Opening Prayer
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.
Opening Prayer
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.
Introduction
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.
Sermon Overview
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.
When the Prophet Is Angry
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.
God's Character in Exodus 34
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.
The Problem of Unrighteous Anger
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?
When the Lord Is Merciful
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.
God's Sovereignty Over Creation
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.
Mercy as the Removal of Misery
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.
Plants or People
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.
God's Sovereign Grace to the Nations
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.
Application: Christ Sufficient for All 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.
Closing Prayer
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.