Behold The Compassion Of God

We’ll turn our Bibles to Jonah chapter 4. We have come to the last and final chapter of Jonah. Here’s a translation of Jonah chapter 4. You can follow this translation. I’ll read it for all of us. Jonah chapter 4. And it was exceedingly unjust to Jonah, and it made him furious, so he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is not this what I said would happen while I was in my country? That’s the reason I earlier attempted to flee to Tarshish, because I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in steadfast love, and relenting concerning disaster.

“So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for my death would be better than my life.” And Yahweh said, “Is it really good for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city. Then he made for himself there a shelter, and he sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would happen in the city. Then Yahweh God appointed a castor oil plant, and it sprouted up over Jonah to be a shade over his head in order to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah greatly rejoiced because of the plant.

Then God appointed a worm when dawn arrived the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun rose, God sent a scorching east wind and sun beat down upon Jonah’s head, and he became faint such that he wished that he was dead. And he said, “It would be better to die than to live.” And God said to Jonah, “Are you really so angry over this plant?” And he answered, said, “I am so angry to the point of death.” Then Yahweh said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and which you did not cultivate, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

So should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 1,20,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also so many animals?” The title of today’s sermon is “Behold the Compassion of God.”

An awakening occurred in the most unthinkable place on earth during Jonah’s time. And not one soul or two, but 1,20,000 people turned to God in Nineveh. This should have been a moment of overwhelming joy to Jonah. An unprecedented opportunity for discipleship as well. Jonah could have seized this chance to teach the Ninevites the ways of the Lord. Instead, he was consumed with himself, with his own ambitions and purposes. As we become acquainted with Jonah, we inevitably see ourselves in him.

In this passage, we witness the stark contrast between a God of compassion and a man of contradictions. The God of compassion, and a man of contradictions. Jonah refuses to align himself with God and his purposes. Now you can see the contrast here in chapter 3 verse 10, when God saw the Ninevites’ actions, that they turned from their evil way, he relented concerning the disaster. And chapter 4 verse 1, when Jonah saw that what God did, he became furious. When God saw, he was compassionate, and when Jonah saw, he became furious. And verse 2 of chapter 4, we see that God is slow to anger, but Jonah was quick to get. Now that the very

thing Jonah feared has happened, and he prays to God not in worship but grudgingly in complaint. Jonah accuses God of acting like God. Yet whatever God does is always consistent, and we should know that God can never do that which is contrary to his holy nature. He will never do anything that is contrary to his nature. And the question that we need to ask Jonah is, where was his reverence?

And the question to us also in our life circumstances is that where is our reverence? Look at verse 1. “And it was exceedingly unjust to Jonah, and it made him furious.” We see here that the intensity of Jonah’s indignation. The English translations, they diminish the intensity of the words of Jonah here.

The word Rah in Hebrew is evil or unjust. That’s missing in English translations. From Jonah’s perspective, it was not merely an emotional thing. From Jonah’s perspective, it was evil and unjust, but it was extremely unjust. It was not merely unjust or evil, but it was extremely unjust.

And the verse has two parts here. The verse has two parts. One thing is Jonah’s evaluation. Jonah’s evaluation was God’s actions was unjust. And his emotional response is he became furious, extremely. He was burning with rage. So Jonah judged that Yahweh’s relenting from anger toward Nineveh was unjust. And from that judgment flowed is, or from that evaluation flowed his indignation, his rage. Principle number one: Being upset with God is a lack of reverence towards God. Being upset with God is a lack of reverence towards God.

And out of that indignation, he prays an arrogant prayer. Verses 2 onwards. So he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is not this what I said would happen while I was in my country? That’s the reason I earlier attempted to flee to Tarshish. Because I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in steadfast love, and relenting concerning disaster. So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for my death would be better than my life.”

Again, in the original language, the prayer begins with an exclamation. In many of the English translations, this is missing. And only a few translations have an exclamation. Our Lord or O Lord. And the following words are not loaded with humility, but they’re saturated with arrogance.

Jonah is affirming his evaluation as something right. His evaluation that God did unjust was right. And he knew that if these Ninevites repented, he knew that God would relent. And he didn’t want this to happen. And he defends his disobedience in second part of verse 2. He says, “That’s the reason I earlier attempted to flee to Tarshish.”

It’s not just that he didn’t want God to relent, but he didn’t want God to act like God. What audacity is this? Is Jonah trying to instruct God on what he must do? This is breathtaking arrogance. Principle number two. Constant grumbling and absence of humility in prayer are indicative of a lack of reverence towards God.

Constant grumbling and absence of humility in prayer are indicative of a lack of reverence towards God. If you see here, Jonah’s theology is good, really good. He is orthodox in theology, but there is no orthopraxy. There is no practice according to that theology. There is no practice of it. He is praying good theology while simultaneously demanding that God not to act according with his own character. He prays in the latter part of verse 2, “I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in steadfast love, and relenting concerning disaster.”

Do you know where he gets this theology? He’s quoting from Exodus chapter 34, verses 6 to 7. While he was in the belly of the fish, he remembered the Psalms. He prayed those Psalms. And now again he is filled with word of God, right? And these words in from Exodus chapter 34 verses 6 to 7, these words were quoted several times in the Old Testament. And a little context will help us understand the awesomeness of these words. A lot of times our prayers and our lives do not match the theology or the words that we speak about God. And that is a sad state of churches, Christians, even us. That’s a sad state of us. We have high theology, right? We speak great things about God, but our life does not match with that theology. In Exodus 19 the Israelites

camped at Sinai in the wilderness of Sinai at the Mount Sinai. It’s also called as Mount Horeb. Moses went up the mountain, heard words from God, and he came back and gave them, gave the Israelites the laws. He gave them the 10 commandments and the other laws as well. At Mount Sinai God entered into a covenant with Israel. He commanded them in Exodus chapter 20 verses 3 to 4, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.” In Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 to 6, God declared, “If you indeed will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the nations.”

And then he says, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God confirms the covenant with the house of Israel in chapter 24. Moses went up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people grew impatient. And in Exodus chapter 32 the people demanded Aaron to make a golden calf or an idol, that they can have something tangible God whatever, and and they committed, you know, drunken debauchery. And God threatened to destroy them entirely, but Moses interceded, pleaded, and the Lord relented. But still, about 3,000 people died that day.

God sent a plague on the people. And in Exodus chapter 33, God told Moses to lead the people to the promised land, but he declared that he wouldn’t go with them personally. Then again, because the Lord says that these are stiff-necked people. And Moses knew that if these people are stiff-necked people, how could he lead them?

And the thought was that if they keep on rebelling, the thought is that God may destroy them. But Moses intercedes again. He says in Exodus 33 verse 15, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” As a sign of favor, God’s favor upon Moses. Moses requested God so that he can have a glimpse of his glory. That he may know him.

that the Lord made his goodness pass before Moses and proclaimed in Exodus chapter 34 verses 6 and 7, “the Lord, the Lord God, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

This was a revelation of who God is to Moses, and when God revealed himself, meaning that he is a gracious, compassionate, merciful and slow to anger, what did Moses do when he saw the glory of God? In Exodus chapter 34 verse 8, “Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped him.”

He worshipped him. That was the context of the original context of these words. People were weighed down with sin. They were rebelling against God. And Moses pleads intercedes for his people. God reveals himself to Moses. Reveals his glory to Moses. And this revelation of who God is. Not only created humility in Moses.

him plead for God’s people even more because he is a gracious and compassionate God, and here Mr. Jonah quotes the same words, but where was his reverence towards God? Moses had the revelation of who God is, and that revelation is recorded for us to know who God is, not to just have a swollen heads full of theology, but those words are recorded in God’s Word so that humility would be created in our hearts, that there would be proper reverence towards God.

And such a revelation should be weighed in the light of all our iniquities and the punishment that our iniquities deserve, so that we would see that ourselves as people who rightly deserve God’s anger and his punishment, but instead he has shown his compassion, his grace upon our lives, that he spares us from destruction. Dear brothers and sisters, it will do good for us to remember or to remind ourselves that by nature we all are sinners. We have done nothing but sinned against God. We have always sinned against God, right from the little babies.

We sin against God. Like David said, “in sin did my mother conceive me.” The Bible says that all our best deeds are tainted with sin. And therefore, all our good deeds, best deeds, our religious deeds, whatever we do, are like filthy rags before God. And the Bible also says that our hearts are desperately sick. They’re sick with sin, inflicted with sin. And Bible also says that the wages of our sin is death. We deserve to die. The Bible also says that the wrath of God abides on all disobedience. Because of our disobedience deserve to die and we are the recipients of the holy anger of God.

And we all deserve to suffer under God's holy wrath. But God spared us because of Christ Jesus. Because our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God, stepped into this world, lived a sinless life, went to the cross. Our sins were laid on him.

He suffered for our sins under God’s holy wrath, which was burning against our sins. And God crushed Jesus because of our sins under the weight of his anger. He crushed Jesus. He died in our place and the holy anger of God was appeased in the punishment of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins.

He died and he rose again. Now seated at the right hand of majesty as our eternal God and the high priest who intercedes for us, who saves us. And this come and the compassion of God is extended to all who look to Christ, is extended to all who will not have confidence in own, in their own selves, or in their works, in their religious deeds, but who will look to Christ and trust in his finished work. He has done it all on the cross. He paid the full penalty for our sins. There’s nothing more to be done for us, not to attain something or to achieve something before God. Everything is

done and finished in the work of Jesus Christ. And those who look to Christ by faith. And believe in him and turn away from our sins. He will save us. If God forgave the saints of the Old Testament. It was only on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work.

You may ask, how could God forgive people before Christ came and died on the cross? Because in God’s redemptive plan, Christ’s death was an eternal reality that manifested at one point in history. And that work is the foundation of all forgiving acts of God.

If God ever looked with compassion on any man and forgave their sins, it’s only because in God’s plan there is the death of Lord Jesus Christ. There is the work of Jesus Christ. And Bible says that at the right time, at God’s appointed time, Christ came into this world and paid for our sins. And because of that work, God has forgiven and God will forgive all the people who will look to him.

Look at verse 3. “So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for my death would be better than my life.” Jonah couldn’t handle the disappointment. And he was so strong-willed that he wanted to spare himself any further disappointment. So he expressed his desire to die.

Jonah is unable to reconcile his desires with God’s desires or God’s purposes. He is so bent on to do his own will, to have his own way. He doesn’t care about what God thinks, what God has purposed. Principle number three. Good theology without a life lived according to it demonstrates a lack of reverence towards God.

Good theology without a life lived according to it, demonstrates a lack of reverence towards God. We come to our second point. Do we have any right to get upset with God? Do you think that you can get upset with God? You think that you and I can tell God, “Oh God, why have you done like this?” Look at verses 4 and 5. “And Yahweh said, is it really good for you to be angry? Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city. Then he made for himself there a shelter and he sat under it in its shade, waiting to see what would happen in the city.” Dear people of God, we deserve nothing from God. Nothing. Even today if we have to perish we cannot question God, because by nature we are recipients of

God’s wrath so any amount of mercy from God should invoke gratefulness and thankfulness is in our hearts. And God responds to this sulking prophet, “Is it really good for you to be angry?” In other words, have you any right to be angry?

And with this question, God is focusing on the root problem. What moral high ground does Jonah have that he could question God? Jonah appears to be angry still. He went east of the city, built a shelter, continued waiting there, still expecting God to act against Nineveh.

He wanted God to do what he wants. He persisted in his rebellion. He’s like a little child. Right? “I will not eat until you give me this. I will not talk to you if you don’t buy me that.” We do that. Right? And yeah. “If you don’t behave like this, I will not behave well with you.”

Look at verse 6. “Then Yahweh appointed a castor oil plant. And it sprouted up over Jonah to be a shade over his head in order to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah greatly rejoiced because of the plant. Then God appointed a worm. When dawn arrived the next day, it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun arose, God sent a scorching east wind and the sun beat down upon Jonah’s head. And he became faint such that he wished that he was dead. And he said, ‘It would be better to die than to live.’”

Now just as God provided a fish to save Jonah, now he appoints a castor oil plant to shield Jonah from the scorching heat. And Jonah greatly rejoices. Now Jonah is a paradox. He’s angry that Nineveh has not yet been destroyed and the next moment he was exceedingly happy that God has given him a plant to make him comfortable.

And to teach him a lesson, the Lord appoints a worm to destroy the plant. And Yahweh, who showed mercy to Jonah by providing the plant, now removes this mercy and shows judgment, just as Jonah wished him to do with Ninevites. The attack on the plant is intentional and intended to cause Jonah distress. That's the same word used for the Ninevites, distress, calamity.

To add to Jonah's discomfort, the sun beats down on his head. The action of the sun is described in the same way as that of the worm destroying the plant. Maybe he had a sun stroke and he fainted. Once again he wished to die rather than to live. What a moody person is he?

Jonah is a moody believer. How often are we moody? We are moody in our spiritual lives. When good things happen, we rejoice. When trouble comes, we are despaired. When someone appreciates us, we smile. When someone ignores us, our countenance will fall down. We are so moody.

If everything goes according to his desires, he was happy, otherwise he was upset. Are you a moody person? Is your joy dependent on circumstances or people? Do you care more about things or the possessions than the people around you? Would like to study your Bibles and pray only when everything is comfortable, right? You want to serve only—you had a bad week, you want to skip the fellowship.

For what? To wallow in self-pity. People don't appreciate me, so I don't serve. Our spiritual lives are often shallow. Our Bible studies are shallow, our prayers are shallow, our prayer meetings are shallow, and our obedience to God is also shallow. Our serving is shallow because it depends on our mood. I feel like going, I go. I feel like studying the Bible, I study. I feel like praying, I pray. I feel like evangelizing, I evangelize. Everything is dependent on our feelings, not on what God wants us to do. That is not the driving factor in our spiritual lives. What is driving you? Is the word of God driving you? Is the per— are the purposes of God driving you? Or are your feelings driving you?

And sadly, most of the Christians are driven by their own feelings. That's a reason for our shallowness. Principle number four: neglect of spiritual disciplines, church fellowship and serving in the church demonstrates you're upset with God and his people. And you're validating that you have a higher ground, higher moral ground to behave in that manner.

The next question that we need to ask ourselves is, are your priorities right? Look at verse 9. And God said to Jonah, “Are you really so angry over the plant?” And this time he answers. In verse 4 he didn't answer. Now he answers. He says, “I am so angry to the point of death.”

Then God said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and which you did not cultivate, which came into being in a night and perished in a night, so should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than one lakh twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also so many animals.”

When Jonah first became angry in verse 4, God asked him whether he had a right to be angry. Jonah refused to answer and he walked away. Now God asked a similar question, this time about the plant rather than Yahweh's character. This is an argument from lesser to the greater. The lesser is the plant, greater is Yahweh's, God's compassion. It is a literary device designed to provoke deep thought. Last time when God asked a similar question he walked away, but now he responds. And Jonah's response exposes the deeper heart problem.

By affirming his anger over the plant, he takes the first step. The next step is connecting the plant to Yahweh. Sorry, the plant to Nineveh. God reveals to Jonah his own absurdity. Jonah is filled with compassion, is filled with bowels of compassion for a plant. It remains hard hearted to the entire population of a city. He shows concern for a single small item of God's creation, yet he fails to care for people who are made in the image of God.

And these are the people who do not have the law of God. And Jonah's absurdity lies in this as well. If not for people, at least for the animals. At least for the animals in Nineveh. Principle number five: when we are not aligned with the word of God and our character is not being shaped by God's word, that we are not shaped into becoming into his image, if we don't see that, it means that we have misplaced priorities.

If transformation is not part of our lives, we have high theology but there is no transformation, we are not moving forward, we are not growing in our affections towards God. If you’re not growing in awe and reverence towards. That means we have misplaced priorities.

The question that you need to ask yourself is, am I growing? Is there a change in my life which my spouse can evidence for it? Other fellow brothers and sisters can evidence for it. Am I the same? The story is left unfinished. Jonah has no other option but to cast himself at the feet of God and live by his commandments.

When we see, we have seen in the first sermon on Jonah that in chapter 1, verse 1, the coming of the word of the Lord — these are the words there — the coming of the word of the Lord is generally perceived as the calling of a man to the office of prophet. We have seen other verses also, when the people were first called to the office of prophet these words were used, “the word of the Lord came to them.” And in the book of Jonah we see a reluctant prophet, and God doesn’t give up on him. He pursues him, and he prepares him to be a servant of the Lord.

And in 2 Kings 14, verse 25, the narrator calls Jonah a servant of the Lord. In 2 Kings 14, verse 26, Israel was in bitter affliction, and there was no helper for them. Comforted them by sending his word through Jonah. He became a useful servant.

The book of Jonah ends with Jonah receiving one of the most challenging, life-transforming presentations of God’s compassion. So when he eventually resumed his work in Israel, as described in 2 Kings chapter 14, Jonah must have been a very different man than the one who had gone to Nineveh.

He had become a man who could present the compassionate heart of the living God to the people. The reluctant prophet has now become a useful servant through whom God later brought comfort to his people. Principle number six: we stand together in need of the mercy of God to enable us from day to day to be obedient to his commandments. Whatever life circumstances God has placed us in, we must not live by our feelings, our moods, or the opinions of people.

But we must always live by the word of God. Therefore, we will live to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. In closing, I want to share a few lessons from this chapter. It is entirely possible to have a doctrinally pure church with our hearts filled with head — sorry, heads filled with correct theology — while remaining unmoved by that great theology in our own personal walk with the Lord. We can to the true knowledge of God, presuming upon God’s grace, taking His grace for granted.

The second lesson is, God will put us in uncomfortable circumstances, and we may have to do things that are uncomfortable or which are not natural to us. We should do things which are not natural to us. Let’s say when the church collectively decides on a course of action, let’s say you’re uncomfortable with that decision, what will you do? Will you say, “If it’s not done my way, I’m not participating?”

Will you do it even if you’re not comfortable doing it? You do it because the word says that. You do it because of the collective wisdom. Are you willing to sacrifice your ego, yourself? Number three. Jonah was put in a situation where his nationalistic heart was evident. He wanted God to be compassionate only to the Jews, not to the Gentiles.

His prejudice clouded his judgments. His prejudice controlled his response. Do you want the best only for those who are close to you? Do you have affinity groups you favor while neglecting others? Even in the church, you’re close with certain people and you want all the favors for them.

You neglect others. You know others are in trouble, others are in need. Because that person doesn’t respond to me well, so I don’t care for him. I don’t help him. Brothers and sisters, this is a prevailing attitude in many Christians. If they are nice to me, if they respect me, if they talk to me well, I’ll be favorable to them. We must be a people controlled by gospel grace, not tribal loyalties. Number four, how we react in a situation that God has placed us is a better thermometer of our hearts. They reveal who we are, what we love. That will reveal whether we are truly patient or not. That will reveal our deepest motives. Circumstances or people are not the problem here.

Yes, they may be problematic. But they provide an evaluation of our hearts. They provide us an evaluation of where we actually are standing. It shows how spiritually strong we are. Israel’s grumbling was a symptom of a deeper heart issue. Why did the Israel Israelites respond differently and Moses diff responded differently when there was a problem or need? Israel grumbled when there was a problem. Moses fell on his face and pleaded with the Lord. You

see the difference. Your impatience in any situation is only a symptom of a deeper heart issue. Your impatience with your spouse, with your kids, with your fellow brother and sister, or at your workplace, wherever you are, your impatience is only a symptom of a deeper heart issue.

Your prayerlessness is only a symptom of a deeper heart issue. You may say that, “Okay, I don’t have time. I didn’t have time. That’s the reason I didn’t pray.” No, that is a deeper heart issue. Self and sin and your comfort are the deeper heart issues.

If you are controlled by them, we will be disoriented in our lives. Our prayerlessness shows that on whom are you actually dependent on. Your consistent prayer life shows that I can manage my life without God. Without His grace. Without His wisdom. I can manage my life. In theology you say that God is sovereign, God go, no, we are dependent on God’s grace. That is theology. But your life says that I can manage my life. You don’t see the contradiction. We are people of contradiction like Jonah. We are a people of paradox like Jonah. Christ and the gospel are the cure for our souls. If you don’t soak yourselves in the Bible, if you don’t soak yourselves in the Word of God, brothers and sisters, we will not the grace, the wisdom to live for God’s glory.

A good theology or a good memory of God’s word in head will not solve the problem, will not make you more like Christ Jesus, will not train you for righteousness. Meditation upon God’s word consistently, soaking your heart with God’s word, sensitizing yourself with God’s word will train you to live purposeful Christian lives.

So when your heart condition is exposed, do not keep silent about it. But rather, bring it to the cross of Jesus Christ. Repent and live by the power of God’s grace. If your ambitions, your impulses, your desires are contrary to God’s word, do not ignore God’s word.

And continue to walk in your self-centered direction. But make changes. Make changes. Bring yourself under the authority of God’s word. And by his grace, make necessary changes. God will give us grace. In closing, let’s read this verse. In every situation, in every failure, in every trial, in every situation, we should always keep looking at Christ. He is the model for our lives. Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 till 8. Let’s read it together. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in the human form, he humbled himself by becoming

obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.” Jesus humbled himself before the purposes of God. As long as we don’t humble ourselves, we will not grow in Christlikeness, we will not grow in God’s grace. Let’s pray.