Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20031109.htm

JONAH: GOD'S RELENTLESS OUTREACH TO ALL MEN
Part III: God's Relentless World Outreach In Infinite Compassion
(Jonah 4:1-11)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Josh McDowell notes in his work, A Ready Defense, p. 407 that one of the "frequent accusations" against the Bible is that "The Old Testament God allegedly presents only a God of wrath, while the New Testament allegedly depicts only a God of love."

The charge is backed up by observations that, in the Old Testament, God commanded the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the wiping out of whole people groups in Canaan under the leadership of Joshua in contrast to Jesus who, in the Sermon on the Mount, told His followers to turn the other cheek if an enemy struck them!

The implications are enormous: one may thus ask, "How can the New Testament Jesus be God's Savior from God's wrath in hell to be believed for such a salvation when even HE claimed to be the Son of the God of the OLD Testament who was so full of wrath? How can Jesus thus be credibly presenting Himself as loving, and coming to save the world due to God's love as John 3:16 says?"



Well, EVEN THOUGH we found the Old Testament God loved Gentile SAILORS on the boat Jonah took to flee from his Nineveh assignment, and even though God relented of the calamity He initially had planned against Nineveh, are these just EXCEPTIONS to a generally HEARTLESS Old Testament God?

HOW can JESUS of the NEW Testament really save ALL men from God's WRATH when the OLD Testament God systematically eradicated the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and told the people of Israel to annihilate whole Canaanite people groups?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "Though we found God in the OLD Testament saved SOME Gentiles (on the Mediterranean Sea and in Nineveh) from His wrath, how do we handle the charge that He was a HEARTLESS and INSENSITIVE God in contrast to Jesus in the NEW Testament?"
  1. We previously learned Jonah 1-3 revealed God PRESSURED His prophet, Jonah to EVANGELIZE Israel's DESPISED, CRUEL Gentile foes in Nineveh! (Bible Knowledge Com., O.T. , p. 1461)
  2. Yet, Jonah was so DISPLEASED at Nineveh's repentance and God's move to RELENT from the destruction He had initially planned for it that Jonah angrily complained to God, Jonah 4:1-3:
    1. When God decided not to carry out His planned judgment on Nineveh as it had repented of its sin (Jonah 3:10), Jonah became so displeased he felt great anger against God, Jonah 4:1.
    2. In fact, Jonah prayed to God, asking Him to take his life as he felt he had no more reason to live with a God-blessed Nineveh, Jonah 4:2-3:
      1. Jonah relayed how his awareness that God was gracious and forgiving had initially caused him to flee God's calling to evangelize Nineveh by taking a boat to Tarshish, Jonah 4:2.
      2. Since God had forgiven Nineveh against Jonah's wishes to see its Assyrian people be blessed [to his own people's threat], Jonah asked God to take his life as he had no reason to live, Jonah 4:3!
  3. In reply, God revealed JONAH was errantly SELFISH VERSUS the GREAT COMPASSION GOD had for ALL His creatures:
    1. God replied to Jonah's prayer, asking him the rhetorical question that expected a negative answer: "Have you any right to be angry?" (Jonah 4:4 NIV; Ibid., Bible Knowledge Commentary, O.T ., p. 1471)
    2. Without answering God's question, Jonah left the city and sat down on its east side under the shadow of a booth he constructed to shield himself from the desert sun. There he hoped to see God change His mind again and destroy Nineveh in accord with Jonah's initial sermon warning, Jonah 4:5 with 3:2, 4; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Jonah 4:5.
    3. In response, God gave Jonah a lesson to communicate the depth of God's COMPASSION on what creatures He had created in stark CONTRAST to Jonah's SELFISHNESS, Jonah 4:6-11:
      1. Since Jonah's anger had come from his SELFISH preference for the welfare of his own Hebrew PEOPLE over the welfare of the enemy Assyrians in Nineveh, God exposed that selfishness through providing a transitory shade plant for Jonah:
        1. First, to Jonah's joy, God miraculously caused a shade plant (possibly a leafy castor oil plant) to grow up in a day and shade Jonah, 4:6; Ibid., Ryrie Study Bible, KJV , ftn. to Jonah 4:6.
        2. The following day, God sent a worm to eat at the plant so that it withered, and He caused a scorching east wind to arise that made Jonah miserable in the heat of the desert sun, Jonah 4:7.
        3. Consequently, Jonah selfishly repeated his desire to die since he was miserable without the shade of the plant, Jonah 4:8!
      2. Then, God applied the lesson of this event to Jonah, Jonah 4:9-11:
        1. God asked Jonah if he had a right to be angry due to what had happened to the plant; Jonah selfishly claimed he had a right to be angry even to the point of death, Jonah 4:9a, b!
        2. Accordingly, God replied though Jonah had a small right to be angry at the loss of this shade plant due to the suffering the loss had caused HIMSELF, a plant for which Jonah had not nurtured, GOD have EVERY right as the Creator and the Nurturer of the huge Assyrian population of Nineveh where 120,000 small children [or spiritually ignorant adults who could not discern what was right and wrong NEARLY well as JONAH did] to SPARE Nineveh from wrath! (Jonah 4:10-11b)
        3. Then, in biting criticism of Jonah's values, God added the city had many animals, 4:11c! God's idea can be stated this way: "Jonah, even if you approve of the destruction of hundreds of thousands of people, think of the waste of livestock that would be involved!" (Ibid., Ryrie Study Bible KJV, ftn. to 4:10-11)
Application: (1) If we see our need to be saved from God's wrath against US for our SIN, and that by faith in Christ in view of His atonement for sin on the cross, TRUST in Christ and be saved, John 3:16. (2) Then, (a) KNOW from the testimony of Jonah that God since OLD Testament days has had COMPASSION and MERCY on ALL His creatures in ACCORD with His AWARENESS of their weakness or ignorance, and SHARE this Gospel of salvation with ALL people, Matt. 28:19-20!

Lesson: God in the OLD Testament was NOT cold and unloving; rather, He viewed ALL His creatures, be they animals or people, as subjects to which or whom HE had GIVEN LIFE and NURTURED, and which or whom NEEDED His HELP and MERCY in view of their INDIVIDUAL WEAKNESSES or SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE of His works or truths!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 For additional evidence that God has an infinite, caring compassion for all His creatures, consider the following facts from the Bible itself (we cite examples from McDowell's work, Ibid., p. 407):

(1) Re: Sodom [and its fellow cities], God destroyed them only when all their men were so vile they would actively seek to force same-gender sexual contact upon God's holy angels who were visiting Lot, Gen. 19:1-13, 14-25. God's judgment fell as a last resort to the self-destructive nature of such depravity, cf. Jude verse 7!

(2) In reply to the charge given that God in the Old Testament was heartlessly insensitive toward the Canaanites, consider what God said in Genesis 15:16: 400 YEARS BEFORE Israel conquered Canaan, GOD revealed Abraham would die before getting that land since the sin of the Amorites [a comprehensive name for Canaanites] was not yet great enough for God to destroy them, Genesis 15:7-16.

So, GOD let Abraham DIE and Israel live in captivity for 400 YEARS prior to conquering Canaan BECAUSE He wanted to give TIME for the Canaanite peoples to REPENT! That is a God of great COMPASSION toward the people groups of CANAAN!

(3) Noah preached 120 YEARS before God's worldwide judgment fell in the flood, cf. Genesis 6:3 with 1 Peter 3:20. God had Noah experience 120 YEARS of FRUITLESS ministry as NONE but his OWN family -- his wife, three sons and their wives -- BELIEVED his message and entered the ark, cf. Genesis 7:7, 13.

(4) In Ezekiel 18:1-32, God went to great lengths to teach His relation to a man's son was independent of His relation to the man himself. God gave this discourse to counter a FALSE idea that the sons would be judged for the sins of their fathers, cf. Ezekiel 18:1-3.

God in the OLD Testament CLARIFIED He would deal JUSTLY and EQUITABLY with EACH INDIVIDUAL!

(5) Then, repeatedly in the OLD Testament, God was said to be gracious, merciful, longsuffering and forgiving (Exodus 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18-20; Deuteronomy 4:31; Psalm 86:15 et al.)

God has ALWAYS been gracious, and longing for men to be SAVED from His WRATH against SIN!

May we TRUST in Christ and SHARE His Gospel with a world that NEEDS God's compassionate FORGIVENESS!