They Don't Deserve God's Grace. Neither Did You. | Pastor Aaron Crull

Well, hey, welcome to church, everybody. Welcome to Northview. So glad to be with you guys. Whether you are joining us at one of our campuses or maybe you're online, maybe you are behind bars, or maybe you're watching this sometime later, either way, I'm just thrilled that you're here. And let me just start with this, because I just, I think it's important to remember, I just believe wholeheartedly you're here on purpose. Like, I think there's actually something God wants to do right now, something he wants to speak to you. And if you would open your heart to it, it could be life-changing. Let me just start right there. And with that, my name is Aaron. I get to serve here at Northview as our family ministry pastor, which means I oversee our kids' ministry and our student ministry and our special needs ministry across all of our different campuses. I always like to say, go on record, I just love what I get to do. I can't even believe it. I get to do what I get to do, and I absolutely love my church. And I'm thrilled to be continuing in this series that we've been in all year, where each weekend we are taking a look

at some of the biggest stories and some of the most important people throughout Scripture. Again, we're devoting the whole entire year to that. And I'll just kind of put my cards on the table and say, I'm just really excited for this weekend. Like, I kind of feel like I got a good draw here. We're actually diving into a story that's really one of the most popular and well-known stories in all of Scripture. It's right up there in popularity with like Noah and the Ark, David and Goliath. It is Jonah and the whale, or big fish. People debate about that kind of stuff. Either way, you know who we're talking about. It's really become a bit of like a cultural phenomenon, the story of Jonah. Even if you did not grow up in church, someone you've like heard, you're like, oh yeah, I know that story from somewhere. But if you did grow up in church, and specifically if you grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s like me, when you hear Jonah, you think of one thing. One image comes to your mind, and it is this right here. The Jonah VeggieTales movie. Now, some of you aren't quite as cultured in cinema as I am, so let me just catch you up to speed. This movie came out in 2002. This was VeggieTales' first ever feature-length film, and it featured an original song by the Newsboys.

If that doesn't say 2002, church, I don't know what does. And I know that's for some of you. Some of you are like, I don't even know what you're talking about, Aaron. It's okay, it's really not that important for the rest. I just had to reference it, because that's like core childhood for me. But we're diving into this character, the person of Jonah. Now, just as a reminder, Jonah was a prophet. We've been talking a lot about prophets recently. As a reminder, a prophet is someone that God spoke to and God spoke through. The assignment of a prophet is to hear directly from God. God would speak to them directly, and then they would go and share that message to the people that God tells them to share it with. So Jonah was one of the prophets of Israel. There's a book in the Old Testament, if you're looking for it, it's called Jonah, really easy to find, but it's a short one, so not quite as easy to find. It's one of the minor prophets, meaning it's a shorter book based on the life and story of one of the prophets. And so it's one of the minor prophets. And then here's just an interesting fact about Jonah. Maybe you didn't know this. So there's the book of Jonah in the Old Testament, and then throughout all the rest of scripture, you really only hear about him two other times.

Once is in the New Testament, and it's referenced a few different times in a few different gospels, but it's when Jesus talks about something called the sign of Jonah. Now, I'm not gonna go into full detail about that, but he basically uses Jonah's life as an illustration, and even a prophetic prediction, where he says, I am going to die and resurrect. And he talks about the sign of Jonah. Doesn't really add anything to the story, just simply uses it as an illustration. And then in the Old Testament, there is one other reference to Jonah in all of the Old Testament, and it's in 2 Kings 14, verse 25, and it says this, he, and for reference, this is Jeroboam II, one of the kings of Israel, he restored the border of Israel from Labo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hephir. Not a whole lot we get from that, right, besides where he lived, and then also, but the most important fact there is when he was a prophet, during the reign of Jeroboam II, which was from 782 BC to 753 BC. So we know that about Jonah.

And that's it, besides this story that's contained in the book of Jonah. So that's where we're gonna go today. We're gonna dive in, no pun intended, to the book of Jonah and his story. And let me just say this, guys, as I've been studying, I'm like, oh my goodness, the amount of truth that is in this one book, this really relatively short story. It actually got me thinking. Recently, I was filling up an inner tube, that one of the ones that you pull behind a boat, and I was using an air compressor. And I had this funny moment where I went brr, you know, I'm filling it up. And I was looking at the air compressor and I was looking at the tube and I looked back and I was like, this air compressor is so small. Like, how does the air from this thing fill such a large tube? And then I was like, oh, it's called an air compressor, like they fit a lot of air into a small space. And I was like, that's kind of embarrassing that I'm in my thirties and I just kind of made that connection. I was like, I probably shouldn't tell that to many people. And then I was like, I'm going to share it today. So a little bit of vulnerability to start with for you guys. But I say that to say this, I genuinely think I think the book of Jonah is a truth compressor. Like God just took this story and he packed so much truth about life and about humanity and about himself, his own

character into this book. So I want to study the book of Jonah with you today. And I always love giving you just a bit of a roadmap, like, hey, here's where we're going so you can follow me along. And because admittedly, I'm going to do something today preaching that I've never, I don't think I've ever done before. And so go with me. I think it's going to go well, but we're going to do this because like I said, the story of Jonah is pretty short. It's four chapters and it moves really, really quick. And as I was preparing, I'm like, man, what do I like, what do I leave out of this or how do I approach this? And I had this thought, I'm like, you know what, let's just read the whole story of Jonah during the sermon. Now, we're not going to do it all in one push. We're going to break it up. And so here's how it's going to work. Hopefully very easy to follow. We're going to read a chapter and I'm going to make some observations. Then we'll read chapter two, make some observations, and we'll go all the way through. We're going to read all four chapters, every word. By the end of the sermon, you will have heard every word of the book of Jonah and I'll make some observations along the way. And it works really well because chapter four is really where you get the entire picture. The main point of the story of Jonah really comes out in chapter four. And so I'm excited to go there together. And here are my two encouragements to you before we jump in. One is this.

This, like I said, is a story. And so my encouragement to you is just, I know there's a million things going on and you're probably thinking about all kinds of different things, stuff you have later, stuff you have this week, commitments you have, projects that you're working on, things that you're hosting, whatever it is. Allow yourself for a moment to take a breath and just dive into, like I said, dive into this story. It makes me, you know what it makes me think of is like why I love the movie theater so much, right? Because when you go to the movie theater, it's like nothing else exists except for the story. And you just get so enveloped in the story. You know what I'm talking about, where when you leave, you're like, oh, yeah, it's daytime. Man, it's bright out here, right? Like you're so in the story, you almost forget what time of day it is. And I'd actually encourage you, give yourself permission to do that. Just let yourself focus on the story and see what God has to teach you. And I promise if you do that, he will reveal himself to you. And then here's my other suggestion. Take some notes. And I know some of you are note takers. You're like, don't worry, already there. Some of you aren't. And here's why. Let me be really clear. I'm not saying take notes because I'm about to say some

stuff you're gonna want to write down. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is we're about to read through this whole book of the Bible. God speaks through his word. I don't care if it's your first time hearing the story of Jonah. I don't care if it's your 1,000th time hearing the story of Jonah. God speaks through his word because it's living and active. So have a pen, have a paper, whatever it is, write some things down. And whether it's an observation I make or maybe I don't even cover it because I can't possibly cover everything in here, whatever it is, write it down if God reveals something to you or makes it stick out because there's something he's wanting to do. That sound good? Can we do that together? Okay, let's pray. Let's do that. And then let's just go right into Jonah chapter one. Pray with me. Father, you are so good and you are so gracious and you are so compassionate. Father, thank you for the story of Jonah. Thank you that literally thousands of years ago it was pinned down and for thousands of years, your church has benefited from it. So my biggest prayer, God, would you just speak through me, speak through your word as I know that you do.

Teach us about who you are. And God, I pray for each and every person, all the different things we're going to cover, all the different topics throughout the story that come up. Holy Spirit, would you reveal to each person what it is you're calling them to do with the truth revealed in your word? We love you. We trust you. It's all in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Jonah chapter one, you can find it on page one thousand six hundred and eighty seven. That's a little Bible joke for you. It's different page numbers for you. Anyway, Jonah chapter one goes like this. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for the evil, their evil, has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that ship threatened to to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship

and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And what people are you? And he said to them, I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord God, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not. For the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, O Lord. Have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and they hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Man, who knew you could pack so much story into one chapter of the Bible? A lot is happening there. And the moment that Jonah finds himself in, you know, where he's called by God, then rebels against God, then the storm comes and he's thrown into the sea. It actually made me think of one of my all-time favorite tweets. I know it's not called a tweet anymore. Anyway, it was, I think, when this came out. And this is gonna reveal a little bit about my humor. I have no idea if it's gonna land with you guys. But one of my all-time favorite tweets just says this. Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions.

Courtney will tell you, I quote that a lot. Specifically, like a good example, one of my fatal flaws in life is snacking late at night. It's just, I'm working on it. I'm a work-in-progress people. But it's something like, we eat full meals, don't get me wrong. And yet, when I put my kids to bed, afterwards I'm kinda like, I feel like I could use like a second course, maybe a third or fourth. And then this really weird thing happens where I go to bed that night, and I lay down, and my stomach hurts. It's very strange. No, but I'm laying there, and I think to myself, well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions. But that's really what's going on here, right? Jonah's made a decision, he's made a call. God's made the call very clear to him, and yet Jonah's decided to go the opposite way. In fact, let's look at the call right now in Jonah 1. And I want you to notice, for one thing, notice the language here. It's gonna come up later as well. I want you to notice the language that we use, and notice some parallel, right? Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it,

for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose, see that? The call is to arise. Well, Jonah rose, but he went to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So God calls him to go to Nineveh, preach against it, and he goes the opposite direction. I love how actually the Jesus Storybook Bible does it. I'd recommend it. It's one of my favorites to read with my girls. And in the story of Jonah, the illustration is Jonah getting on a boat, and there's one of those signs with two arrows on it. You guys know what I'm talking about? And it says, Nineveh, not Nineveh, all right? Which I kind of like that, because you might go, so wait, where's Tarshish, and what's the significance? It's like, the significance is that it's not Nineveh. It's the opposite direction of Nineveh. And that's Jonah's mindset. And so he runs. And there's a good question that comes up. You go, why? Like, honest question, like, wonder what the deal was, like, with Jonah, like, what was the motivation? And in chapter one, you really don't get that. There's not, it's not answered yet why Jonah's running, but you know that he is running. And then God pursues him, and he sends a storm,

and he makes it clear, you are doing the wrong thing. You are going in the wrong direction. And then Jonah has a moment of repentance. Repentance, right? Big word that means to turn around. That's literally what repentance means. You're going in one direction, and repent is to go, okay, I'm going this way, but I know I need to turn and go the opposite way now. Now, I'm gonna go on record here, because it's gonna become clear throughout the story. I don't think this is a moment where Jonah, it's like full-on, heart-level, deep. Repentance, where he fully recognized how wrong he is. But he does take the first essential step in repentance, which is to stop running, to give up. And we as Christians, if you call yourself a Christian and you follow Jesus, should be very familiar with repentance. In fact, it's the essential first step for us in following Jesus. You see, you can't make Jesus Lord of your life and submit to his Lordship and know him as your Savior without first going, I need to turn for my ways. The Bible's really clear. Us in our natural state, our human nature, is actually to rebel against God. Naturally, we run from the things of God. And it takes repentance and going, God, you now, Jesus, are my Savior and you are my Lord,

and I'm going to turn and repent. Kind of like Jonah, we gotta get to a place, it might sound funny, but where we just, we give up. We give up the running, we give up the rebellion. But here's the thing that a lot of people don't talk about when it comes to repentance. Repentance can be terrifying. Repentance can be terrifying. And I love how the way it's illustrated through Jonah's story, right? The moment where he gives up, he goes, okay, I'm done running, and he asks the sailors to throw me into the sea. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be? Have you ever thought about this in Jonah's story where when he's being thrown off the boat, he's not going like, all right, God, I'll go to Nineveh, let's go. Like, he's in a boat, in a storm, being thrown in by himself. He's like, I'm dead. Like, he's like, I'm sure that's gotta be what happens, but all I know is I can't keep running. I know I can't do this anymore. I know I'm going the wrong way. And so I love this, like the way that the story of Jonah illustrates that repentance ultimately starts with throwing yourself to the mercy of God and just going, okay, God, I'll stop running. But that thought is terrifying.

Jesus actually addresses this too in the New Testament, when he says, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. He's not talking literally there. What he's saying is that when you repent, when you recognize your sin and rebellion and turn, it hurts. Why? Well, because we as people, we get stuck in our ways, right? We form our life around certain things, and to repent sometimes means to uproot those things. Maybe you are committed to an ideology or philosophy or whatever belief system, and you're posting about it all the time, and then you realize, man, to follow Jesus, I need to take all those words back. I need to give that up. That's terrifying. Maybe there's a certain behavior or an action, or let's be honest, maybe it's to the level, it's an addiction. And you're like, man, to follow Jesus, I know I need to give that up, but what does life look like without this thing? It's terrifying, but let me assure you of this, that when you throw yourself to the mercy of God, he is faithful to catch you. Now, let's look at the story of Jonah and be honest. Sometimes he's not gonna catch you exactly the way you expect him to,

but he will catch you. When you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. That's 1 John 1, 9. For God's love of the world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, they will have eternal life. God is faithful. So I know it's painful, and I know it might be terrifying, but you have gotta give up. You have gotta give up the running and throw yourself to the mercy of God. So Jonah does that. He ends up in the sea, and then a wild thing happens. He gets swallowed by a fish. Let's see how he responds in chapter two. Jonah chapter two says this. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me.

Weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet you brought me up, my life from the pit. O Lord my God, when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I avowed, I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto dry ground. Chapter two of Jonah all happens, besides the very end there, within the belly of the fish. And what is it? It is a prayer. Jonah is praying to God. But I think oftentimes it is not the prayer that most people at a surface-level reading of Jonah expect. Here's how the surface-level reading of Jonah goes. God calls Jonah, Jonah runs away, throws the storm at him, right? He's thrown into the sea, and so he's swallowed by a fish. Jonah runs away, so he's swallowed by a fish, right? That's oftentimes kind of how we maybe interpret the story. But Jonah here, this is really what it is, it's a prayer of thanksgiving.

This whole prayer focuses in on, I thought for sure my life was over. When I was thrown into the, I thought I was toast, and yet you rescued me miraculously with this fish. You saved me. Let's look at Jonah verse two, chapter, or sorry, chapter two, verse nine. Right here is where he says, "'But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, "'will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.'" And then I love this statement, salvation belongs to the Lord. That's him saying, you saved me. No one else but you, God, saved me. At the same time, bookmark that statement in your head, because there's gonna be some irony that comes up later when he says, salvation belongs to you, or to the Lord. I love that moment. And what it makes me think is that sometimes we misinterpret God's rescue plan as punishment. Do you ever think about that? Again, the story at a surface level goes, Jonah ran away, so he was swallowed by a fish. That was his punishment. No, no, no, the fish was the rescue plan. That's how he literally, how God saved Jonah's life and then delivered him to where he was supposed to be. Now, of course, that did not look the way he expected, and so we could interpret it as,

oh, that was his punishment. No, no, that was God's rescue plan. And I just wonder if you have a similar experience in life. Can you think of a time in your life where you look back and you're like, man, in the moment, I thought God was punishing me. I didn't know what was going on, but whoa, did he rescue me out of something? What it made me think of for me was a season of life, actually right after graduating from college. I went to Taylor University, small Christian school here in Indiana, had a fantastic experience at Taylor, loved it. One thing about Taylor, and really, let's be honest, Christian school in general, I don't know if this stat is accurate, so don't quote me on it, but I think it's about 98% of students from Taylor graduate either married or engaged. Pretty positive about that. Again, don't quote me on it, but that's what it feels like. It's like the Christian school thing. You get married young, it's a beautiful thing. So when I went to Taylor, at that point, I knew I wanted to go into youth ministry. That was like my jam, that was my thing. And guys, I had a whole plan, and it was a good plan, right?

I'm like, I'm gonna follow God's call, I'm gonna go into youth ministry, go to Taylor, find an amazing woman, Christian woman who loves the Lord, we're gonna get married, graduate, and then we're gonna start ministry together. And when I graduated, I was not married. I was not even engaged. I'm just gonna be honest with you guys, I didn't even have any prospects at that point. And I moved to this new city, and I start ministry, and one thing I learned about myself, I'm guessing maybe some of you can relate, is that when God doesn't follow my plan, I can have a pretty bad attitude about that. Maybe you're with me on that. But it's funny, because I can look back now and laugh about it, but there were genuine moments where I was like, okay, wait, what's the deal, God? Like, I thought that was like a pretty good plan. Marriage is a good thing, right? And I just was confused, like, am I being punished? Wait, did I do something wrong? Did I take the wrong course? Whatever it is, and so it was hard. It was about three and a half years before my wife and I got married, and there was some wrestling that happened that season, and I misinterpreted it as like, man, maybe I did something wrong,

maybe this is punishment. Hindsight's 20-20. Looking back now, it's funny, because now I think of it completely differently. Now I look at that season of life, and I go, okay, well, without that season, with the way timing worked and all that kind of stuff, without that season, I don't end up marrying Courtney. And if that's the case, well, then I will take this season 1,000 times over if it means that I get to marry Courtney, right? All of a sudden, this thing that at one point, I'm like, am I being punished? Is this like, I realized, oh, no, no, no, this is the vehicle that God is using to deliver me to the thing that He wants for me. Does that make sense? Now, that's just one example. That can look a ton of different ways, but I just wonder, and I want you to think about, has that happened in your life? Could it be happening right now? Because I think it's an important thing to reflect on, because it reminds us, our view is so, so limited, and God's is so, so much greater than ours. Again, sometimes we just misinterpret God's rescue plan as punishment. Okay, so Jonah was, again, swallowed by the fish. He expresses thanksgiving. for God saving him, and then he is vomited out on shore,

an experience in life I hope I never have. But Jonah, chapter three, let's dive in and see how God responds now that Jonah is back on land. Listen to this, this is really powerful. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against 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, three days' journey in breath. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. I mean, so much I could dive into there, but here's where I wanna start. I actually wanna go back to the beginning of that chapter. So chapter three, verse one, and do you see the call? Do you see what happens here? Do you remember the wording of the first call? I just think it's significant. It says, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it in the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, and I'll pause there for now. Here's the significance of that. The call stayed the same. Did you notice that? Do you take a minute to even think about like, that's a big deal. Like if I'm God and praise God that I'm not, if I tell someone to do something as God, and then they're like, nope, I'm running away. Well, then God pursues him and he brings it back. Then I'm like, okay, I saved you. That might be about as much compassion I've got for you. Obviously, I can't trust you with that. Here's something a little more manageable, maybe for you,

something that your faith could handle. But no, no, no, no, no. God pursues him, he brings him back, and he gives him the same call. And I mean, there's just a lot I could go into with that, but I'm gonna keep this simple and short. Our God is in the business of second chances. Our God is in the business of second chances. And I just think some of you need to hear that. God is not done with you. Here's a lie that the enemy would love for you to believe. You've messed up too many times. You've done too much. You can go back to God, like he'll forgive you. But I don't know if he's gonna trust you again with that. The call must change, right? No, no, no, no. Every time you come back to God, you humble yourself and come back to God and say, God, I'm sorry. He goes, I love you, and I'm calling you the same thing. Be my son or be my daughter and follow Jesus. The call remains the same. And so Jonah goes and he preaches. And then something just, I know we like know the story. We know how it ends, like if you've read it before, but I think sometimes we just like don't totally recognize how amazing it's like Nineveh actually listens. Like this city known for its evil listens, humbles themselves and go, okay, God.

And then usually that's where the story ends. But again, like the surface level telling of the story of Jonah is simple, right? God calls Jonah, Jonah runs away. God pursues Jonah, Jonah goes, all right, fine, I'll do it. Goes to Nineveh, preaches, and they repent, end of story. But there's actually a fourth chapter. And I really believe this is actually the most important chapter in the whole story. This is like, you know when you're watching a movie and you see the ending and you're like, whoa, I wanna go back and watch the whole movie again because now like I understand things that were happening all along. This, I really do think is that moment. And so I want you to like watch for that and listen for that as we're reading through chapter four. Here's chapter four of Jonah. Nineveh has just repented and it's become clear. God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them. And then listen to this. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, "'O Lord, is not this what I said "'when I was yet in my country? "'This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, "'for I knew that you are a gracious God, "'and you are merciful, slow to anger, "'and abounding in steadfast love,

"'relenting from disaster. "'Therefore now, O Lord, take my life from me, "'for it is better for me to die than to live.' And the Lord said, "'Do you too well to be angry?' Jonah went out of the city, and he sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should, sorry, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant, and it made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die, and said, "'It is better for me to die than to live.' But God said to Jonah, "'Do you do well to be angry for the plant?' And he said, "'Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.' And the Lord said, "'You pity the plant

for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle.'" Mic drop moment by God. Like genuinely, that is a mic drop moment in Scripture. There is, oh my goodness, so much in this chapter. But one thing becomes crystal clear as you read through this chapter. Now we know exactly why Jonah ran in the first place. And we know it because Jonah says it. We don't even have to do any interpreting. Like he literally says, God, I ran because I know who you are. I know you're compassionate. I know you're gracious, but I can't stand the thought of Nineveh repenting and you forgiving them. The thought of Nineveh repenting. I mean, he just couldn't handle it and he ran away. Now for a little more context, Nineveh was one of the largest cities in the Assyrian empire so they were an enemy city to Israel. So what's happening here is Jonah's going, I know who my God is. And here's, guys, this is super interesting. Jonah's view of God is accurate.

He knows who God is. And yet he hates his enemies so much that he's like, I can't stand the thought of you forgiving them. And what I love about chapter four is that, did you notice this? At the end of chapter three, Jonah's actually accomplished the mission. Like what did God call him to? Go preach to Nineveh. He does and they repent and it's over. But God is not done with Jonah. And if I could put it in my own words, I'd say chapter four is God saying, you did what I called you to do, but I want you to be who I called you to be. You did what I called you to do, but I want you to be who I called you to be. And I just, I love that reality about our God is that he goes after our heart. He's not just about action, he wants our heart. And so a theme becomes clear in the book of Jonah because of this fourth chapter. A repeated pattern that we see is God is gracious, God is compassionate. And then we see Jonah's response to God's grace and his compassion and track the pattern here. Here's a couple of examples, think about it. So God calls Jonah to warn Nineveh. That is grace and compassion from God and Jonah is upset. But then God saves Jonah from drowning

and Jonah is happy. God relents from the destruction of Nineveh. That is grace from God and Jonah is upset. But then God causes a plant to grow and protect Jonah and Jonah is thankful. Then that plant dies and Jonah is upset. Do you see a pattern going on here? Another way to put it would be Jonah's fallen into this mindset of like God's grace for me, but not for thee. God's grace for me, but not for thee. And God addresses it with Jonah and he asks them this super interesting question. Do you do well to be angry? Do you do well? Like, basically it's like, what are you upset for Jonah? Like what's going on, like think about this. Do you really do well to be angry about this? And then I love it because then God literally has Jonah basically like live out a metaphor or analogy. I need an English teacher on that. I always get those confused. But where he's sitting outside the city and he makes him live out this analogy where Jonah becomes Nineveh in the analogy, meaning he's sitting there in the heat. There's heat and there's destruction coming down on his head, right? That's the representation. And God protects him just like Nineveh

from that heat and that destruction. Here's an interesting thing. Actually, I'm just gonna point this out. I read this in a commentary. Verse six, when it says that he's happy that the plant saved him from his discomfort, that discomfort could be translated evil in the original language. So like literally you can see the comparison of like Jonah is represented as Nineveh in this and God saves him and he is happy. But the moment that plant dies, he's upset. Why? Well, because now I'm in the sun, it's hot. Again, it's like he can't make the connection there. The moment God relents for Nineveh, he's upset, but the moment he relents for him, he's happy. And then in addition to that, God goes, and in addition to the way you can't, the hypocrisy that's happening between you and Nineveh, in addition, you are so upset about this plant dying. Should I not have compassion on an entire city? And I loved one of the commentaries I read pointed out, at the end there, do you notice he ends with, and much cattle? I think that's actually really intentional. It's kind of poking at Jonah, like, okay, it's clear you don't care about the 120,000 people in Nineveh, but it turns out you care a lot about plants. So how about the cows?

How about just for the cow's sake, I save Nineveh? It's super interesting, isn't it? And at this point, I think it's really easy to look at Jonah and his life and be like, what is wrong with that guy? Like, that dude has a terrible attitude. What is his deal? And here's the truth, Jonah's falling into a trap that is so common for each and every one of us. And it's this, as human beings, we are constantly convincing ourselves that we know better than God. That, like, at its most simple level is what's happening here. Jonah's convinced that he knows what God should do with his grace and with his compassion and with his mercy more than what God knows. He's like, trust me on this one, God, they just don't deserve it. And that's something that we all fall into. And it called to mind for me another story where this same truth is called out in the New Testament. It's actually one of Jesus's parables. And I wanna tell it, I'm not gonna read it. This one, I'm just gonna summarize. And as I tell it, I want you to think about how much overlap there are between these two. I think, again, it's where Jesus is teaching the same lesson, but in a parable. As a reminder, a parable's a story

that Jesus tells to illustrate a point. And this one is specifically about the kingdom of God. Jesus said, hey, this is what my kingdom's like. And in the parables, there's always people that represent someone else. And so this one is about a vineyard and a vineyard owner and workers in the vineyard. And the vineyard owner represents God and the workers in the vineyard represent us. And here's how the story goes. So there's this owner of a vineyard who, each day, he goes out and he hires people to work in his vineyard. And there are these people called day laborers. These are people that don't necessarily have a super consistent job. They're dependent on, hopefully, someone shoulder-tapping them, saying, hey, come do some work for me so they can earn money, provide for themselves, and provide for their family. And so this vineyard owner goes to these day laborers, hey, come work for me for the day, and I'll pay you a day's worth of wage. And the day laborers are like, great, this is awesome. I get a chance to earn money and earn a day's wages. So they go and they start working, and about halfway through the day, the vineyard owner's like, man, there's still a lot of work to be done. I could use some more people.

And so he goes and he recruits more people. Hey, come work for the rest of the day with me. And so they go and they work. And then all the way up to, like, there's one hour left in the day, and the vineyard owner's looking around. Man, there's still work to be done. And so he goes and he calls more day laborers. Hey, come work for just this last hour. The day ends. Everyone, I imagine, gets into a line, because the vineyard owner's getting ready to pay him. And the people that go to him first are the ones that arrived late, had just been there for an hour. And the vineyard owner pays them a full day's worth of wage. And somehow word gets around all the way back to the people who'd been working the whole day. And they're like, oh, this is good news. Because if he's paying them a whole day's wage for one hour, what's he gonna pay us? And so they get to the front of the line, and what do they get? A day's wage. And then they start to get frustrated. What in the world? You paid them a whole day's wage for an hour. We were here all day laboring. What's the deal?

And this story ends with two questions, just like the story of Jonah ends with questions. And there are two of, I think, the most convicting questions in Scripture. It says this in Matthew 20. The vineyard owner asks them, am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? Am I not allowed to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you mad at me because I'm generous? Another way to say it, do you do well to be angry? Is this really something you should be angry about? And it brings up this whole topic of begrudging God's generosity. Well, why does that happen? I can think of three reasons. I'm gonna fly through this, but here's three reasons why I think we could find ourselves begrudging God's generosity. Number one is pride. We go, have you seen what I've done? And you did that for them? Number two is envy. Seriously, God, do you not see how much they already have? You think you could throw a bone to me every once in a while? And the last one I think is actually the most difficult one and it's unforgiveness. Here's the truth about life.

There are people who have hurt you so deeply that if you were being totally honest with yourself, you don't want anything good for them. There's people in your life, maybe for one of these reasons, that if you were getting a call from them, if you're being totally honest, you get a call from them and they're like, man, Aaron, you wouldn't believe, God showed up in this big way and he provided for me in this way, maybe financially he provided for me in my job or you wouldn't believe. And you go, wow, so happy for you. And let's go another layer deeper. Maybe there's people that if they were to call you and say, Aaron, God transformed my life and I'm following Jesus now. We'd go, really? Huh. And there'd be a part of us where we find ourselves begrudging God's generosity. Here's why. Here's the premise of that mindset. They don't deserve it. God, don't you see? They don't deserve your grace. They don't deserve your compassion. And here's the thing, you're absolutely right. They don't deserve the grace of God, but neither did you.

And neither do I. See, that's where we get the grace of God so wrong and so twisted in our heads so often. And I'll just be honest, this tends to happen when you've been a Christian for a little while. Because when you become a Christian, you're like, man, God saved me from who I was, like I once was lost, but now I'm found. God gave me this grace I never deserved. He did something I could never possibly do on my own and this is amazing and now I'm transforming my life and I'm living different and my life actually looks different and now I'm going to church and I'm doing right things and I'm serving other people and you know what, I'm actually kind of getting good at this and you know what, like this is actually, I feel pretty good about myself and you know what, maybe God actually does owe me something. Maybe I did earn this a little bit. Maybe God owes me now. And we lose sight of God's grace and we forget that we never deserved any of it. Let me say it this way. God is gracious, not because I am good, because he is good. God is compassionate, not because I am good, but because he is good. God is generous, not because I am good, because he is good. And so if you find yourself in a place where you are begrudging God's generosity

or maybe you even think, man, I think I would. If God was generous to that person, I think I would be a little upset, I'd be bitter. I genuinely think the solution is remembering how generous God has been to you. The solution to begrudging God's generosity is remember how generous God's been to you and yes, of course, ways that he's shown up in your life, ways that he's done things that only God can do, of course, remember those moments, but what I'm really talking about here, I'm talking about getting in a pattern and teaching yourself to just fix your eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ. It's like teaching yourself daily to just look at the cross and stare at it and remember what exactly is going on here, that the God of the universe who created everything out of nothing, the God who is not dependent on one single thing, everything else is dependent on something, God is completely self-sufficient. He humbled himself, became a man, he lived a life none of us could possibly live, he died the death that we deserve to give us a life we could never possibly earn and it's staring at that and awakening to that wonder and it's allowing yourself to just be in awe and then the moment that God is generous and compassionate and save someone.

that if you're being honest, you would not have saved. You would not have been generous to. Well, what happens? Well, you're not welling up in pride. You're not gritting your teeth in anger. You're actually not even thinking about the thing that they did to you. All you're thinking about is, oh my goodness, God has been so generous to me. I know what that's like. And you can't help but just praise God for who he is because that is just God being God, amen? Would you all stand with me? Let's pray together, close out service. God, you are so generous and so compassionate. Thank you for your grace. God, I confess that I am Jonah. That God, I fall into the exact same things that Jonah falls into and God, thank you for continually being compassionate to me. And Father, I do pray for our church. God, would you help us to just fix our eyes on you? God, that we would never find ourselves in a place where we are begrudging your generosity. God, thank you that your grace is not dependent on me because I never would have gotten it. We love you, Father, and we trust you. It's all in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.