Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet - 19

Introduction: We begin this lesson with the question, “Doest thou well to be angry?” This is in fact the question that God asked Jonah concerning his current attitude.

Text: Jonah 4:-1-4

IV. Jonah’s Pouting: God’s Presentation - Chapter 4

A. Anger and Displeasure v1-4

Verse number one of this chapter gave us a vivid description of Jonah’s attitude at this moment.

Remember the Bible tells us he was exceedingly displeased and he was very angry.

We see then in verses two and three Jonah’s very honest prayer.

Jonah prays plainly and honestly. He is no doubt praying amiss but he certainly not trying to conceal how he feels.

He is so upset with this situation and the future results of God sparing Nineveh that he requests to die.

Notice he states in verse 3, “Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

John Butler said this, “We complain often that God does not answer our prayers; but if we examined the character of our prayers, we would stop complaining and start thanking God for ignoring some of our prayers.”

I dont know about you but when a person get to the place that they are requesting for God to strike them down, they are in a very low place indeed.

We realize several reasons why Jonah might be upset:

He understood that His prophecy did not come to pass. (He perhaps would be seen as a false prophet. He perhaps would be branded as traitor.)

He understood that Assyria was an enemy to the nation of Israel.

Jonah is his prayer is speaking truth concerning God and His ways in his prayer , for we find almost the exact same words in Joel 2:13 and Exodus 34:6.

Joel 2:13 “13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, And repenteth him of the evil.”

Exodus 34:6 “6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”

However, one expositor said this concerning Jonah’s declaration, it was “truth which Jonah . . . poorly digested"

We are reminded perhaps of this “spirit” in our own lives that can creep in when we think about another biblical example concerning unrighteous judgement by “the sons of thunder” (James and John) and there comments about the Samaritans.

James and John — the Sons of Thunder

You’ll remember that the Lord Jesus Christ had sent messengers before his face into Samaria on His way to Jerusalem and this is what the Bible tells us in Luke 9:53-56 “53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”

This matter of God’s plan of redemption to all men again is a major thrust of this small book. Jonah is wrestling with this.

He not only requests to die, but we see he begins to regress and justify his prior actions.

Jonah’s Justification

He states there in verse 2, “...O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish...”

This is common to man in our waywardness to attempt to justify ourselves.

And so we see his:

1. Praying and Honesty v1-3

But I like for us to consider the Lord’s:

2. Compassion and Help v4

You and I come in to this place today to worship the Lord.

We have the great high and holy privilege to:

Sing as unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)

Pray collectively as a local church body.

Give cheerfully to the Lord (II Corinthians 9:7)

Submit ourselves as a living sacrifice unto the Lord at this altar. (Romans 12:1-2)

Fellowship among brothers and sisters in Christ and bare one another burdens. (Romans 15:1-7)

I want you also to understand this morning, that there is Compassion and help from the Lord Himself for you and I.

We come here today and Sing unto the Lord. We will pray collectively as a local church body. We will give cheerfully to the Lord and submit ourselves as a living sacrifice unto the Lord at this altar. We will enjoy fellowship among brothers and sisters in Christ and bare one another burdens as being part of the family of God.

But there is compassion and help from the Lord Himself for us this morning.

Some may be here or come this morning, and the Lord will draw them unto Himself.

They will have an opportunity to receive that marvelous gift of Salvation by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross of Calvary.

We speak about especially on this day the sacrifice that Lord offered whereby the Bible says,

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” II Corinthians 5:21

--- in other words the Lord Jesus paid for my sin debt Therefore the Bible says in Romans 3:26

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:26

We understand this morning this blessed truth that the Lord Jesus Christ,

“...the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

And so there is help and compassion from the Lord Himself this morning, for anyone who needs to be saved.

Others of us, this morning have come here today on this resurrection Sunday as blood-bought Christians — but there is something troubling going in our lives.

Normally on resurrection Sunday we would come in rejoicing but for whatever reason whether it be a struggle with the flesh, the world, and the Devil, or whether it be those things taking place in the life of a loved one…we find ourselves needing some great help from the Lord.

And I am here to tell you as evidenced in Jonah chapter 4, but also throughout the tenor of the Bible,

We can be helped from the Lord, because He desires to help us and He has great compassion for us.

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

What is it that Jonah found through the end of this chapter?

He found that the Lord His God had compassion upon and Him and desired to help Him.

Oftentimes, we will see in the Bible this method by which the Lord deals with us by asking us a heart searching question.

Notice here, the Lord begins by asking Jonah ths question, “Doest thou well to be angry”

As we travel through chapter, we will see that the Lord continues to teach Jonah using some object lessons that He prepares.

We see in verse 6 that God prepares a gourd.

We see in verse 8 that God prepares a vehement east wind.

And though its not stated explicitly it is a fact that God created and set the sun that beat on Jonah’s head in verse 8.

But here in verse 4, He simply asks a question.

It might be something to search out sometime when you are studying the Bible to look up all the questions that the Lord asks people when He is dealing them.

One that comes to mind out the Gospel records to peak your interest is this, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:10)

Or perhaps we could go all the way to the beggining and look at this question in Genesis 3:9, “Adam” “Where art thou?”

You will find a wealth of instruction and help from the Lord just contemplating His questions.

But here Jonah 4 He simply asks...

“... Doest thou well to be angry?”

What a tremendous question!

I wonder how often we could be found to rightly say yes, I do well to be angry.

This question was to be a revealing question.

You might be thinking, what is needing to be revealed?

The same thing that needs to be revealed in our lives---

Our real state and condition; whether we are in the right way or the wrong way.

We are reminded this morning of the necessity of the Word of God and the necessity of the God of the Word in our lives.

You see without these things we have great trouble if we rely solely on our own assessment.

The Bibles says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Remember in verse 2 Jonah sought to justify Himself in his prayer.

The Bible tells us in

Proverbs 28:26 “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: ...”

The Psalmist David said it rightly when he declared this necessity of our reliance upon the Lord and His Word, in Psalm 19:12 he exclaimed,

Psalm 19:12 “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”

This question was meant to reveal something to Jonah.

“Like a physician probing a wound before he medicates it to bring about its healing, so God probes the heart of Jonah with a soul searching question.”

We might sit here in judgement this morning and say, well that is pretty obvious the issue that Jonah was having, but we often are found trying to identify the speck in other peoples eyes without first dealing with beam in our own eyes because we do not see ourselves rightly.

This question again is one that we can apply to ourselves when we come to this place where anger begins to rise up in our own lives.

You see:

Jonah’s anger was motivated by selfishness.

Jonah’s anger had nothing to do with justified moral indignation.

We will find as we continue this chapter next week that Jonah did not answer God.

In verse 5, we would expect for Jonah to reply and say “Yes i do well to be angry!” or “No i do not do well to be angry.”

But instead, we read “Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.”

I would like for you to see the stubbornness of this position that Jonah has taken and notice, that he sat with expectation to “see what would become of the city.”

But thank the Lord for His grace and mercy and His teaching of us. God turns this wonderful incident in the life of this heathen city into a school for Jonah.

He provides to Jonah some object lessons, that are good for you and I.