Faltering Men, Faithful God
14 June 2015
The Man Who Wanted To Die
Roadmap for today’s message
1. An Intense Objection
2. An Intriguing Object Lesson
3. An Incredible Resolution
Jonah 4:1
But it displeased Jonah
exceedingly, and he was angry
Jonah 4:2
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O
Lord, is not this what I said when I was
yet in my country? That is why I made
haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew
that you are a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love, and relenting from disaster.
“Jonah was grandly stern amid a wicked
generation; he was one of God's "Ironsides."
He was the man for a fierce fight, and he
would not hold back his hand from the use of
the sword, or do the work of the Lord halfheartedly; he was one who wished to make
thorough work of anything he undertook, and
to go to the very end of it. We want more of
such men nowadays; he was not lacking in
backbone, yet he was lacking in heart; in that
respect we would not be like him.
- Charles Spurgeon
Jonah 4:4
And the Lord said,
“Do you do well to be angry?”
Roadmap for today’s message
1. An Intense Objection
2. An Intriguing Object Lesson
Jonah 4:6-8
6 Now
the Lord God appointed a plant and 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. 7 But when dawn came up the next day,
God appointed a worm that attacked the plant,
so that it withered. 8 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.”
2 reasons why Jonah has no compassion
towards the Ninevites:
1. Jonah does not know the full extent
of what he is wishing upon the
Ninevites
“There are only two kinds of people in the
end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done,"
and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy
will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it.
Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.
No soul that seriously and constantly desires
joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those
who knock it is opened.”
- C.S. Lewis
Jonah 4:9
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.”
2 reasons why Jonah has no compassion towards
the Ninevites:
1. Jonah does not know the full extent of what
he is wishing upon the Ninevites
2. Jonah does not see that he shares
the same desperate need as the
Ninevites for God’s grace and mercy
Jonah 4:10
10 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. 11 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?”
Ezekiel 18:32
“Have I any pleasure in the death
of the wicked, declares the Lord
GOD, and not rather that he should
turn from his way and live?”
Mark 12:31
Love your neighbour as yourself.
Roadmap for today’s message
1. An Intense Objection
2. An Intriguing Object Lesson
3. An Incredible Resolution
Matthew 28:18-20
18And
Jesus came and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 19Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the
end of the age.”