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Well, good morning, everyone. 
It's good to be with you once again this morning on this Lord's 
Day. We're going to look at the prophet Jonah, chapter 4, so 
you can turn with me in your Bibles to the prophet Jonah. I've titled this sermon, Plants 
or People? Who's More Valuable and Who is 
More Gracious Towards Either? We're going to look at all of 
chapter 4, but I'm going to read chapter 3 as well to set the 
context. Jonah 3, we'll begin reading 
at verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came 
to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great 
city, and preach it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose 
and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now 
Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in 
extent. And Jonah began to enter the 
city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet 
forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people 
of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, 
from the greatest to the least of them. Then the word came to 
the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside 
his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh 
by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, That neither 
man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them 
eat or drink water. But let man and beast be covered 
with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn 
from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 
Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from 
his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Then God saw their 
works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented 
from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them. 
And he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, 
and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord and 
said, Ah, 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 and abundant in lovingkindness, one who relents 
from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please 
take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than 
to live.' Then the Lord said, Is it right for you to be angry? 
So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the 
city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, 
till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord 
God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it 
might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. 
So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned, 
the next day God prepared a worm, and it so 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 for 
himself and said, it is better for me to die than to live. Then 
God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the 
plant? And he said, it is right for me to be angry, even to death. 
But 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 their right hand and their left, and 
much livestock? Amen. Well, let us pray. O Lord 
our God, we know that you are the God who is slow to anger 
and abundant in mercy. We are thankful for your loving 
kindness. We are thankful that you are gracious. And we know, 
O Lord, that we are undeserving of all the good gifts that you've 
given to us, temporal, but especially eternal. We know that we have 
sinned against you. We know that we have violated 
your law. We know that Adam brought sin and misery into this world. 
And so we are grateful for your mercy. Thank you for removing 
our misery in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thank you, Lord, that we 
do not need to fear that final day when Christ comes again to 
judge the living and the dead, because you have been so gracious 
and merciful to us. And we ask, O Lord, that you'd 
forgive us for our own anger, forgive us for our own pettiness 
at your goodness towards others. Please forgive us for our covetousness, 
for various things that you give to others. And we're thankful, 
O Lord, that Christ is such a sufficient Savior. He is able to forgive 
us of all of our sins, all the sins that we have committed in 
word, thought, and deed, and even all the sins we will commit. 
Thank you that he is our High Priest, who is the same yesterday, 
today, and forever. And we are thankful, O God, that 
your goodness is your essence. And we're thankful, O Lord, we 
see your goodness towards us in your love, we see your goodness 
towards us in your grace, and we're thankful that we see your 
goodness towards us in your mercy. And so we ask and pray, O Lord, 
that you'd send forth your Spirit as has been prayed, that we'd 
have a better understanding of what your Word says, that we 
would recognize that you are sovereign. You are the sovereign 
God who will be just with whom he will be just, but you are 
the sovereign God who will be compassionate with whom he will 
be compassionate. So we pray that we would trust 
that, we pray that we would submit to that, and we pray, O Lord, 
that we would appreciate that you're the one who rules all 
things, even including the salvation of sinners. So be with us now 
by your spirit. We pray that today would be a 
time of edification for your people, and we pray that today 
would be the great day of salvation for your God who is merciful. 
So be with us now by your spirit, we pray, in the name of Christ. 
Amen. Well, whether we like to admit 
it or not, we can all struggle with pettiness and anger over 
God's goodness. It's what we call covetousness. 
When we see that God gives good gifts to others, we desire those 
things rather than being content with the lot that God has given 
to us. And we can even be petty and angry at the goodness of 
others with respect to gifts that God has given to them. Even 
pastors can get petty when they see perhaps another pastor who 
has the gifts of Spurgeon, who has the mind of Owen, and God 
has not given those things to me or to someone else. And so 
we can get a little petty. with respect to these things. 
We can observe church growth and wonder ourselves, why is 
this not happening to our church? What is going on? And perhaps 
rather than praise the Lord for the gifts he gives to his church 
and praise the Lord for the growth that he brings, sometimes we 
can get just a little bit petty and we can sulk. And this is 
what Jonah is doing when it comes to the salvation of the Ninevites. 
God has brought a great salvation. You'd think it would be every 
missionary's delight to see the salvation of sinners. But here 
we see something very interesting. Jonah is sulking. Jonah is mad. Jonah is angry at the goodness 
of God. You see, that's the entire point 
of the book of Jonah. It's all about God, who is sovereign, 
and he is sovereign to be just with whom he will be just. He's 
also sovereign to be gracious with whom he will be gracious. He is the one who has the right 
over this entire world, whether to demonstrate his justice or 
to demonstrate and show undeserved mercy. And so this in this book, 
we see that Jonah is sent to the nations. We see in this book 
that Jonah is sent really to the enemy. And that's very unique 
when it comes to the prophets. Jonah was a prophet perhaps before 
or around the time of Amos and Hosea. He was a prophet to that 
northern kingdom during the time of the divided kingdom. And we 
see it as a dark time in Israel's history. There's disobedience, 
there is wickedness, there is much vileness under Jeroboam 
II. And what makes him so unique 
is his task to be sent out to the various nations. Now, if 
you're reading your Bible chronologically or in order and you come to Hosea, 
you see the wickedness of that northern kingdom. We see their 
idolatry and how they love idols rather than God. And then we 
come to Joel and we see that God is going to bring judgment, 
but he's also going to be bring restoration and salvation as 
well. Then we come to Amos and we start 
to see some sort of references to the nations, their brutality, 
their wickedness, their awfulness. God is going to judge them just 
as he's going to judge Israel. Then we come to Obadiah, and 
Obadiah is also a prophet concerning the nations. And then something 
remarkable happens in Jonah. God is going to be gracious and 
kind to Israel's enemies. God is going to bring deliverance 
to a pagan and to a pagan nation. And so it makes Jonah's call 
unique, and it teaches us about God's sovereignty over the nations 
and even his mercy toward the nations. God's glory is not just 
for Israel, but it's also for the whole world. And so really 
Jonah is set up in two parts. There's Jonah's resistance, which 
we know all too well, and then we see Nineveh's repentance in 
chapters 3 and 4. And so the problem that we see 
in this text is the problem when we can be angry with the goodness 
of God, even as he brings the salvation of enemies, even as 
he brings the salvation of those we want to see judged. God is 
so loving. God is so good. And God is so 
merciful that he saves the worst and most vile of sinners. And 
this is evident with Jonah as he is petty towards the salvation 
of his enemies. And so in Jonah 4, we see that 
Jonah is angry with the mercy of God, but really this magnifies 
God's grace all the more. God is merciful. God is good. God is loving. God is gracious. God is slow to anger and abounding 
in loving-kindness. So we're going to see Yahweh's 
mercy under two headings this morning. First off, we're going 
to see when the prophet is angry in verses 1 through 4. When the 
prophet is angry in verses 1 through 4. And then we're going to see 
when the Lord is merciful in verses 5 through 11. So when 
the prophet is angry and when the Lord is merciful. So let's 
first look at when the prophet is angry in verses one through 
four. Now, it's important to remind 
ourselves of this book as a whole. We all know about Jonah's fleeing. 
We all know that God said to him, you must go to Nineveh. 
And he goes the opposite direction. He goes the other way. And we 
see this storm comes about. And even what Jonah meant for 
evil, God does mean for good, because we do see the salvation 
of the mariners. We see the salvation of these 
pagans. Now, if you were to go to an 
evangelistic seminar to learn about methods, as far as evangelism 
goes, you wouldn't talk to Jonah, would you? I ran away. I didn't 
do what God said. I went the opposite direction. 
And what happens? He eventually says, yes, this 
whole storm is because of me. It's what I have done. I have 
fled from my God. And we see the mariners believe. 
The mariners profess. The mariners recognize there 
is one God. And so it teaches us that God's 
salvation really is His, and He is the one who is pleased 
to work when He sees fit. So they cast Jonah out. We see 
that Jonah dies in chapter 2 with the fish. He prays for deliverance 
from death and in death, and God provides that. Then we see 
God's salvation of Nineveh, and we see their repentance. We see 
that in verse 5. So the people of Nineveh believed 
God. And then in chapter 3, verse 
10, we see, then, God saw their works, that they turned from 
their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he said 
he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. And so what's 
Jonah's response? It's to be angry. And so we see 
that in verse 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, 
and he became very angry. And this book often repeats words 
in it to teach us something. And one word that is often repeated 
in chapters 3 and 4 is the word evil. Evil doesn't always mean 
morally wrong, but evil can refer to disaster. So we see that Nineveh 
repents from their evil way, and God relents from bringing 
disaster or evil upon them. And so Jonah is mad at the fact 
that God ceased from this evil. And the word evil will come up 
more in verse four. When things don't go his way, 
he sulks like a little child. I mean, his responses are like 
a little child with what he says to God. And so he says in verse 
two, as he prays to God, and we finally know the reason why 
he went the other way. God, you're too kind. I know 
you're so merciful. I know that your goodness is 
your essence. He says, Ah, 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 merciful. I know that you are slow to anger 
and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. And there is a contrast here 
with this prayer and the prayer that Jonah prays in the belly 
of the fish. You see, he does pray for mercy. He does pray for deliverance. 
And God gives it. But here he is griping at the 
mercy of God. And so he reveals why he has 
done what he has done, because God is good. This is why all 
the drama has occurred in this book, because God is good. And again, Jonah isn't the greatest 
role model when it comes to perhaps thinking of the giants of the 
faith. I mean, John Gill says, the strangest, oddest, and most 
out-of-the-way man. For a good man and a prophet, 
as one shall ever hear or read of. Displeased he was at that 
which one would have thought he would have exceedingly rejoiced 
at, the success of his ministry, as all good men, prophets, and 
ministers of the word do. Nothing grieves them more than 
the hardness of men's hearts and the failures of their labors, 
and nothing more rejoices them than the conversion of sinners 
by them. But Jonah is displeased at the repentance of the Ninevites 
through his preaching, and at the mercy of God shown unto them. I'm mad, O Lord, at what you've 
done. I am mad at this great salvation that you've brought, 
because he knows who God is. He does have a proper theology, 
but it's not the right practice here when it comes to that right 
theology. And all the language that we 
see about our God in verse 2 ought to draw our attention, hopefully 
as I read it, and read it a few times already, you would have 
been drawn back to Exodus 34. In Exodus 34, as God reveals 
himself to Moses, it's a theophany, there's God appearing to Moses 
in Exodus 34 after the golden calf situation. After Israel 
danced around that golden calf, after Israel engaged in spiritual 
adultery on their wedding night, we see that God is what? The 
Lord, the Lord God. Slow to anger and abounding in 
steadfast love. He is a God who is gracious. 
He is a God who is goodness is his essence. And we see that 
toward us. We see his work toward us and 
that he gives us good things, but he also dispels our misery 
and takes that away and we're thankful that he does so in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Israel and Nineveh are 
both deserving of judgment. Nineveh is deserving of damnation. Nineveh is deserving of being 
judged by God. But God is what? He is merciful 
and gracious. He is slowed to anger and abundant 
in loving kindness. Moses begged for the goodness 
of God. Here, Jonah is begging for something 
different. He wants justice to come for 
his enemies. Now, Exodus 34 does also talk 
about justice. God will by no means clear the 
guilty. That's why we need a substitute. 
That's why we need someone to die in our stead. That's why 
we need someone to bear the punishment we deserve, because God is just. And what's interesting is God's 
justice does come up in Nahum chapter 1. And what's interesting, 
the emphasis in Nahum chapter 1 is certainly God being slow 
to anger, but also God being the one who will judge all, who 
will judge sin. And so in Nahum chapter 1, we 
see that God is going to bring judgment upon Nineveh. God is 
going to judge them. God is going to make them know 
more. That's many years down the road. But nonetheless, we 
see that God is just and God is merciful. And both of those 
come into play when it came to the history of Nineveh. And here 
at this time in Nineveh's history, God is pleased to relent. God 
is pleased to demonstrate His mercy. And so what does then 
Jonah do? He threatens God. Jonah threatens 
God and says in verse 3, this is that childlike behavior. Therefore 
now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for 
me to die than to live. It's like when you're disciplining 
your child and you're taking something away and they say, 
fine, take everything away from me. And that's exactly how Jonah 
is acting. Fine, Lord, kill me. Fine, Lord, 
take me away. You are so good. You are so gracious. 
But I do not want to see my enemies prosper. I don't want to see 
my enemies saved. Fine, Lord, please just take 
me away. I'm angry at this whole situation. And what does God 
say? God gives a gentle rebuke here. He isn't being kind to Jonah. 
Much more kind than probably we would be with Jonah. Because 
Jonah really does have a double standard here. Because it's not 
just so much who Jonah goes to, but remember to whom the book 
is ultimately written. It's written to Israel. And Israel 
was just as vile. Israel was just as wicked as 
the nations. Israel's just as wicked as Nineveh. And so Jonah has a double standard 
here, doesn't he? Jonah is wanting mercy for Israel, 
but he does not want mercy for the nations. When in reality, 
Israel needs mercy as well. And so he gives a gentle rebuke. 
If anyone should be angry, if anyone should be frustrated, 
it is not the prophet. And I speak in the manner of 
men. But verse four, then the Lord says, is it right for you 
to be angry? Notice it's the Lord God that 
is referenced here, the one who is the covenant Lord, the God 
of Israel. We'll see that in contrast certainly 
with God's sovereignty, as the word God is used in subsequent 
verses. But the Lord God is speaking 
to Jonah and saying to him, is it right for you to be angry? Obviously, the answer to that 
question is no. Who is the judge of all the earth? 
Who has the right to be angry over anything? Who has the right 
to bring about judgment? If anyone should be angry, if 
anyone should be angry, it is God. And so that is the problem 
I think we can apply to ourselves here in verses one through four, 
the application we can draw, the problem of unrighteous anger 
with God's sovereignty. and the problem of unrighteous 
anger with God's sovereignty as it pertains to justice. You see, most of the time our 
anger is unrighteous. There are times when our anger 
can be righteous, but that ought to stem from a holy zeal for 
God's name. But if we're being honest with 
ourselves, is that ever primarily the reason why we're angry? Most of the time we get angry 
at things that are perhaps outside of our control. Sometimes we 
get angry with God for the life that he has given unto us. Isn't 
that what pride is in reality? Pride is not submitting to the 
things of God. Peter draws this out very clearly 
as he talks about submitting to God, submitting under the 
mighty hand of God, and how you humble yourselves and submit 
under that mighty hand of God by casting all your cares upon 
him, for he cares for you." It's a comforting text, but a challenging 
text as well. Because you see, when we don't 
trust the life that God has given to us, in reality, we try to 
play God. And when we get angry, you know 
what we're doing? We're putting ourselves in the 
judgment seat of God. We think we know better than 
God. We think we know better than the situation. We assume 
that we could do things better. Unbelievers often say, well, 
if I were God, and it's usually implied when they talk about 
how could there be evil in this world, if I was running this 
world, I would not bring evil into it. I'm very thankful that 
that person is not running the world because God is the one 
who runs it for his purposes and for his own glory. Even sometimes 
believers in our own personal lives, but even when we look 
at the state of our perhaps political situations, how could this person 
be in office? How could this person be the 
one running these countries? How could this happen? Why is 
it that person and that person, oh Lord? You see, sometimes we 
can be angry with the situation and we think that we know better 
than God most high. I'm not condoning the wicked 
things that leaders do, but really the reality is we need to trust 
in God's sovereignty. He will judge the wicked. He 
will bring justice, but he's also pleased to delay his final 
justice and final judgment for the salvation of undeserving 
sinners. That's why God's justice and 
judgment in that final act is delayed, because God is good. And so we ought to be careful 
at being angry at our situations, ought to be careful about being 
angry at the goodness of God towards us, and towards others. We ought to trust in the sovereignty 
of God, especially as it pertains to the fact that He is the judge 
of all the earth and He will do right. Is it right for you 
to be angry? So that is when the prophet is 
angry. Let's then look at when the Lord is merciful in verses 
5 through 11. The contrast is important. We 
need to see who the good one is. Remember, the rich young 
ruler says, good teacher. And what does Jesus say? Why 
do you call me good? There is no one good but God. 
There is no one good but God. And there is no one good but 
Christ. And so we see that there is only one who is good, and 
that is our God. And he's going to teach Jonah 
a lesson by way of this plant, by way of this tree that he loves 
so much. Verse five. So Jonah went out 
of the city, and sat on the east side of the city. And there he 
made himself a booth, or a shelter, and sat under it in the shade, 
till he might see what would become of the city." He wants 
to see what would happen. He thinks that Nineveh is still 
going to be judged. And so he's just waiting for 
that fire to fall. He wants to be there to see it 
all happen. So he's going to go and he's 
going to sit by the city and he's going to wait because he 
wants, he thinks that there's still perhaps going to be some 
sort of fire that's going to fall. And so as he's waiting, 
we see the Lord God does something. He prepares. And that word prepare 
is used throughout these verses. He prepares the plant. He prepares 
the worm. He prepares the east wind. He also prepared the fish as 
well in 117. It's the same word. Again, it's 
teaching us about the sovereignty of God Most High. He has appointed 
all these things. He is the one who is in control 
of the fish. He's the one who's in control of the nations. He's 
the one who's in control of Israel. And he is the one who is in control 
of this plant for shade. And so we see he provides this 
plant. He gives them a plant. He sees 
it in verse six. And the Lord God prepared a plant 
and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his 
head to deliver him from his misery. It's hot in Assyria, 
it's hot in Nineveh, and so God puts this shade over his head. 
God is kind, God is pleased to dispel his misery. And what's 
interesting, that's a good definition of what mercy is, isn't it? It's 
God removing our misery. What did Adam bring into this 
world, if you know your children's catechism very well? Sin and 
misery. Brethren, suffering isn't just 
perhaps being locked up in a prison, it's not just being persecuted 
for the faith, although that's the highest form of suffering 
in this world, but sin and the effects of sin are part of suffering 
as well. illness, not even related to 
persecution, sickness, pain, suffering, hardship, difficult. 
There's a lot of suffering that is present in this world, sin 
and misery. And most importantly, if we do 
not believe upon Jesus Christ and if we die in our trespasses 
and sins, it's going to be punishment for our sin and it's going to 
be misery forever. And so what does God do? He dispels, 
He removes the evil. That same language. He removes 
the evil. He removes the misery. He delivers 
him from it. Even though if it's just with 
respect to this plant, it's still a good picture when you read 
the theology and read about what mercy is. It is the dispelling 
of misery. Grace is the gifts that God gives, 
but mercy is the dispelling and removing of that misery that 
we brought upon ourselves and that Jonah brought upon himself 
as well. And so, He prepares this plant. Jonah delights in it. Verse six, 
at the end, Jonah was very grateful for the plant. Again, don't miss 
the fact he's angry with Nineveh, but he loves that plant. He loves 
to garden. He loves that tree that's come 
on up to give him the shade that he needs. He just loves his plants. But then the Lord is going to 
teach him a lesson by way of his providence still. In verse 
seven, But as morning dawned, the next day God, the sovereign 
God over all, the creator of heaven and earth, he has prepared 
a worm. And it so 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. He is grown faint. We see that God is sovereign 
over all of this. Now, Jonah is going to groan 
again and grumble and complain. He says at the end of verse eight, 
then he wished death for himself and said, it is better for me 
to die than to live. Yeah, Lord, please take me. Nineveh 
didn't get blown up. And Lord, please take me now 
because my plant is gone, my precious plant, my wonderful 
plant. It is as ridiculous as it sounds 
because here is a plant and he's more concerned with that plant 
than he is with me. with people. And at least he's 
honest in the next question that God brings. In verse 9, then 
God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the 
plant? And Jonah says, yes, it is right for me to be angry, 
even to death. It was my plant. I love my plant. It is a great plant. It's a wonderful 
plant. And I care for that plant. And so we see that then God says, 
in verse 10, then he brings it to bear upon him. Are you really 
more concerned with this plant than you are with people? And it's really to teach and 
highlight the theme of how Israel has been so rebellious, to draw 
out the fact that God has been so gracious to Nineveh that he 
can be gracious to Israel too. How often in Hosea, turn, turn, 
turn. Amos, seek the Lord and live. He is gracious and good. And so if God postponed the judgment 
upon Nineveh, would he not do the same for the people of God 
who repent? Now, later on in Nahum, Nahum 
1, 9 and 14, the highlight, Nineveh is not going to rise again. They 
are not going to rise again. But nonetheless, God is, the 
point here is that God is gracious and good. And he's going to highlight 
the fact the plant was not even Jonah's to begin with. We need 
to remind ourselves of that, brethren. Everything we have 
is not ours to begin with. It's a gift that God gives. God 
made us and God gave it to us. The rain falls upon the just 
and the unjust. Paul, as he's evangelizing in 
Acts 14, says there's rain and fruitful seasons. It is going 
to be an evidence against those who do not believe upon Jesus. 
Here's the goodness of God to you in this world, even in a 
sin-cursed world. And yet you still spit in the 
face of God, and spit in the face of His goodness, and you 
will not believe and look to Him. It's going to be evidence 
against them. And we see that God is the one 
who is merciful. God is the one who toiled. He 
is the one who made the world. That word toiling is used in 
chapter 1, where Jonah says, I am a Hebrew, and I feared the 
Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 
Again, wonderful testimony. I mean, what he says is good. 
But the reality is, he is not walking the walk, but God is 
still, again, pleased to save these Mariners and pleased to 
save these Ninevites. And so God then brings it to 
bear in verse 10. He says in verse 10, But the 
Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have 
not labored, nor made it grow, nor came up in a night and perished 
in a night. The plant's trivial. I gave it 
to you, you didn't water it, and then it died, and now it's 
gone. Why are you so concerned about this plant? Shall not God have pity for people 
if Jonah has pity for a plant? Who has, speaking in the manner 
of men, a greater loving kindness? Who is good, and who is gracious, 
and who is merciful? The reality is, it's probably 
not us. The reality is it's definitely 
not Jonah. The reality is it is God Most 
High. Often we like to parade ourselves 
as one who would be gracious and kind and merciful, but the 
reality is we are not. The reality is we are more angry 
and petty than we would like to think of ourselves. And so 
we see that he highlights this very fact, should you have had 
pity on this plant, that verse 11, should I not pity Nineveh, 
that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who 
cannot discern between their right hand and their left and 
much livestock. You see, God knows the world 
that he made, and he knows that there's a higher order. He knows 
that there's plants, then there's animals, and then there's people. And so of what is more value, 
a plant or a cow? Hopefully, you all say a cow. 
What's more value than a cow? People. People have more value 
than cows. Again, the world gets this all 
messed up. Often, many are concerned with the protection of animals, 
which I'm not for cruelty, but there's a hypocrisy perfectly 
okay with murdering babies in the womb. You see, man is not 
as gracious and as kind as he would like to think that he is. 
There's only one who is. There's only one who is, whose 
goodness is his essence. There's only one who is loving 
kindness. And God is highlighting that 
by way of this question. Should I not pity Nineveh? I know their frame. Should I 
not pity the one who does not know the right hand from And what's interesting is this 
whole book ends on a cliffhanger. It ends by way of a question. 
We really don't see Jonah's response, although Gil highlights something 
with respect to how we could surmise how Jonah responded. 
Gil says, No answer being returned, it may be reasonably supposed 
Jonah was convinced of his sin and folly. and because he includes 
it. He goes on to say, to show his 
repentance for it, penned this narrative, which records his 
infirmities and weaknesses for the good of the church and the 
instruction of saints in succeeding ages. Should I not pity all these 
people and much livestock?" Jonah's answer is, yes, you should. You should pity them. And I have 
been the one who has been wrong, and we know that by the fact 
that this book is included in God's Word. Obviously, God is 
the one who writes it. God is the author of the scriptures. 
But we see all the infirmities and weaknesses and pettiness 
from Jonah, because it highlights how good and gracious God is. This is a message about God's 
grace, but also a message about God's sovereignty when it comes 
to His grace as well. It's something akin to what Paul 
said in Romans 9. He says, I will have compassion 
on whom I will have compassion. God will judge whom he will judge, 
and he will judge rightly and justly, because man sinned against 
him. But thankfully, he is merciful 
to a great multitude that no man can number, and he will be 
gracious with whom he will be gracious. And he is pleased to 
call sinners out of darkness through means, but we must remember 
that God is the one who brings that salvation. It's not our 
method. We try to speak, we share the 
truth with others, but it's not our method. It is God who does 
it. I think that's why sometimes 
churches grow in different ways. It is to teach man that God will 
work how he pleases, and also, perhaps, to protect some pastors 
from pride and arrogance by letting things get too much in their 
head. Because God is the one who is 
sovereign over his church. He is sovereign over salvation. We see his grace toward the undeserving 
in this book. I mean, to the prophet, Jonah 
doesn't deserve grace, but God is gracious. We see that Nineveh 
does not deserve grace. But God is gracious. What we 
have is that Gentile foretaste, the Gentile inclusion foretaste 
with the Mariners and also with these Ninevites. Because God 
is going to be gracious to whom he will be gracious. It's not 
just for Israel. We see that the nations are going 
to flock, the nations are going to come in, and the way that 
that happens is in Jesus Christ and by faith. The way that happens 
is the proclamation of the gospel. We see this fulfilled in the 
book of Acts as our Christ continues to do and to teach through the 
man that he has appointed, going from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 
and all the way to the ends of the earth. We have a foretaste 
of that here in Jonah. We have a foretaste of God's 
goodness, not just to Israel, but to the nations. This is all meant to teach us 
and help us to see that there really is what we receive by 
way of what Christ has done in the gospel is all of God's grace. God is good, God is kind, and 
we see that manifested in full in Jesus Christ. the one who 
was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who 
are under the law. This saying is faithful and worthy. Christ Jesus came to this world 
to save sinners, and Paul says what? Of whom I am chief. He came to save the sinners. He came not to save the righteous, 
but called sinners to repentance. There is no one like our Christ. There is no one like our God. 
There is no salvation but in Jesus Christ. And so, if you're 
an unbeliever here today, you must believe upon Jesus Christ 
to be saved. You must look to Him by faith 
to be saved. Faith is a gift, but we call 
you to believe. We know that God will regenerate 
hearts, give new hearts, call forth His people, but we pray 
that you would believe, that you would look to Christ, believe 
upon Him, and that you would be saved. All that we need is 
found in Christ Jesus. What Christ has done for us has 
given us all of our need. We had dead hearts. What do we 
need? Regeneration. We were guilty 
before God. What do we need? Justification. Our hearts are corrupt. What 
do we need? Sanctification. We were orphans because of our 
sin. What do we need? Adoption. Our 
bodies are dead and dying. What do we need? Resurrection. 
All those things come in Jesus Christ. He is such a sufficient 
Savior for all of our needs. Believe upon Him. Believe upon 
this One who is the Lord, the Lord God, who is merciful and 
gracious, the One who is abundant in loving-kindness, the One who 
relents from doing harm. Should God not pity those whom 
he will pity, for many of us here, he is merciful to us, and 
he has taken away our misery. Well, let us pray. O Lord our God, we are thankful 
that you are the Lord God, who is merciful and gracious, the 
one who is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. 
We're thankful that you are the one who relents from doing harm. 
And we know, O Lord, that we see this and we receive this 
because of Jesus Christ. We're thankful that Jesus bore 
the punishment we deserve in our stead, and we're thankful 
because of what He has done, we receive all the benefits that 
Christ Jesus has purchased for us. And so we are thankful for 
all those redemptive benefits that you have given. We're thankful 
that you give new hearts. We're thankful, Lord, that you 
have the promise of new bodies. Thank you, Lord, for the fact 
that we are righteous in your sight and we are justified because 
of Jesus. We're thankful, O Lord, that 
we are being sanctified and we will one day be fully sanctified. And we're thankful, O Lord, that 
all this comes from what Christ has done, because you're the 
God who is good towards undeserving sinners. We know, O Lord, that 
we have sinned much, and there is much misery we have brought 
into our lives, but thank you for the joy of being found in 
Christ. Thank you for the joy of knowing 
Christ, and we ask and pray, O Lord, that you'd help us to 
be watchful, help us to be on guard with our own anger, and 
we pray, O Lord, that we would not be covetous, and we're thankful 
that even these sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus for those who 
believe. And so we pray, O Lord, that 
you would help us to be joyful, help us to bear and exhibit the 
fruit of the Spirit, that we would be loving and kind and 
gracious and gentle and meek and self-controlled. We pray, 
O Lord, that as we live by the Spirit, that we would walk by 
the Spirit, and we pray, O Lord, that in doing so we would trust 
you. the way we would trust you with 
our lives, we would trust you with the nations in which we 
live, we would trust you with the salvation of sinners. Help 
us to be faithful to what you've called us to do, but help us 
to remember that you are the God who will bring the salvation 
to those whom you will bring that salvation, and we are thankful 
that you are pleased to work through means. So thank you, 
O Lord, that you're the one who pities Nineveh, you're the one 
who pitied us, and we're thankful, Lord, that we can rejoice knowing 
that we are found in Christ Jesus, for you are good. So be with 
us now by your Spirit, we pray, in the name of Christ, Amen. Well, we'll close this morning's 
hymn by singing hymn 568.