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If you were able, would you 
please remain standing for the 

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reading of God's Word this 
morning I'll be reading from the

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book of Jonah, chapter 4, 
beginning in verse 5. 

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Jonah went out of the city and 
sat to the east of the city and 

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made a booth for himself there. 
He said under it in the shade, 

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till he should see what would 
become of the city. 

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Now the Lord God appointed a 
plant and made it come up over 

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Jonah, that it might be a shade 
over his head to save him from 

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his discomfort. 
So Jonah was exceedingly glad 

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because of the plant. 
But when dawn came up the next 

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day, got appointed a worm that 
attacked the plant. 

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So that withered, when the sun 
rose, got appointed A scorching 

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E wind, and the sun beat down on
the head of Jonah, so that he 

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was faint. 
And he asked that he might die, 

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and said, It is better for me to
die than to live. 

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But God said to Jonah, Do you do
well to be angry for the plant? 

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And he said, Yes, I do well to 
be angry, angry enough to die. 

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And the Lord said, You pity the 
plant, for which you did not 

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labor, nor did you make it grow,
which came into being in a night

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and perished in a night. 
And should I not pity Nineveh, 

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that great city, and which there
are more than 120,000 persons 

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who do not know their right hand
from their left, and also much 

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cattle? 
This is the word of the Lord. 

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You may be seated. 
Does God exist? 

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Does God exist? 
It's the most fundamental 

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question that we can ask as 
human beings. 

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But there is a second question 
like it that we must also ask, 

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and it's just as important. 
If God exists, then what is he 

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like? 
The answer to that question is 

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what we call theology. 
Now you may think that theology 

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is just for old men with long 
beards and long pipes with many 

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letter bound books. 
Or you might think that theology

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is just for grumpy church 
curmudgeons who make 

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Christianity cold and stuffy and
rob the gospel of any relevancy 

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to ordinary everyday life. 
Remember when I went to college,

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I was searching for what I 
believed about God, and I was 

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asking the question why? 
I remember somebody saying to 

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me, You know what? 
Theology doesn't matter. 

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The only thing that matters is 
your relationship with Jesus. 

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I wonder if anyone has ever told
you that, Or maybe you've 

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thought it yourself. 
It's one of those things that 

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sounds right in a way, until you
really think about it. 

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You see, because theology is 
relational, our theology 

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matters. 
And it matters because it shapes

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the way that we relate to God. 
You see, you cannot have a 

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relationship with somebody that 
you don't know. 

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And the more that we know who 
God is and we're able to answer 

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the question, what is he like? 
The more that we're able to know

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him relationally, the more that 
we're able to know what it means

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to be known by him. 
See, theology matters because 

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every person is a theologian. 
RC Sprole put it this way, and 

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he says no Christian can avoid 
theology. 

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Every Christian's a theologian. 
The issue for Christians is not 

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whether we are going to be 
theologians, but whether we're 

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going to be good theologians or 
bad theologians. 

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And this isn't just true for 
Christians, but I would argue 

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every person is a theologian 
because every person has an 

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answer to the question, does God
exist and what is he like this 

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morning? 
If you are not a follower of 

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Jesus, if you would qualify 
yourself as an agnostic or even 

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an atheist, you also have a 
theology. 

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You have an answer for what you 
think God is. 

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God does not exist. 
And if you are a follower of 

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Jesus this morning, if you are a
Christian, you also have a 

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theology. 
The question is, where does your

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theology come from? 
What has shaped your answer to 

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the question, what is God like 
and is your theology any good? 

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Now I want you to know that good
theology, good theology, is not 

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just dependent on what you know 
intellectually, but good 

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theology takes what we know in 
our heads and transfers it deep 

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into our hearts because good 
theology always leads to 

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doxology. 
What I mean by that is that our 

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theology and seeing God rightly 
for who He is should always lead

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us to worship. 
And we see this in the story of 

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Jonah. 
You see, Jonah knew who God was 

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with his head, but his theology 
didn't lead him to worship God. 

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No, his theology led him to be 
angry at God. 

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And last week we looked at God's
righteous anger because we 

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considered Jonah's anger for 
God's mercy. 

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This week we're going to look at
God's sovereign mercy and 

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through the story of Jonah and 
through his eyes, we're going to

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answer the question, what is he 
like and how does that lead us 

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to worship him? 
So first thing we see in the 

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story of Jonah, what is God 
like? 

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Well, first, God is gracious. 
I want you to look with me. 

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Look with me at Jonah 4, verse 
5. 

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We're told that Jonah went out 
of the city and sat to the east 

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of the city and made a booth for
himself there. 

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He said under it in the shade, 
till he should see what would 

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become of the city. 
Now this is exactly where we 

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left off last week. 
Jonah is God's rebellious and 

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reluctant prophet. 
He refused to follow God's call 

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to go to Nineveh, and so he ran 
from God and tried to flee from 

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his presence. 
And so God sent a storm out of 

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His grace and his judgement, and
he sent a very big fish to 

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swallow Jonah up and spit him 
out on dry land in order to lead

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Jonah to repentance, to do what 
he called him do in the 1st 

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place, to preach to Nineveh. 
Jonah preaches to Nineveh and 

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amazingly, Nineveh repents and 
they turn to God and God has 

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mercy on them. 
And now Jonah is angry about it.

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The very thing that he did not 
want to happen has happened. 

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God showed mercy to Jonah's 
enemies, so now he's angry at 

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Nineveh and he's angry at God, 
and so he's left the city. 

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He set up camp by himself, and 
now he's angry and alone and 

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sulking. 
He's throwing a pity party and 

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he's complaining to God. 
I wonder if you've ever been 

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like that, You've been so upset 
with God that you just wanted to

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be by yourself, to throw 
yourself a pity party and to 

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complain about something God has
done in your life or failed to 

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do. 
I think every one of us goes 

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through this experience now and 
again. 

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I had my own pity party this 
weekend, and now I'm not talking

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about the first half of the 
Aggie game. 

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You see, when we confront 
something that God has done that

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is disappointing or something 
that we're asking him to do that

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he hasn't done according to what
we would have him do, it causes 

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us to lose our trust in Him 
because in that moment we're 

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making ourselves God. 
And we're saying to God, you 

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don't know any better than I do.
And if I were God, I wouldn't 

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have done it this way. 
And like Jonah, it fills us with

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anger and we complain and we 
grumble and our hearts are 

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filled with doubt. 
This is where Jonah finds 

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himself angry and alone and 
complaining to God. 

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And God meets Jonah in the midst
of his anger and complaint with 

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patient grace. 
Once again, God does not leave 

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Jonah alone. 
First God sent Jonah a fish, and

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now God sends Jonah a plant. 
Look with me at verse 6. 

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Now the Lord God appointed a 
plant and made it come up over 

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Jonah that might be a shade over
his head to save him from his 

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discomfort. 
So Jonah was exceedingly glad 

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because of the plant. 
Now, grace is often rightly 

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defined as God's unmerited 
favor. 

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Another way to put that is that 
grace is about getting what we 

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don't deserve. 
And we see that grace here at 

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work in Jonah's life. 
God is giving Jonah what he 

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doesn't deserve. 
Here is Jonah, angry once again,

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running from God, complaining 
against him. 

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He deserves God's judgement. 
Yet God is giving him grace. 

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God is giving him what he 
doesn't deserve. 

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God gives him a plant. 
Now if any of you have had 

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trouble with the book of Jonah 
in trouble with the whale, I 

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think that God sent a plant to 
Jonah in this moment is far 

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crazier. 
Why would God give a plant to 

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Jonah in order to make him feel 
more comfortable while he 

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complaints to him? 
What is God doing? 

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Well, I want you to know that 
the grace that God has for Jonah

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is about much more than just a 
plant. 

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Once you look with me again at 
verse 6, we're told that now the

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Lord God appointed a plant and 
made it come up over Jonah. 

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This is the first time in the 
book of Jonah that the name of 

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God, the Lord God, that double 
name is used. 

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Before this, we just see the 
Lord. 

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Here we see the name, the title,
the Lord God, Yahweh, Elohim. 

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It's the covenant name of God. 
We see this name in the book of 

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Genesis to describe the creator 
of all things. 

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This is Genesis 2 verse 4. 
These are the generations of the

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heavens and the earth when they 
were created in the day that the

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Lord God made the earth in the 
heavens. 

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It's the same name that we see 
in the book of Exodus, the 

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covenant name of God, the 
Redeemer of his people out of 

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slavery. 
This is Exodus 34, six, the new 

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American Standard Version, The 
Lord, the Lord God, 

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compassionate and merciful, slow
to anger, and abounding in 

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faithfulness and truth, who 
keeps faithfulness for 

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thousands, who forgives 
wrongdoing, violation of his law

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and sin, that he will by no 
means leave the guilty 

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unpunished. 
And in Second Samuel 7, it's the

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same name that David uses in 
response to God's promise to 

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establish the throne of his 
Kingdom forever. 

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Second Samuel 728 And now, oh 
Lord God, you are God, and your 

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words are true, and you've 
promised this good thing to your

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servant. 
What this means for Jonah and 

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for all of us is that the same 
covenant God, the God of 

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steadfast love who created the 
universe by the word of his 

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power. 
The same covenant God who 

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rescued his people out of 
slavery in Egypt. 

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The same covenant God who 
promised a Kingdom and a king to

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come, who to redeem his people 
from their sins through the line

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of David, is the same covenant 
God who has now come to Jonah 

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and appointed a plant to cover 
him. 

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Why? 
Well, verse six goes on and 

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tells us to save him from his 
discomfort. 

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But at face value this seems 
silly. 

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Why does God want to make Jonah 
more comfortable to sit alone in

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his anger? 
Why would God go to such trouble

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while Jonah complaints? 
There is more to the story than 

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just a plant. 
The word for discomfort here, 

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it's the very same word that 
we've seen many times before in 

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the book of Jonah. 
It's a word that I mentioned at 

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the beginning of our series 
several weeks ago. 

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It's the very same word for 
evil. 

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It's the word that we see in 
Jonah 4 verse one. 

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But it is fleeced Jonah 
exceedingly and he was angry. 

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The mercy of God for Nineveh was
an evil to Jonah, and so he was 

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angry, and now God has appointed
a plant in order to save him 

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from that evil. 
How? 

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How can a plant save Jonah from 
the evil of his rebellion and 

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his own judgmentalism for 
Nineveh? 

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How can a plant save Jonah? 
All over the centuries, scholars

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have tried to figure out just 
what kind of plant this actually

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was. 
Some have said it must have been

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a vine. 
Others have said it must have 

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been Ivy. 
Many have argued that it had to 

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have been a gourd. 
My favorite is all of the ink 

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that's been spilled to argue 
that it is the Castor oil plant,

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all because of the poisonous 
nature of that plant. 

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But there is something greater 
here than a plant. 

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God is appointed a plant to 
cover Jonah, to be a living 

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parable. 
And just like the miracles that 

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we see in the gospels that Jesus
performs, this miracle is meant 

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to be a window to show Jonah and
all of us what God is like, that

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he is the Lord God, gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, who 

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forgives sin, yet will by no 
means leave the guilty 

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unpunished. 
So the second thing we see about

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God and Jonah's story is this. 
What is God like? 

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Not only gracious, but God is 
the righteous judge. 

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Throughout the Bible, botanical 
imagery is used to describe the 

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people of God. 
And this shouldn't surprise us 

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because our story begins in a 
garden. 

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And in particular in the Old 
Testament, God's people, Israel,

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are described as a vine. 
Let me give you some examples. 

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This is Psalm 80, verse 8. 
You brought a vine out of Egypt.

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You drove out the nations and 
planted it. 

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You cleared the ground for it. 
It took deep root and filled the

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land. 
The mountains were covered with 

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its shade, the mighty Cedars 
with its branches. 

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Does any of this sound familiar?
God raising up a fast growing 

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plant to provide shade. 
We see the same language used in

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the other prophets. 
This is Isaiah 5 verse 7. 

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For the vineyard of the Lord of 
hosts is the House of Israel, 

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and the men of Judah are his 
pleasant planting. 

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And he looked for justice, but 
behold bloodshed. 

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He looked for righteousness, but
behold an outcry. 

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So what's the point? 
God appointed a plant to cover 

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Jonah, not to make him 
comfortable while he complained.

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No, God appointed a plant to 
cover Jonah to confront him with

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his character. 
Jonah was angry because he did 

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not want mercy for Nineveh. 
He wanted judgement. 

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So God appointed a plant to 
cover Jonah to show Jonah that 

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God alone is the righteous 
judge. 

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He alone is the one who judges 
sin, and he alone is the one who

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has mercy. 
And this righteous judgment for 

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sin doesn't just belong to 
Nineveh, a nation that warred 

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against God's people with great 
acts of evil, but that same 

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00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,440
judgment for sin belongs to 
God's people, Israel. 

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00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,760
It belongs to Jonah, and it 
belongs to you and it belongs to

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00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,440
me, because every one of us has 
sinned and fallen short of the 

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glory of God. 
Every one of us is a rebel just 

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like Jonah. 
Every one of us has gone our own

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00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:05,120
way. 
Every one of us has turned our 

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back on God. 
Every one of us is a traitor 

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00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,000
against his kingship and his 
Kingdom. 

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00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:17,080
And so after God appointed a 
plant, the very next day God 

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00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:23,360
sends a worm Look with me. 
Verse 7 But when dawn came up 

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the next day, God appointed a 
worm and attacked the plant so 

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00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,800
that it withered. 
Just as the image of the vine is

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used in the Bible to describe 
the people of God, so the image 

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00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,360
of a worm is used to describe 
sin and judgement. 

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00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:43,960
This is Deuteronomy 2839. 
You shall plant vineyards and 

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00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,800
dress them, but you shall 
neither drink of the wine nor 

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00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,960
gather the grapes, for the worm 
shall eat them. 

262
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:58,480
We have 3 red oaks in our front 
yard and just last night my wife

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00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:03,360
and I were talking about how 
they don't seem to be giving us 

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00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,600
beautiful fall color anymore 
because I guess we've reached 

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that age where we talk about our
plants on dates. 

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00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,360
And in particular, we were 
concerned and we are concerned 

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00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:16,560
about one of these three red 
oaks. 

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00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,960
It's the one in the middle. 
Because not only is it not 

269
00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,600
giving us fall color like it 
used to, but it looks sick year 

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00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,080
round. 
And our concern is that it has 

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00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:32,800
oak wilt, a disease that affects
oak trees in North Texas. 

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00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,720
The problem is, if it has oak 
wilt, there's really nothing we 

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00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,640
can do about it. 
We just have to watch it die. 

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00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:49,360
You see, this is the reason that
throughout the Old Testament, a 

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00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:56,120
worm and locusts are seen as one
of the worst acts of judgement 

276
00:20:56,120 --> 00:21:00,040
that God would give to his 
people because they were 

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00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,800
dependent on the things that 
they planted not just for their 

278
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:10,440
beauty, but bear their food. 
So God would send a plague of 

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00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:18,520
locusts or a worm to tear their 
crops away from them to decimate

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00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:23,400
their plants. 
All is an act of judgement. 

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00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:26,760
But God doesn't stop here with a
worm. 

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00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:32,920
Then he sends the wind. 
Verse 8 When the sun rose, got 

283
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,880
appointed A scorching E wind and
the sun beat down on the head of

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00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,920
Jonas that he was faint and he 
asked that he might die and said

285
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,400
it is better for me to die than 
to live again. 

286
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,080
The wind is a sign of judgement.
This is Jeremiah 18. 

287
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,400
Verse 15 But my people have 
forgotten me. 

288
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,000
They make offerings to false 
gods. 

289
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,560
They made them stumble in their 
ways and their ancient roads and

290
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,360
to walk into side roads not the 
highway, making their land a 

291
00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,920
horror, a thing to be hissed at 
forever. 

292
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,280
Everyone who passes by is 
horrified and shakes his head 

293
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,640
like the east wind. 
I will scatter them before the 

294
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:21,000
enemy. 
God sent an E wind, not just to 

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00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:27,720
fill Jonah's mouth with thirst 
so that in this dry wind Jonah 

296
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:34,200
would be beaten down by the sun.
But God sent this E wind as a 

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00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,480
sign of judgement. 
And so here is Jonah. 

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00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:45,160
He's angry, he's alone, and now 
he is weary and faint. 

299
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:53,280
God has once again brought Jonah
to the end of himself, and in 

300
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,400
verse 9 he asks him a question. 
Do you do well to be angry for 

301
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,480
the plant? 
Second time he's asked this 

302
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:03,360
question, Do you well to be 
angry? 

303
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,440
In other words, what good can 
your anger actually do? 

304
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,680
Can your anger for the plant 
actually bring it back? 

305
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,360
Jonah was angry about Nineveh, 
and now he's angry about the 

306
00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:24,160
plant. 
He's faint, he's weary, and he 

307
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,760
wants to die. 
And once again by his grace, God

308
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,360
has brought Jonah to the end of 
himself so that he could show 

309
00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:40,400
Jonah his judgement but also his
mercy. 

310
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,560
So 3rd and final thing we see in
Jonah's story, what is God like?

311
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:53,000
Our God is merciful. 
Verse 10, the Lord said you pity

312
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,000
the plant for which you did not 
labor, nor did you make it grow,

313
00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,000
which came into being in a night
and perished in a night. 

314
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,800
The word pity here I think is an
interesting word. 

315
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,680
It's not a word that we often 
use, at least I don't. 

316
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,680
You could translate This word is
mercy, but it's a different kind

317
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,200
of mercy. 
See, in the Bible, Hebrew gives 

318
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,840
us really two different words 
for mercy. 

319
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,440
And both of those words appear 
here in Jonah chapter 4. 

320
00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:29,120
The first appears in Jonah's 
prayer, Jonah 4/2 where Jonah 

321
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:31,320
prays. 
O Lord, is not this what I said 

322
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,800
when I was yet in my country? 
That is why I made haste to flee

323
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,360
to Tarsus, for I knew that you 
are a gracious God and merciful,

324
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,640
slow to anger and abounding in 
steadfast love, relenting from 

325
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,760
disaster. 
That's the first use of mercy, 

326
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,720
but the second word for mercy 
happens here in God's response 

327
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:59,440
to Jonah's angry prayer. 
Look again at verse 10 says the 

328
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:04,520
Lord said you pity the plant for
which you did not labor. 

329
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:10,000
The word for mercy here that is 
translated for us, pity is a 

330
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:16,760
mercy mixed with compassion. 
It teaches us that God's mercy 

331
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,920
flows out of his love. 
The image here is that when we 

332
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:26,080
have love and compassion for 
someone beneath us, a person or 

333
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,320
even a plant, we're broken 
hearted over them. 

334
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:38,520
It fills us with mercy for them.
God's mercy flows out of His 

335
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:42,960
compassion. 
And you need to understand that 

336
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,120
grace and mercy, though they're 
related, are different from one 

337
00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:50,840
another. 
If grace is getting what we 

338
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:56,640
don't deserve, mercy is when we 
don't get what we do deserve. 

339
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:06,000
Mercy has to do with judgement. 
God shows us mercy when though 

340
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:11,120
we deserve judgement because of 
our sin, He does not give us 

341
00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:16,800
that judgement. 
That's mercy not getting what we

342
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:22,120
deserve. 
And God here is showing Jonah 

343
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:28,360
what mercy actually is. 
But he's also showing Jonah that

344
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:34,920
his mercy is sovereign because 
it's tied to his judgement, just

345
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,680
as God alone as judge. 
God is the only one who can be 

346
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,480
merciful. 
And ultimately, This is why 

347
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:47,920
Jonah's angry. 
He's not simply angry at mercy 

348
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:54,200
as a concept or idea. 
No, he's mad that God is the one

349
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,280
who's merciful, because if he 
had it his way, he would never 

350
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:03,360
show mercy on Nineveh. 
He wants to be the judge, and 

351
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:07,360
God is reminding him in this 
moment, but not only am I alone 

352
00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:12,720
the judge, but God is saying I 
alone am the one who is able to 

353
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,680
show mercy. 
And so he tells Jonah, you pity 

354
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,280
the plant for which you did not 
labor, nor did you make it grow,

355
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,880
which came into being in a night
and perished in a night. 

356
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:24,760
In other words, he's putting 
Jonah in his place. 

357
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:29,600
He's saying here you are pitying
this plant, yet you did nothing 

358
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,800
to grow it. 
You did nothing to plant it. 

359
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,240
Jonah, do you not realize that 
in your life you have done 

360
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:45,520
nothing to sustain yourself? 
But God the Sovereign One has 

361
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,880
been there every step of the 
way. 

362
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,960
Jonah was angry about the mercy 
of God because he wanted to be 

363
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,280
the judge. 
And you and I are no different. 

364
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:04,520
And we are so quick to want 
judgement for the sins of 

365
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,640
others, while failing to realize
that that same judgement is what

366
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:14,360
we deserve. 
Apostle Paul puts it this way. 

367
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,040
Romans chapter 2. 
He says, therefore you have no 

368
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:22,400
excuse, O man, everyone of you 
who judges for passing judgement

369
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,560
on another, you condemn 
yourself, because you the judge,

370
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:33,600
practice the very same things. 
Jonah wanted to make himself 

371
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:38,840
judge, and in making himself 
judge he had mercy on himself. 

372
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:45,960
He had mercy on US, fellow 
countrymen of Israel, but he did

373
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:52,000
not want mercy for Nineveh. 
And here in this moment God is 

374
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,760
showing Jonah that he alone has 
the power of mercy. 

375
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,000
Verse 11. 
God says, Should I not pity 

376
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,960
Nineveh, that great city in 
which there are more than 

377
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,080
120,000 persons who do not know 
their right hand from their left

378
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,480
and also much cattle? 
You see, the same judgement that

379
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,200
Jonah wanted for Nineveh as the 
very same judgement that he 

380
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,560
deserved, and the very same 
mercy of God that Jonah was so 

381
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:24,040
angry about is the same mercy 
that he so desperately needed. 

382
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:30,560
And just like Jonah, it's that 
very mercy that you and I need 

383
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:35,000
this morning, the sovereign 
mercy of God. 

384
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,640
You see, because what the story 
of Jonah teaches us is that not 

385
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:45,520
only are we like Jonah, but we 
are just like the plant. 

386
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,640
We're just like the plant. 
There is nothing any of us have 

387
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:56,120
done to plant ourselves, to take
care of ourselves, or to make 

388
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,680
ourselves grow. 
We are completely and utterly 

389
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:07,640
dependent on God. 
We are literally at His mercy. 

390
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:15,160
And because of the worm of sin, 
every one of us is like a vine 

391
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:22,960
that has withered away and died.
But God, out of His sovereign 

392
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:27,720
mercy, did not just send us a 
fish or a plant. 

393
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:37,680
He sent his Son Jesus Christ. 
And on the cross, Jesus bore the

394
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:44,600
righteous judgment of God for 
our sin, so that you and I would

395
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:51,680
have mercy. 
And so, for every Sinner who 

396
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:56,000
trusts in His name, Jesus offers
this promise. 

397
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:02,960
I am the vine, and you are the 
branches. 

398
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:09,280
Whoever abides in me and I in 
Him, he it is that bears much 

399
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,000
fruit. 
For apart from me you can do 

400
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,520
nothing whatsoever. 
You feel this morning, however 

401
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:26,320
weary and faint and beat down by
life, however consumed with sin 

402
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,080
and anger. 
I want you to know that His 

403
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:37,560
mercy is greater because His 
mercy is sovereign and every one

404
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,720
of us. 
It's been called by Jesus to cry

405
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,360
out. 
Lord, have mercy on me, a 

406
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:50,680
Sinner. 
Jesus is the true Vine, whose 

407
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:57,800
love for you never Withers, 
whose sovereign mercies never 

408
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:05,920
come to an end. 
Jesus Christ, the true Vine, is 

409
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:12,800
gracious, and he's merciful to 
us, and his mercies are new 

410
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:18,480
every single morning. 
Let's pray, Father in Heaven, we

411
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:23,240
pray that that would be the cry 
of our hearts, not just one 

412
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,840
time, but every moment of our 
days. 

413
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:32,600
Lord, have mercy on us. 
Sinners, we thank you that you 

414
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,360
hear the cry of our hearts, that
you hear our prayer that you 

415
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,680
meet us with grace and that 
you've given us mercy. 

416
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:46,360
And we pray now that we would 
live out of that mercy, boldly 

417
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,280
sharing that mercy for a world 
that desperately needs it. 

418
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,040
We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
Would you please stand? 

419
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:53,840
Let's sing together.