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God's Love for the Lost Word - Jonah: Be Amazed, Part 4 of 5 | Back to the Bible | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: God's Love for the Lost Word - Jonah: Be Amazed, Part 4 of 5
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The Book of Jonah illustrates God's profound love and concern for all humanity, even those considered enemies, and challenges believers to embrace this same compassion, moving beyond personal prejudice and self-will to actively participate in God's redemptive mission.
welcome to back to the Bible radio in
just a moment we'll join pastor and
best-selling author Warren Weir's beat
for an encouraging message from God's
Word but first let me remind you to
visit back to the Bible org you'll find
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find it all at back to the Bible org
that's back to the Bible org I've often
said there are three beautiful love
stories in the Old Testament Ruth tells
us about God's love for his church and
Hosea tells us about God's love for
Israel and Jonah tells us about God's
love for the lost world
the tragedy is Jonah didn't love these
people Jonah was not concerned the only
reason that the Jonah went to Nineveh to
do the will of God is because he was
frightened if he did not do the will of
God he might end up being chastened
again but God was concerned God has
grace enough for lost sinners and he
knew how many children there were in the
city look at verse 11 of chapter four
God is speaking to Jonah and God says
and should not I spare Nineveh that
great city in which are more than six
score thousand persons that cannot
discern between their right hand and
their left hand that would be a hundred
and twenty thousand children and also
much cattle remarkable the last word in
this little book is the word cattle God
even had compassion for the animals why
because when people are wicked they will
be wicked to God's creation we today
have ruined the ecology we have ruined
nature because of our selfishness and
our wickedness here's a great challenge
and a great concern and God is concerned
today about lost humanity God is
concerned that people come to know
Christ as their Savior you see we have
the idea that we have this thing called
missions because of a commission
that's true go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature but
missions grows out of the very nature of
God our God is a giving God our God is a
loving God and because God so loved the
world we have this thing called missions
yet there are some of God's people who
aren't concerned about missions here's a
man or a woman a couple of family goes
out into the the wilderness out into the
battlefield and lives there for four or
five years and comes back and wants to
share the burden with us and here's a
church officer who says I don't want to
listen to a missionary I'll give my
money as a substitute for listening to a
missionary that's sad because our God is
a God who has a great concern now in
verses two three and four we have a
great confidence the confidence that God
can work this seems ridiculous that one
little disobedient Jew could make a
difference to a whole city a million
people or more here's a Jew going to the
Gentiles with an unpopular message of
judgment so Jonah arose and went unto
Nineveh according to the word of the
Lord we have to obey what we preach now
Nineveh was an exceedingly great city of
three days journey that meant you had to
take three days to get through the city
it was a large large complex of four
cities the word great has found 14 times
in the Book of Jonah four times we're
told about a great city
Nineveh we're told about a great wind
and a great tempest and a great fish and
a great fear and a great displeasure
Jonah was exceedingly displeased with
God and here we have this great city and
Jonah began to enter into the city a
day's journey and he cried and said yet
forty days and Nineveh shall be
overthrown now can you think of anything
that is sillier a little reluctant Jew
going to evil violent Gentiles with an
unpopular message of judgment and
telling them they'd better get
straightened out or
God's going to wipe them off the face of
the earth but you know what happened God
used his word in power and God did the
impossible so the people of Nineveh
believed God and proclaimed a fast and
put on sackcloth which is an expression
of sorrow and humility from the greatest
of them even to the least of them
forward came unto the king of Nineveh he
arose from his throne and he laid his
robe from him and covered himself with
sackcloth and sat in ashes not that's
really repentance if a king does it and
he caused it to be proclaimed and
published through Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his noble saying let
neither man nor beast heard nor flock
taste anything let them not feed nor
drink water but let it man and beast be
covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
unto God and this is the God of the Jews
not their own false gods they worshiped
Ishtar who was the goddess of love and
war now they're gonna cry out unto the
god of the Jewish people because
salvation is of the Jews yay let them
turn everyone from his evil way and from
the violence that is in their hands who
can tell if God will turn and repent and
turn away from his fierce anger that we
perish not there's that word perish
again we ran into that word back in
chapter 1 verse 6 when the shipmaster
came and awakened Jonah arise call upon
thy God if so be that God will think
upon us that we perish not and then in
chapter 1 verse 14 the sailors cried
unto the Lord and said we beseech thee O
Lord we beseech thee let us not perish
for this man's life throughout this book
you find this word perish that's what's
happening to a lost world the lost world
is perishing perishing a great
confidence God did the impossible
he used the message he performed a
miracle and something happened to the
lives of the people in Nineveh you say
well I have a visit to make or I have a
sermon to
I have a lesson to teach I have a job to
do and it's just too big for me well
just look at Jonah here's this one man a
Jew going to a million Gentiles with an
unpopular message of judgment they could
have killed him but he obeyed God and
because he obeyed God there was a
miracle in that city which leads us to
the fourth factor we began with a great
challenge and a great concern and a
great confidence now we see a great
change they heard the message they knew
the time was short and the word says
that they believed verse 5 the people of
Nineveh believed and they repented
repentance toward God and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ is our message today
now they believe the message that Jonah
proclaimed to them and because they
believe they cried out to God faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word
of God they got serious about their sin
and they repented now the word repent
means to change your mind
but true repentance involves the whole
person it involves the emotions they
were afraid of judgment it involves
their mind they changed their mind about
their sin and about their pride and
about their evil waves it involved their
will because they turned from their
violence and from their evil and they
sought to obey God God used Jonah in a
remarkable way and there occurred a
great change you know pastor there may
be some man in your community you've
been trying to reach for Christ there
may be some family you've been trying to
win and you've just about given up they
are your Nineveh you're saying to the
Lord Lord I don't want to go there
anymore I don't want to make one more
visit I'm not even gonna pray for them
anymore I am just fed up well don't be
that way because just about the time you
think nothing can happen a great miracle
is going to take place one of the best
witnesses and soul winners I ever knew
was a man who used to bring his family
to church and park out in front of the
church and read the Sunday paper he
wouldn't come in he wouldn't listen to
reason he wouldn't listen to witness he
was a
kind man but he was a stubborn man well
his wife was a loving witness and she
prayed and the church family prayed and
one Sunday he decided to come into
church and that was the Sunday that God
met him and he came down that aisle and
he said I want to give my heart to Jesus
Christ and that man became a great
servant of the Lord God has brought you
to a place that is just like Nineveh
walls and towers and stubbornness and
sin and violence and disobedience and
you're probably saying in your heart and
nothing's going to happen here well
something's going to happen you just
obey God in verse 10 and God saw their
works that they turned from their evil
way and God repented of the evil that he
had said that he would do unto them and
he did it not now they were not saved by
their works they were saved by their
faith you notice that they repented of
their sin and they believed God but you
see when we are truly repentant and when
we have believed God it will evidence
itself by our work something changed on
the outside because they had repented on
the inside and God repented now it
doesn't mean that God has to change his
character or change his attitudes God
said all right they did what I wanted
them to do they have repented of their
sin now I will turn and not do the
judgment that I was going to bring to
the city of Nineveh our God is so
willing and ready to forgive in chapter
4 verse 2 Jonah says this I knew that
thou art a gracious God and merciful
slow to anger and of great kindness and
repent ously of the evil our God is a
God who is loving and gracious now he
will judge sin he will not permit sin to
go without judgment but when he sees a
broken heart and a believing heart then
he comes with restoration and
forgiveness and cleansing the
interesting thing is this God used Jonah
even though Jonah's heart was not right
with God
you see in Chapter one Jonah ran away
from God because he was afraid of God's
will in Chapter two he ran to God
because he was in a bad spot it was an
emergency he wanted the will of God now
he was in trouble in Chapter three he
obeyed God simply because he had to he
was afraid not to the important part of
this book now is going to come in
Chapter four where Jonah has one more
lesson to learn the lesson of God's pity
now what are you doing today to help to
reach the multitudes in this world who
need to hear the message think about that
whenever you read a story or a book you
want to know what the ending is it's
very disquieting to read a story and
turn the page and discover we don't know
the ending
and yet the book of johna is a book
without a completed ending you see in
Chapter three
the city of Nineveh repents and God saw
their repentance and God said I will not
judge them now according to modern
standards the story should have ended at
Jonah chapter 3 verse 10 Jonah did his
work the city was rescued and they lived
happily ever after however we have
chapter 4 in Jonah why because God is
more concerned about the worker than he
is the work you say well God got what he
wanted the city of Nineveh repented and
the message was preached what more could
God want he wants the heart and the love
of his servant you see if you stop in
chapter 3 of Jonah Jonah looks very
successful he preaches a great revival
he's had a marvelous experience sharing
the Word of God and yet what happens
well God has to go deeper with Jonah and
teach him one more lesson let's review
just a little bit in Chapter 1 we have
resignation Jonah says I will not do the
will of God and he learns the lesson of
God's providence you can't run away from
God in chapter 2 we've called it
repentance and there he learns the
lesson of God's part and God does
forgive when we come and we ask him in
chapter 3 he learned the lesson of God's
power we called chapter 3 revival but
now in chapter 4 he has one final lesson
to learn
let's call chapter 4 rebellion but it
displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was
very angry rebellion Jonah has to learn
the lesson of God's pity allow me to
review these chapters again you see in
chapter 1 God got a hold of Jonah's mind
Jonah knew what
I wanted him to do but he wouldn't do it
in Chapter two God got ahold of Jonah's
mind and his will Jonah said I will I
will I will
and then the fish regurgitated Jonah and
he went and preached as he's supposed to
preach in Chapter three God got ahold of
Jonah's mind and his will and his body
Jonah picked up his body and said I'm
gonna go to Nineveh I want this to
happen again but you know there was one
area in Jonah's life that God had not
yet conquered he had not yet conquered
his heart he had his mind
Jonah knew what he was supposed to do
God had his will he did it God had his
body Jonah went to Nineveh but God did
not have Jonah's heart Ephesians six six
says doing the will of God from the
heart what was wrong with Jonah's heart
his heart was angry at God and angry at
the people who had repented
you must remember that Jonah was a
patriotic Jew Nineveh was going to be
the great enemy of Israel and actually
Jonah wanted God to judge Nineveh for
two reasons one Nineveh was their enemy
- he knew that his own people needed to
be warned about their sins it's very
likely that Jonah was saying in his
heart Oh Lord how can you forgive these Ninevites
Ninevites
why don't you judge them and make them
an example exhibit a to our own people
that they might turn away from their
sins what it really boiled down to was
that Jonah did not have love in his
heart for the people he was preaching to
God looks at the heart man may look at
the outward appearance but God looks at
the heart and here in Jonah chapter 4
you have a believer acting like an
unbeliever you have an adult acting like
a child you have a servant of God acting
like a servant of Satan he is not
yielded to the Lord now it's a dangerous
thing for this attitude of rebellion and
bitterness and anger to get a hold of our
our
you know the name Jonah means dove the
dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit
we're told in Ephesians 4 grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God and one of the sins
that grieves the Holy Spirit is anger
Jonah had been as it were raised from
the dead he'd gone down into the depths
he'd been swallowed by the great fish he
had experienced death burial and
resurrection at least in a symbolic
sense well if you're risen with Christ
what should you do seek those things
which are above says Colossians 3:1 set
your affection on things above not on
things on the earth mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth
that he names the sins we should put
away covetousness idolatry anger wrath
malice you see Jonah was not living on
resurrection ground he's like some of us
today we have been identified with Jesus
Christ and death burial and resurrection
and yet we're not living as we should we
haven't set our affection on things
above our attention on things above we
don't love the lost sinners around us we
don't like the things that they do we
don't like them sometimes we don't only
hate the sin we hate the sinner now
there is a godly anger in the Bible no
one will deny that Moses had a godly
anger when he when he took the golden
calf and he smashed it broke it into
bits Jesus had a godly anger when he
cleanse the temple Ephesians 4:26 says
be angry and sin not
but Jonah's anger in chapter 4 of Jonah
is not a godly anger it's a selfish
carnal worldly fleshly anger and when
this gets a hold of our lives we are in
trouble let's consider several aspects
of this anger that Jonah displays in
Jonah chapter 4 first of all the reason
for his anger well the reason for his
anger is in complete surrender to God if
there is one area in our lives that has
not yielded to God the devil will use it
as a foothold that's why it says and
Chapter four neither give place to the
devil don't give the devil a beachhead
any area in my life that has not yielded
to God is open season for the devil and
you see even though God had gotten ahold
of Jonah's mind and finally got ahold of
his will and finally got ahold of his
body he had not gotten ahold of Jonah's
heart in a very real sense Jonah is the
elder brother of the Old Testament
remember in Luke chapter 15 the parable
the prodigal son the boy came home and
the father rejoiced and they were having
a big feast thankful to God that the boy
who was dead was now alive again the boy
who was lost was now found everybody was
happy except the elder brother he came
in from the field and said what's going
on the servant boy said why your
brothers come home why didn't the elder
brother even know that his younger
brother had come home he wasn't looking
for him didn't want him to come home and
the Word of God says and he was angry
and he would not go in he wouldn't go
into the party he stayed outside outside
the fellowship outside the place of joy
the father had to come out and beseech
him to come in the elder brother had
anger in his heart he was angry at the
grace of his father angry at the
forgiveness of his father this is what
Jonah said to God and he prayed unto the
Lord and said I pray thee O Lord was not
this my saying when I was yet in my
country in other words even before he'd
gone he'd determined this in his heart
therefore I fled before unto Tarshish
for I knew that thou art a gracious God
and merciful slow to anger and of great
kindness and repent ously of the evil he
really knows his theology doesn't he
he's quoting here from Exodus 34 verse 6
numbers 14 verse 18 back in chapter 2
and his prayer he quotes from Psalm 120
and psalm 42 and Psalm 31 he quotes from
Psalm 69 he quotes from
three here's a man who can really quote
scripture but it hasn't changed the
attitude of his heart
you see if God is gracious we should be
gracious because we're the children of
God if God is merciful we should be
merciful if God is slow to anger we
should be slow to anger if God has great
kindness so should we be a kind one to
another tender-hearted forgiving one
another even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you the reason for Jonah's
anger he was not completely surrendered
to God you see you can be in the place
of service and still not have your heart
yielded to God you can be busy preaching
the gospel on a mission field as Jonah
was and still not be totally yielded to
God you can hate the people you're
ministering to all the important thing
is not just that Nineveh is saved the
important thing is that Jonah is saved
from his own anger and self-will the sad
thing isn't it when a child of God a
servant of God is rebelling the way
Jonah did well I need to ask myself the
question and perhaps you need to ask
yourself the question have I learned the
lesson of God's pity we'll finish our
study in chapter 4 the Lord willing next
time but I want you to know that you and
I need to examine our hearts and find
out if we learn the lesson of God's pity
should I not pity this great city is
what the Lord said to Jonah may the Lord
help each of us to have a heart for
souls a love for people to share the
compassion of Christ with a lost world [Music]
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