's a selfish
4:30 carnal worldly fleshly anger and when
4:32 this gets a hold of our lives we are in true
4:32 true
4:35 let's consider several aspects of this
4:38 anger that Jonah displays in Jonah
4:40 chapter 4 first of all the reason for
4:43 his anger well the reason for his anger
4:47 is in complete surrender to God if there
4:50 is one area in our lives that has not
4:53 yielded to God the devil will use it as
4:54 a foothold that's why it says in
4:57 Ephesians chapter 4 neither give place
5:00 to the devil don't give the devil a
5:03 beachhead any area in my life that has
5:06 not yielded to God is open season for
5:10 the devil and you see even though God
5:13 had gotten ahold of Jonah's mind and
5:15 finally got ahold of his will and
5:19 finally got ahold of his body he had not
5:22 gotten ahold of Jonah's heart this is
5:24 what Jonah said to God and he prayed
5:27 unto the Lord and said I pray thee O
5:30 Lord was not this my saying when I was
5:32 yet in my country in other words even
5:35 before he'd gone he'd determined this in
5:35 his heart
5:38 therefore I fled before unto Tarshish
5:42 for I knew that thou art a gracious God
5:44 and merciful slow to anger and of great
5:48 kindness and repent ously of the evil he
5:51 really knows his theology doesn't he
5:55 he's quoting here from Exodus 34 verse 6
5:59 numbers 14 verse 18 here's a man who can
6:02 really quote scripture but it hasn't
6:05 changed the attitude of his heart now in
6:07 Jonah chapter 4 verse 3 therefore now O
6:11 Lord take I beseech thee my life from me
6:14 for it is better for me to die than to
6:18 live Moses one day wanted to die you see
6:22 he's selfish the reason for his anger in
6:24 complete surrender to God
6:26 let's look secondly at the results of
6:30 his anger once again Jonah is the loser
6:34 God quietly says to him in verse 4 doest
6:38 thou well to be angry so Jonah went out
6:42 of the city and he sat on the east side
6:44 of the city and there he made a booth
6:46 for himself
6:48 and sat under it in the shadow till he
6:51 might see what would become of the city
6:54 he's the loser first he loses his
6:57 testimony he leaves the city instead of
6:59 staying there and helping the people and
7:01 teaching them about God and saying look
7:04 the God who has turned away his judgment
7:06 as a gracious God a merciful God a God
7:10 who is kind and slow to anger he leaves
7:14 his place of service I wonder how many
7:16 preachers and Sunday School teachers
7:20 missionaries choir members have resigned
7:22 impetuously because of anger in the
7:25 heart they didn't get things the way
7:28 they wanted them well he lost his
7:30 testimony he's silenced now he's not
7:31 preaching the word he's not living up to
7:34 his theology he just has an empty
7:35 ministry it reminds me of 1st
7:38 Corinthians chapter 13 if we speak with
7:41 the tongues of men and angels and we
7:43 have not love we're just a lot of noise
7:47 sounding brass tinkling cymbal an empty
7:50 ministry he lost God's guidance here he
7:53 is wanting to die that's a strange thing
7:55 you know people make foolish decisions
7:58 when they get angry at God here was
8:01 Jonah angry at God instead of saying
8:03 Lord I'm glad that you saved these
8:05 people now let's get a work going here
8:07 let's teach them how to worship the true
8:10 God the Living God instead he says kill
8:14 me I didn't have my own way Jonah goes
8:16 outside the city and stares at the city
8:19 hoping that God would destroy the city
8:22 you know Jeremiah had a great burden for
8:24 the city the city of Jerusalem in this
8:27 case and Jeremiah wept over the city
8:29 you'd think that Jonah would have been
8:32 rejoicing over those who had repented
8:35 but no he's sitting there in rebellion
8:39 Jonah sat there and he said God I really
8:41 hope that you'll just blow this place up
8:44 they don't deserve to live well did
8:47 Jonah deserve to live suppose that God
8:49 had begun to treat Jonah the way Jonah
8:51 was treating them
8:53 you see that's what Christian love is
8:55 Christian love means I treat you the way
8:58 God treats me God loves me and he's kind
9:00 to me so I'm kind
9:02 do you God forgives me so I forgive you
9:05 that's Christian love but Jonah did not
9:08 have any love for these people at all we
9:10 lose our love for the people we're
9:13 ministering to and as a consequence we
9:14 start focusing our love only on
9:16 ourselves and all we think about is
9:19 earning our salary and getting our work
9:23 done as fast as we can and having it our
9:26 own way it's a sad thing isn't it when a
9:29 child of God a servant of God is
9:33 rebelling the way Jonah did well I need
9:35 to ask myself the question and perhaps
9:37 you need to ask yourself the question
9:39 have I learned the lesson of God's pity
9:43 we'll finish our study in chapter 4 the
9:45 Lord willing next time but I want you to
9:47 know that you and I need to examine our
9:49 hearts and find out if we learn the
9:52 lesson of God's pity should I not pity
9:55 this great city is what the Lord said to
9:58 Jonah may the Lord help each of us to
10:01 have a heart for souls a love for people
10:05 to share the compassion of Christ with a
10:06 lost world [Music]
10:08 [Music]
10:12 now God has to deal with Jonah and so in
10:15 verse 6 the Lord God prepared a gourd
10:17 and made it to come up over Jonah that
10:19 might be a shadow over his head to
10:22 deliver him from his grief so Jonah was
10:24 exceedingly glad of the gourd that's interesting
10:25 interesting
10:28 in verse 1 he was exceedingly displeased
10:31 because Nineveh repented but now he's
10:33 exceedingly glad because of a gourd you
10:35 see he's become selfish
10:38 you can tell what a person is like by
10:40 what makes him happy and what makes him
10:43 sad by what makes him laugh and by what
10:46 makes him cry well God is still in
10:48 control but God prepared a worm it's
10:50 interesting God can control great fish
10:52 and God can control little worms
10:54 everything in this book is obeying God
10:57 except Jonah but God prepared a worm
10:59 when the morning rose the next day and
11:02 it smote the gourd that it withered and
11:04 it came to pass when the Sun did rise
11:07 that God prepared a vehement east wind
11:09 now remember you're out in the east and
11:13 the Sun is blistering and and the wind
11:14 is stifling
11:18 it's smothering and the Sun did beat
11:20 upon the head of Jonah that he fainted
11:23 well men ought always to pray and not to
11:25 faint they that wait upon the Lord shall
11:27 renew their strength they shall mount up
11:29 with wings as Eagles they shall run and
11:31 not be weary they shall walk and not
11:33 faint but you see Jonah is no longer
11:35 praying and Jonah is no longer waiting
11:38 on the Lord he's pouting
11:40 he's stubbornly wanting his own way he
11:43 fainted and wished in himself to die and
11:45 said it is better for me to die than to
11:48 live and God said that Jonah do it
11:50 thought well to be angry for the gourd
11:52 it's interesting God can't talk to him
11:55 anymore about lost souls about service
11:58 about new horizons of ministry has to
12:00 talk to him about the gourd he said I do
12:04 well to be angry even unto death now
12:06 it's interesting why did God permit this
12:09 east wind to blow on Jonah why did God
12:12 permit the Sun to beat down upon Jonah
12:14 he sang Jonah you have forgotten what
12:16 it's like to be lost here are these
12:19 people who need to be saved and you've
12:21 forgotten you're only concerned about AG or
12:22 or
12:24 to shelter your head you're only
12:27 concerned about your own comfort Oh
12:29 Jonah says the Lord
12:31 do you realize what it really means to
12:35 be lost verse 10 then said the Lord thou
12:38 hast had pity on the gourd for which
12:41 thou has not labored neither made estat
12:43 grow which came up in a night and
12:45 perished in a night and should not I
12:49 spare Nineveh that great city in which
12:52 are more than six score thousand persons
12:54 that cannot discern between their right
12:56 hand and their left hand and also much
12:59 cattle one of the problems when you get
13:00 out of the will of God is that your
13:03 values get out of proportion your
13:06 priorities get all mixed up he was happy
13:09 for a plant that grew up and would die
13:13 the next day but he wasn't happy for a
13:16 city and for these souls that would
13:18 spend eternity either in heaven or in
13:21 hell now what I'd like to do is we
13:24 finished chapter 4 is interview Jonah I
13:26 want to call a committee meeting now and
13:28 interviewed Jonah and I want to find out
13:31 whether or not Jonah is really qualified
13:35 to serve as a missionary servant of God
13:38 let's look first of all his credentials
13:41 let's ask Jonah a few questions Jonah
13:43 has God called you yes he has in fact
13:46 he's called me twice now as your
13:50 theology of angelical oh yes yes I
13:52 believe in a God who is gracious and
13:55 merciful slow to anger and of great kindness
13:56 kindness
14:00 a God who repents of evil I believe that
14:02 he's the God of creation he's the God
14:05 who made the heavens and the earth and
14:08 the sea and the dry land oh yes my
14:10 theology is Evan Jellicle and I believe
14:14 that salvation is of the Lord well
14:16 that's good now Jonah do you pray oh yes
14:19 and when I pray God answers I've seen
14:22 some marvelous answers to prayer Jonah
14:25 are you a victorious believer have you
14:27 experienced the deeper life oh I've gone
14:29 deeper than anybody else says Jonah in
14:32 fact I went down down
14:36 then God brought me up again and he has
14:38 given me newness of life
14:40 Jonah does your preaching bring results
14:43 certainly does it certainly does I
14:46 preached at the city of Nineveh and the
14:48 whole city from the King on the throne
14:50 down to the servants in the field
14:55 repented in sack cloth and ashes Jonah
14:58 do you study the Bible are you able to
15:00 quote the scriptures yes indeed I can
15:02 quote from the Psalms I can quote from
15:05 Exodus and numbers oh yes I know how to
15:06 quote the Word of God
15:09 in fact sometimes in my praying my
15:11 praying is just simply quotations from
15:14 the Word of God well that's very good
15:17 now Jonah one final question you know
15:19 the the service of the Lord is difficult
15:21 God may call you to some hard place do
15:23 you have courage all yes I have courage
15:26 I was willing to risk my life and die
15:30 that a storm might be abated oh yes I
15:33 have courage you know when you look at
15:35 Jonah's credentials it looks as though
15:37 he has the makings of a wonderful
15:40 servant of God he's been called by God
15:43 he has good evangelical theology he
15:45 knows how to pray knows how to quote
15:48 scripture he has preached and seen
15:50 people repent and he seems to be a
15:53 courageous person but you know in spite
15:56 of all these marvelous credentials he
15:58 was a bad servant of God you know why I
16:00 didn't have any love in his heart you
16:02 see even though we might be able to
16:04 speak with the tongues of men and of
16:06 angels if we have not love we're just
16:09 sounding brass a tinkling cymbal even
16:11 though we do give our body to be burned
16:14 or to be thrown into the sea if we don't
16:16 have love it doesn't mean anything
16:20 love is what gives us the values of life
16:23 you see ministry not only blesses the
16:25 people we minister to it blesses us as
16:28 well well let's look at a second source
16:31 of information now when I have been
16:33 interviewing missionary candidates we
16:36 have often we have always in fact sent
16:40 out pieces of information to other
16:43 people their friends their pastors their
16:45 instructors in school we
16:48 send out inventory sheets and say now
16:49 would you tell us what you think of
16:52 these people let's talk to some of his
16:56 companions now and find out what kind of
16:59 testimony Jonah has chapter one let's
17:00 talk to the sailors what do you think of
17:02 this fellow named Joe no he's a
17:04 troublemaker because of him we almost
17:07 lost the ship almost lost our lives
17:10 he sleeps when he ought to be praying we
17:11 don't think much of him he's a troublemaker
17:12 troublemaker
17:15 well it's talk in Chapter two to the
17:18 great fish and I realize that fish can't
17:20 talk but let's just talk to the great
17:22 fish anyway what do you think of this
17:24 fellow Jonah well he's a pretty stubborn
17:29 person God commanded me to swallow him
17:32 and it took him three days until he
17:34 finally got to the place where he would
17:38 repent and and ask for forgiveness I
17:40 think he's a pretty stubborn person I'm
17:45 glad that he did finally repent but he's
17:47 got a stubborn heart let's talk to the
17:50 people of Nineveh now in Chapter three
17:52 what kind of a person do you think Jonah
17:55 is we're interviewing him possibly for
17:57 service well we can't quite understand
17:59 them he's a problem he came into our
18:01 city and began to preach and we believed
18:05 him and we repented in God held back his
18:07 hand of judgment that's the last we saw
18:10 of him he just vanished and we heard
18:12 word he was sitting outside the city
18:14 really hoping that fire would come down
18:17 from heaven and burn us all up we don't
18:19 really understand this fellow he started
18:23 something and didn't finish it well
18:25 let's turn to chapter 4 now and using
18:27 our imagination let's interview the worm
18:31 he got kind of close to Jonah there what
18:32 do you think about this fellow Jonah
18:34 well to begin with I think the worm
18:37 would say he's a he's a man who lives by
18:40 his feelings if he feels good or feels
18:42 happy he does one thing if he doesn't
18:44 feel good he does something else he has
18:46 a tendency to pout to be angry if he
18:49 doesn't get his own way he really is not
18:52 a very disciplined fellow I understand
18:54 says the worm that Jonah was swallowed
18:56 by a great fish and he could have died
18:58 and yet the Lord gave him
19:01 merci now why doesn't he want mercy for
19:05 these who desperately needs salvation in
19:08 fact Jonah is very unlike the God that
19:10 he preaches I heard him say that that
19:13 God is a gracious God and a merciful God
19:16 slow to anger and of great kindness but
19:18 I don't see much mercy or grace or
19:21 kindness or slowness of anger in Jonah
19:23 he's very unlike the God that he
19:27 preaches and finally the worm I think
19:30 would say Jonah lacks perspective his
19:33 values are out of proportion he's got
19:35 everything all confused as far as
19:38 priorities are concerned he doesn't have
19:42 a burden or pity for people and yet he
19:44 has pity for a gourd that I was
19:48 instructed to to kill so I think that
19:50 the worm would probably say he's not a
19:53 very good candidate well as far as his
19:55 credentials are concerned Jonah passes
19:59 with a hundred percent but as far as his
20:01 companions are concerned they don't give
20:03 him very good recommendation do they
20:06 let's talk to the Lord the Lord may have
20:09 something to add to this Lord did you
20:11 call Jonah yes I did I called him twice
20:14 did he obey you he obeyed me outwardly
20:17 not inwardly are all the statements true
20:20 that these various witnesses have made
20:22 oh yes they're all true what do you
20:24 suggest we do with Jonah give him
20:27 another chance give him another opportunity
20:28 opportunity
20:32 you see God deals patiently with Jonah
20:35 and God deals graciously with Jonah and
20:38 God deals gently with Jonah to begin
20:41 with God dealt very fiercely with Jonah
20:46 storm waves wind a big fish but now he's
20:48 using a little worm a little plant using
20:51 some wind using the warmth of the Sun
20:55 very gently and patiently God is dealing
20:57 with Jonah trying to teach him one more
21:00 lesson the lesson of God's pity the
21:02 greatest need that Jonah had was a love
21:07 for God and a love for lost souls and so
21:09 what the chapter just simply ends on a
21:12 question should I not spare Nineveh
21:15 and I would expect that there would be
21:18 verse 12 at the end of chapter 4 but I
21:19 don't see verse 12 you see you and I
21:22 have to write verse 12 we have to face
21:25 the fact that Jonah's not the one who's
21:27 on trial we are the ones who are on
21:30 trial how do you respond to Jonah
21:33 chapter 4 do you say well I think Jonah
21:36 had a case or do you say whoa Jonah was
21:38 dead wrong
21:40 you see God looks at our hearts God sees
21:43 what is important to us suppose that
21:46 your companions were summoned to bear
21:48 witness about you I wonder with if we
21:51 would be able to pass the test
21:55 God is searching our hearts God is
21:58 wondering what is our attitude toward
22:01 his will I do believe that Jonah
22:03 repented I believe he went back to
22:06 Nineveh ministered to these people and
22:09 then returned home a different man a man
22:12 with a much wider perspective on life a
22:14 man who realized that God is not just
22:16 the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
22:19 he's also the God of the Gentiles and
22:22 his mercy is everlasting and God is not
22:25 willing that any should perish where
22:28 does the Book of Jonah find you in
22:30 relation to God's will [Music]
22:32 [Music]
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