Jonah chapter number three, this morning I preached on Jonah chapters one and two and
so we're picking up the story where we left off in chapter three here.
The Bible reads in verse number one, and the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second
time saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh that great city and preach unto it the preaching that
I bid thee.
So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey and Jonah began to enter
into the city a day's journey and he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from
the greatest of them, even the least of them.
And word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe
from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
Now this story really tells us about two people that are being corrected.
Jonah is corrected by God because he was told in chapter one, Go preach to Nineveh.
He refused to do it.
So then God brought punishment to Jonah in the form of the storm that came upon his ship,
him being thrown overboard, swallowed by a whale, being in the belly of that whale for
three days and three nights and then being vomited up.
So now that Jonah has gone through that correction, through that chastening, now he's obeying
the Lord and going to Nineveh as he was originally told to.
Now the other man who's being corrected in this passage is the king of Nineveh, the one
who was a very wicked and sinful man and he was the leader of a sinful nation.
But the difference between the way these two men receive correction is huge because Jonah
is corrected and his heart is still not right.
He goes and goes through the motions and preaches just because he's afraid of what God's going
to do to him since God already put him in the whale for three days and three nights.
But as we read in this story, you're going to see that his heart hasn't changed at all.
Whereas the king of Nineveh actually has a real change of heart and he actually is a
good example of how to receive correction whereas Jonah is a bad example of how to receive
correction.
See the Bible says in verse number six, for word came unto the king of Nineveh and he
arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and
sat in ashes and he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his nobles saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.
Let them not feed nor drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and
cry mightily unto God, yea let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that
is in their hands.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not?
So one of the ways that the king of Nineveh shows his humility and his change of heart
is by proclaiming a fast and putting on sackcloth.
Now let me read for you some scriptures on this and if you would, flip over to First
Corinthians chapter number 11 and while you're turning to First Corinthians 11, I'll read
for you Psalm 35, 13 the Bible reads, but as for me, when they were sick, my clothing
was sackcloth, I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
So we see this statement in Psalms, I humbled my soul with fasting and then in Psalm 69
verse 10 the Bible reads, when I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to
my reproach.
So we have these two scriptures in Psalms, one says I humbled my soul with fasting and
the other says I chastened my soul with fasting.
I'll look down at your Bible there in First Corinthians 11 verse 30, for this cause many
are weak and sickly among you and many sleep, for if we would judge ourselves, we should
not be judged, but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not
be condemned with the world.
So notice he says if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we're judged,
we're chastened of the Lord.
You know one of those ways that we can judge ourselves or chasten our own soul is through
fasting.
That's a way that we can humble ourselves before the Lord and of course fasting is when
we abstain from eating food.
Sometimes fasting also involves abstaining from food and water, but that's a more extreme
fasting that would be done for a shorter period of time.
But the Bible talks about fasting as a way to humble oneself before God and the Bible
says that if we would judge ourselves, then we would not be judged.
You know a lot of times the reason why God has to come down hard on us and chasten us
is because we don't discipline ourselves.
We don't chasten ourselves and obviously I'm not talking about beating yourself like a
Catholic would do.
You know the Bible never teaches that nonsense of self-beating, but the Bible does teach
prayer, supplication, fasting, and afflicting our souls before God.
Go to Joel chapter 2, the book of Joel is another one of the minor prophets just a few
pages to the left of the book of Jonah.
Joel chapter 2 talks about this in verse 12.
It says, therefore also now sayeth the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart and
with fasting and with weeping and with mourning.
We're in Joel chapter 2 verse 13, and rend your heart and not your garments and turn
unto the Lord your God.
Rend means to tear and people would tear their garments and put on sackcloth, but here he
says rend your heart and not your garments.
He wants them to be humble.
He wants them to weep over their sin.
What does he want?
For them to feel bad about the bad things that they've done, to feel sorry about what
they've done, and he says that they should fast, that they should mourn, and that they
should rend their heart and not your garments, he said, and turn unto the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth
him of the evil, who knoweth of he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him,
even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God.
What's the Bible saying?
You know, when God's going to judge us for our sins, when we've done wrong, when we've
committed sin and God's angry, if we will humble ourselves, if we will fast, if we will
pray, rend our hearts and turn unto the Lord God, he will be merciful to us.
He will go easy on us.
He'll turn away from the fierceness of his wrath.
He will repent of the evil, the Bible says.
Evil means harm, and it's saying that he'll repent of the harm that he was going to do
unto you, whereas if we are stiff-necked, prideful, and arrogant, he's going to cloud
up and rain on us and punish us severely, and as the Bible says, he, the being often
reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
And so here, the Bible continues in verse number 15, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify
a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble
the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom
go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet, let the priests, the ministers
of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people,
O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.
Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God?
Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people.
So over and over again, the message of the Bible is that if people would actually feel
bad about the wrong things that they've done, actually acknowledge their sins, be sorry
for it, repent, turn unto the Lord God, then he will be merciful unto his people and he'll
go easy on the chastening and he will repent of the evil that he had thought to do unto
the people and he'll do it not.
Look at 2 Chronicles chapter number 7, famous scripture in 2 Chronicles chapter number 7.
Because remember, if we would judge ourselves, then we should not be judged.
But when we're judged, we're chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with
the world.
The Bible says in 2 Chronicles chapter 7 verse 13, if I shut up heaven that there be no rain,
or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their land.
Now mine eyes shall be opened and mine ears a tent unto the prayer that is made in this
place.
You see, when we know that we've done wrong, when we know that we've sinned, we need to
go to God, confess it and forsake it, and we need to go to him not with a cavalier flippant
attitude of, well I sinned but so what, everybody sinned.
No, we need to go to him broken.
We need to rend our heart.
We need to feel bad about it.
We need to weep before the Lord.
Maybe even fasting, mourning, depending on the severity of what we've done, and take
our sin seriously because it's a big deal to God.
This is how we find mercy from God.
Now not only just on an individual basis as believers, but this is how a nation gets mercy
from God.
And he looks at a nation and says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, that takes place in the heart.
And that's evidenced by the fasting and the sackcloth, etc.
But he says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.
The only way that our land tonight is going to be healed in the United States of America
is if we turn from our wicked ways tonight.
That's what needs to happen.
Singing God bless America, praying unto the Lord God without turning from our wicked ways,
God's not listening.
Because God said when they turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven.
Then will I forgive their sin and heal their land.
If we want God to heal the United States of America, we can't just continue walking in
sin and filth and iniquity and just expect, well if we talk a lot about God and Jesus
and if we talk a lot about the gospel, that's going to fix things.
No it isn't.
You have to turn from the wicked way in order to salvage the physical nation.
Now this is where people get confused between personal salvation, spiritual salvation in
the sense of going to heaven versus physical temporary salvation upon this earth.
What do I mean by that?
Well our nation is not one organism that has a soul, is it?
It's a great group of people.
Within that nation there are people that are saved and there are people who are not saved.
And whether or not those people are saved is based upon whether or not their faith and
trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior.
That's the only thing it's based on.
Because the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And the Bible says he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not
is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
So many scriptures talk about the fact that, you know, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should
boast.
So our salvation in the sense of going to heaven, in the sense of having eternal life,
is based on one thing, faith in Jesus.
It's not based on our works.
It's not based on our deeds.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God but we are justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And that term justified, a good way to remember it is just as if I'd never sinned.
Blessed is the man, the Bible says, to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
You know, just as if I'd never sinned, justified, declared righteous in the eyes of God by faith
through grace, not of works lest any man should boast, okay?
Just to make sure that we're clear on that, that's personal salvation but when it comes
to a nation being blessed by God, believing in Jesus isn't enough.
You see, when you believe in Jesus Christ, you're saved and you're going to heaven, right?
But does that mean God's going to bless your life if you continue living in sin?
No because the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
Be a son of God, have eternal life, be saved by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
But that doesn't mean that you're going to be blessed by God because if you're living
a life of sin, you're going to be chastened by God, right?
Now here's the thing, a nation doesn't have a soul that's going to heaven or hell.
It's filled with individuals and they have souls that are going to heaven and hell respectively
but a nation is just either judged in this life to be a nation that God can bless or
it's judged as a nation that God is going to curse and chasten and bring discipline
upon, okay?
So when it comes to straightening out a nation, it's by works.
It's by turning from the wickedness, turn from the evil way and do what's right.
When it comes to you getting the blessings of God on your life, it's all based upon your
deeds.
It's based upon you turning from the evil way, humbling yourself, okay, obeying the
commandments of the Lord.
That's how you get the blessing, okay?
So people are mixing up sometimes salvation and eternal life.
They're mixing that up with blessings in our life or blessings upon a nation.
You see, if every single person in this nation said, I believe in Jesus and even if every
person in this nation truly believed in Jesus in their heart but if the abortion continued,
if the drunkenness continued, if the fornication continued, God would not bless it.
In fact, he'd judge it even more harshly because he'd say, you should know better.
You're Christians.
You're saved.
You're believers.
So we have to understand the difference between a nation being spared physical judgment and
an individual person's salvation where they're spared hell and they're going to heaven.
Two totally different things, okay?
And we need to differentiate that.
Now go, if you would, to Jonah chapter 3 with that in mind, Jonah chapter 3 where we were
and we're going to see in a moment another major difference between these two men that
are being corrected.
The first difference we see is a difference in heart.
The king of Nineveh, he rended his heart.
He was really sorry.
He was really humble.
He really chastened his soul with fasting and that's why he and his nation were spared
physical judgment.
Jonah, on the other hand, although he did go through the motions and do what God told
him to do, his heart is still not right and I'm going to prove that to you in a moment.
But look, if you would, at the book of Jonah chapter number 3.
The Bible says in verse 9, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from
his fierce anger that we perish not?
Almost the exact wording from Joel chapter 2 when we talked about fasting and being sorry
and humbling yourself.
Look what it says in verse 10, and God saw their works.
So what did God see?
Their works.
Now yes, if we go up a few scriptures here, a couple of verses here in the scripture,
it does say in verse 5 the people of Nineveh believed God.
That's their faith, right?
Now faith is what gets us into heaven on a personal, individual basis, but is that going
to spare their nation from judgment if they continue in lies, robbery, blood, murder,
and deceit?
The things that God had said about Nineveh?
No, that's not going to fix it.
God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
So why did God not judge Nineveh?
Because he saw their works, okay?
He saw that they straightened things out, they turned from the violence, they turned
from their evil way, and they got right with God.
Now a lot of people, again, will try to mix this and here's what they'll say.
In order to be saved, you have to repent of your sins to be saved, they'll say.
But wait a minute, what does the Bible say here?
The Bible says God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.
So according to the Bible, turning from your evil way is works.
It doesn't say God saw their faith that they turned from their evil way.
No, no, no.
He said God saw their works because turning from your evil way is works.
So if somebody tells you, hey, salvation is by turning from your sins and believing on
Jesus, here's what they're saying.
It's works and faith, but that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says we're saved by faith, not of works.
The Bible says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
And as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto him, God impudeth righteousness
without works.
So we see here that when it comes to the nation physically being spared, it took works, okay?
But don't try to mix works with salvation or you're not saved because you have to believe
that it's by faith.
You can't trust your own works and your own deeds to save you.
Salvation cannot be earned by our deeds.
It's purchased by the blood of Christ and it's received as a free gift by grace through
faith.
So if somebody says, hey, you got turned from your sins to be saved, whoa, you're bringing
in works now.
You just added works.
That's what the Bible says here in Jonah 3.10.
Now flip over if you would.
Keep your finger and Jonah will be back there, but go to Matthew 12 because Matthew 12 is
a scripture that mentions this story.
We looked at it this morning for a different reason when we were talking about the scripture
about the son of man being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
But let's back up a little bit in the story and see another major difference between Jonah
and the king of Nineveh.
If we back up just a few verses in chapter 12 to verse 38, Matthew 12, 38, the Bible
reads, then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying, master, we
would see a sign from thee.
But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign and there shall no sign be given to it.
But the sign of the prophet Jonas.
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of
man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it
because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here.
So what's he saying here?
They're asking for a sign.
They want to see a miracle and they're basically saying if we see the miracle then we'll
believe.
But he said that it's an evil and adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign.
If you would go to 1 Corinthians 1, he says an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
For as Jonas, in the same way as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it
because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold a greater than Jonas is here.
You see, the men of Nineveh, they didn't see Jonah perform an amazing miracle, did they?
Jonah walked into town and he preached unto them the word of God.
That's where their faith was.
Their faith was in the word of God.
No miracle was performed by Jonah.
Now it's possible, we don't know the exact details because Jonah is a very short book,
it's possible that Jonah might have looked pretty rough from coming out of the belly
of that whale.
We don't really know how he looked but we can assume that he probably looked pretty
rough.
We can also maybe surmise that perhaps he brought up the fact that he had been swallowed
by a whale.
He might have even told that to them.
That might have been part of his preaching because we're only given one sentence of his
preaching.
One sentence.
We don't know what else he preached, okay, but he walks in and he's preaching and it's
possible that he talked about the fact that he had been in the belly of the whale but
here's the thing.
If he did mention that, which we don't know, and if he did look really rough as a result
of that, which we don't really know, they're still taking his word for it because they
didn't see him actually go into that whale and they didn't see him vomited out of that
whale so they would have just had to take his word for it.
In the end, it was all by faith.
It was just faith in the word of God that Jonah preached.
That's it.
So in 1 Corinthians chapter number 1, the Bible reads in verse number 18, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but none of us which are saved, it is the
power of God.
If you jump down to verse number 21, it says for after that in the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them
that believe.
So what's God's method for saving those that believe?
Preaching.
Preaching is how we get the faith because the Bible says faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel
of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
But look at the next verse, for the Jews require a sign.
What's that say about them?
That they're evil and adulterous?
What does the Bible say?
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.
He says, you know, the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach.
You see that?
So, you know, the Greeks would be sort of like, you know, down at ASU or something in
the science department where they think they're all real smart and professing themselves to
be wise.
They become fools.
He says they're seeking wisdom.
Not God's wisdom but the wisdom of the world.
The Bible says when the world in its, after, it's kind of a tongue twister so let me read
it here.
Verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God.
See that's not the path to God.
You know, seeking philosophy and man's understanding of logic and all these different, you know,
equations of, you know, you know, you think of guys like Plato who are trying to figure
out whether God exists using rationale and philosophy.
No, no.
That's not how the world's going to know God.
The Bible says that it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe so the Jews require a sign.
Why?
Because they're evil and adulterous.
The Greeks seek wisdom but it's the wisdom of the world which is foolishness with God
but we preach.
We give them neither.
We don't perform a miracle and we don't try to logic and rationalize with their scientific,
you know, philosophies and so forth.
No, no, no.
We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger
than man.
So what do we see here?
That the men of Nineveh, they're going to condemn the generation that Christ lived in
that was seeking after a sign because they repented at the preaching.
See, they just heard the word of God preached, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word
of God.
The word of God was preached by a man of God and they believed the word.
No miracle, no sign and here's the thing, God didn't even have to punish them.
I mean, did God have to punish them to get their attention?
Did he start rolling out the judgment on Nineveh and then partway through they repented?
No, no, it was just all through the preaching.
They just heard the rebuke, they heard the preaching and they got right.
Now let's compare that with Jonah because here's a great scripture from Proverbs chapter
17, the Bible reads in verse 10, a reproof, reproof is when you tell someone that they're
wrong verbally, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a
fool.
So here we see the king of Nineveh, he just gets a reproof.
He just hears a sermon preaching against him and it enters more into him than three days
and three nights and the whale's belly entered into Jonah.
Okay, look down at the Bible and Jonah and I'll show you what I mean.
Let's see the difference with Jonah.
The Bible says in verse 10 of Jonah 3, and God saw their works that they turned from
their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them
and he did it not.
Chapter 4 verse 1, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and he prayed
unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my
country?
Whoa there, buddy, why are you saying the same stupid stuff that you were saying before
you were in the whale for three days and three nights?
Listen to what he's saying.
Hey, isn't this what I said back then?
You idiot, that's why you just got punished severely and had to spend three days and three
nights in the whale, because what you said back then was stupid, but wasn't this my saying?
You know what this shows?
No change of heart here.
Still saying the same stupid stuff that he was saying before he got punished, right?
So the reproof entered more into the wise man, the king of Nineveh, than a hundred stripes
or the equivalent of a hundred stripes and to Jonah, he's being a fool and backslidden
Christians are always acting a fool and this is no exception.
It says he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying
when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled, trying to justify his sin now.
Well, here's why I did the sin that I did in a previous chapter.
Whoa, buddy, why don't you rend your heart?
Why don't you put on sackcloth?
Why don't you mourn and weep and say, God, I'm so sorry I ever doubted you.
You were so right about these people.
Look how they've turned unto you.
But no, there's been no change of heart.
Even though he went through the motions and even though he went and did the preaching
because he was supposed to out of fear, still in his heart he thinks he's right.
He still doesn't have a change of heart.
He's still not humble.
And so he says, Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious
God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repentance thee of the evil.
For now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than
to live.
I mean, this is just stubbornness.
Just go ahead and kill me, God.
Then said the Lord, and the Lord is patient with him at this point, he says, Doest thou
well to be angry?
So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made him a
booth and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city.
He still hasn't given up on the fact that God's going to destroy Nineveh.
I mean, think about how ridiculous this is.
The king of Nineveh has gotten right with God, the people of Nineveh, they got rid of
the violence, they straightened things out, they cleaned up the city, and that makes Jonah
mad because he wanted them to be destroyed.
He didn't like these people.
We talked about it all this morning, everything behind that, but he says, Well, I'm just going
to go watch and I want to see what God does here.
Like he's going to try to still convince God to still destroy it or something, or like
he's just hoping that somehow God's going to wipe this city out.
So he just sets up a little booth and just stubbornly sits there and just, you know,
I want to see what God's going to do.
I'm going to see what's going to happen to the city.
So he builds himself a little booth in the shade.
It says in verse 5, So Jonah went out of the city, sat on the east side of the city, there
made him a booth, sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become the city.
Verse 6, And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it
might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief.
So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
So apparently this little booth that he built was not the ultimate shade option, okay.
So basically God blesses Jonah by sending him a gourd.
Now when the Bible says a gourd, what a gourd is, it's probably what we would call in our
modern vernacular like a squash or something.
You know when you think of a gourd, it's that type of a vegetable, okay.
I'm not an expert on fruits and vegetables but that's basically what a gourd is.
Well the thing is the word gourd in the English language can either refer to the fruit of
that plant or the plant itself, okay.
So obviously it's the plant itself that's providing the shade here, the plant that produces
gourds, plural.
Now the only other mention of a gourd that I've seen in the Bible is where they shred
that gourd into the pottage in the days of Elisha and it ends up poisoning their whole
soup, right, because it was just some wild gourd and it messes up their food when they
shred it into the food.
So basically this plant you could kind of just refer to it as a weed because it's kind
of a worthless plant in the sense that it produces, you know, some kind of a fruit that's
not really something that is super useful, right.
So basically it's a weed and also we see here that the Bible says a few verses later at
the end of verse 10 that it came up in a night and perished in a night and that's how weeds
are, aren't they.
They kind of grow fast and then they just, they're gone, you know, and easy come, easy
go.
They don't have a big deep root or anything like that.
So anyway, God sends this gourd, God prepared a gourd and he made it grow really fast to
where just in one night he wakes up the next morning, he's got a better booth.
So I mean I guess God's looking down and I'm like, okay, you want to sit here and watch
the show?
Here, let me give you some better shade.
You can sit and watch nothing happen.
So he's real happy about the gourd and he sits there and Jonah was exceeding glad of
the gourd, says at the end of verse 6, but God prepared a worm when the morning rose
the next day and it smote the gourd that it withered.
So God gives him this real nice, here, let me help you with that shade and he just destroys
it, okay.
The next morning when it starts getting hot, it starts dying and withering, the sun's coming
through and he's really putting the heat on Jonah now.
And it says in verse number 8, it came to pass when the sun did arise that God prepared
a vehement east wind.
So first he destroys his gourd, then he sends this real mean wind coming in and just causes
the sun to beat down upon him.
It says in verse 8, the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted.
He's passing out, it's so sunny and hot and the wind is just blowing that hot air on him,
making it worse.
And it says he wished in himself to die and said, it's better for me to die than to live.
And God said to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?
And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured.
Neither made a stick grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand
persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much
cattle?
So the book of Jonah ends a little bit abruptly because we don't really find out, you know,
did Jonah listen to reason at the end of that rebuke or not?
My guess is he probably still didn't just go, oh yeah, I guess I'm wrong.
He probably just stubbornly had a bad attitude to the bitter end.
I mean, that's my guess because there's no recording of him getting right with God.
But what's God saying here?
Why did God go through that whole thing with the gourd and the worm and the wind and the
sun?
What's he showing him?
He's basically shown him that he loves a plant, you know, more than he loves people, more
than he loves these human beings.
He's saying, you know, you had pity on the gourd and you don't even pity hundreds of
thousands of people and they're dying and going to hell and you don't even care.
You're more worried about a plant.
And you know what the sad thing is today?
There are people today who are more worried about a plant than about soul winning.
I mean, they're more worried about gardening.
I mean, there are people that are pretty into gardening and they're really into having their
garden real nice, but they're not out working in the Lord's vineyard.
Oh no.
They're not out winning souls.
They're not out reaching people with the gospel.
They're not involved in the work of the church.
No, no, no, but their garden looks fantastic.
It looks amazing.
Their gourds are really great right around, you know, I mean, what do you do with a gourd?
Put it in a horn of plenty around Thanksgiving and take a picture of it, put it as a centerpiece.
You know what I mean?
That's pretty much what they're good for, a decoration, right?
It's not really the best food ever.
But we see here in this story a man who doesn't care about people anymore because he's so
self-absorbed, he's so backslidden that he's just only caring about himself.
And what's he caring about?
His personal comfort.
He wants to just have it made in the shade, nuts to everybody else.
And this is a terrible attitude.
We need to make sure that we always keep others in mind and especially the lost and especially
getting the gospel to the lost.
So what's the difference between the chastening in these men?
If you would go to Deuteronomy chapter 21, what's the difference?
Well first of all, first of all, the king of Nineveh, he rended his heart.
He was really humble.
He really had a change of heart whereas Jonah, even though he did what he was supposed to
do, he was only going through the motions and his heart was just as messed up at the
end.
Okay, here's another thing.
Number one, you know, it was a difference in the change of heart.
But number two, with Jonah, God's word wasn't enough for him.
God had to beat him into submission, beat him down, then he finally got it right.
Whereas the king of Nineveh just responded to the word of God, which should be enough
for us.
So what's it going to be in your life?
Is it going to take God bringing some pain, harm, evil and suffering into your life in
order to wake you up and get your attention and get you to do what's right?
Or is it enough to just come to church and hear the preaching of God's word and say,
you know what?
That reproof is going to enter into me more than a hundred stripes into a fool.
If you're wise, you just hear the reproof from the pulpit and you apply it to your life
and you get right with God.
You don't wait for the pain and the suffering and the harm.
You don't wait to be tortured for three days and three nights.
You just get right with God because the Bible said so.
Now here's the thing about it.
When we look at the story, the people who respond to preaching, they have a better change
of heart than the people who have to be beaten into submission.
Because the people who have to be beaten into submission, you know, sometimes they're just
going through the motions because they don't want to get to the next beating.
It's not that they really have the heart for it.
Now, truly the Bible teaches us to discipline our children because of the fact that, you
know, the Bible says over and over again, you know, he that spareth his rod hateth his
son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
The Bible says withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the
rod he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.
The Bible says, chasten thy son while there's hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.
So the Bible does teach us to use physical discipline but here's the thing, there has
to come a point in a child's life where it's not just physical discipline as the only reason
why they're doing what's right.
I mean, think about it.
If it's just because they're going to get spanked and that's the only reason why they're
doing what's right, then what's going to happen when they leave the house and go out on their
own, right?
They do everything wrong at that point because, you know, they were just doing it because
so there has to be a transition where it's not just the spanking that gets them to do
what's right but they actually love God and love their parents and want to do what's right
because it's the right thing to do.
And as they get older, they're still going to get spanked from time to time but hopefully
it's less and less.
Hopefully the spankings are not just constant because as they get older, they should need
less and less spanking.
Here's the thing, if they still need them, keep doling them out.
You say, well, what's the age when the spankings, there's no limit.
You're living in my house, you rebel against me, you're getting a whipping.
I don't care how old you are.
You want to be exempt from spankings, move out of my house, period.
This thing of and it's funny because people today, they think it's wrong to like spank
your kid if they're above 11, above 12, no more spanking.
Here's the thing about that.
If your kids are doing what's right, okay, but you know what?
A lot of teenagers need a whipping and I'm going to give it to them in my house if they
need it but I don't delight in it and honestly, hopefully by that age, it's going to be infrequent
but you know what, if it needs to be frequent, it's going to be frequent because of the fact
that that is something that is needed to train up a child in the way he should go according
to scripture.
Over and over, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth.
But there has to be a heart in the person who's being disciplined that wants to do what's
right.
Otherwise, a child could be like a Jonah, right?
Where mom and dad tell them not to do something and then they do it and then mom and dad bring
down the chastening and then they do it right now but in their heart they're thinking, I
was still right.
My parents don't know what's going on.
They're a bunch of old fuddy duddies and whatever.
That's the Jonah attitude and then God's going to have to scorch you and blow wind on you
and send worms to eat up your gourd and everything else.
God's just going to keep doing it.
Now here's an example in Deuteronomy chapter 21 of a situation where somebody's being disciplined
and they're just not getting the message, okay?
And this is like that scripture said in Proverbs.
He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that
without remedy.
Now this is one of those passages that the atheists love to bring out because they're
idiots, because the Bible says the fool has said in his heart that there is no God.
Those that believe that there's no God will say, oh, you believe the Bible?
Well the Bible says to stone a disobedient child.
No it doesn't.
The Bible says to beat a disobedient child.
But this is the passage that they're referring to because in the hardness of their heart
and in the wickedness of their reprobate mind they can't understand this scripture.
This scripture makes perfect sense to me.
In fact I like it.
In fact I'm preaching from it right now.
See I'm not going to go hiding from it.
It's Bible.
It's the word of God.
It's perfect.
Amen.
Look what it says.
Deuteronomy 21 18, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son which will not obey the
voice of his father or the voice of his mother and that when they have chastened him will
not hearken unto them.
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of
his city and under the gate of his place.
And they shall say unto the elders of his city this our son is stubborn and rebellious.
He will not obey our voice.
He is a glutton and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die.
So shalt thou put away evil from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Now a couple things about this story here or this law rather.
First of all the Bible is not just saying stone your disobedient child because every
child is disobedient.
No this is a stubborn rebellious child that is being disciplined and still refuses to
hearken no matter what discipline they bring.
He won't hearken and he's a glutton and a drunk and he's worthless to society.
That's what the Bible say.
Now not only that it's not the parents just killing their child.
Is that what it says?
Just kill him.
So they bring him to the elders of the city and all the men of the city come together
and say look this our son is a drunk.
He's a glutton.
We beat him.
He won't listen.
He won't get it right.
He won't obey.
And then they say okay stone him with stones then.
What does this mean?
What is the purpose?
And then he says in the last phrase there all Israel shall hear and fear.
See this isn't something that they constantly had to do.
They probably had to do this like once.
That way all Israel would hear and fear.
And I'll take it back.
They probably had to do it once in every generation.
Just as an example.
Just make an example.
Now what the real moral of the story here is that we have the state as it were backing
up the authority of the parents.
That's what we have in this passage.
We have society.
We have community.
We have government.
The elders of the city backing up the parents on their discipline.
And where the parents say hey we've disciplined him and he won't listen.
They're backing up the parents.
They're on the parents side.
They're not saying whoa you chasing them?
Let's take him away and stick him with a couple of sodomites as a foster child.
See what I'm saying?
This passage is actually a great passage.
And it actually makes sense.
You know if you had a guy who's just that bad.
Where he's being beaten.
They're telling him no.
And he just won't.
And then they're even saying we're going to take you down to the elders of the city.
They might kill you.
Shut up.
I'm going to do what I want.
You know what?
OK.
Let's go.
I mean it makes sense to me because you know what people like this that are just whipped
and won't listen and won't obey and they're drunks and they're gluttonous.
You know what?
This could become a dangerous criminal anyway.
They got to get rid of this guy.
He won't listen.
But see everybody in this world is so much smarter than God is.
So they mock this scripture.
They mock it.
They laugh at it.
There's nothing stupid about this.
It's great.
It's right.
Do it in every generation and then other people could hear in fear.
And you know what?
It'd be great if parents today could rely on the government to back them up in their
leadership.
But today it's quite the opposite.
The government wants to undermine the leadership of parents in the home.
And tell them not to discipline.
This scripture is just also symbolic, it's also symbolic of God's chastening that's saying
if you don't respond to God's discipline, he might just kill you eventually.
OK.
If you don't respond, he that being often reproved, hardened with his neck, shall suddenly
be destroyed and that without remedy.
Eventually it'll be too late.
And obviously when this kid is killed, you know what?
It's too late for him.
OK.
And again we're not talking about some tiny child here because he's old enough to be a
drunk.
I don't think this is like a 10 year old that's just a total drunk or whatever.
Obviously we're talking about an older, you know it's one of these adult children that's
still at home and he's just a drunk and whatever and acting a fool.
So bottom line of the story when we finish out the Book of Jonah chapters 3 and 4 is
that we see two men here both being corrected by God.
One of them, the word of God's enough for him and he gets his heart right and he's really
sorry and he feels bad about it.
The other guy, the word's not enough, he needs a beating in the form of being in a whale
for three days and three nights and then he still comes out with an attitude of I still
think I was right back in my home country.
Still attitude, still no heart that's right.
Look how is your heart toward the Lord when you sin or when you're rebuked for sin?
Do you have a tender heart where you're pricked at the heart, you feel bad about it?
You know the Bible says let your laughter be turned to mourning, let your joy be turned
to heaviness, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord that he may lift you up.
We need to get back to a Christianity amongst God's people that mourns over sin and weeps
over sin that feels bad and it doesn't just have this flippant attitude of just well I
sinned but so what.
That's the way our society is about sin now.
It's just like well I sinned, whatever.
No, no, we need a broken heart, a contrite heart and look how your heart is will determine
how hard God comes down on you.
You want God to go easy on you?
Confess and forsake and be sorry.
You want God to come down on you like a ton of bricks?
Well then just harden your heart and say I still think I was right.
I still don't think I did anything wrong.
And again this is not about salvation.
This is talking about after you're saved or this is talking about on a national level.
But when it comes to our personal salvation that's only through believing in Jesus.
It's not our works, it's not of works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy
he saved us.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for this story Lord and help us not to be like Jonah at this
stage in his life Lord where he's just hard hearted, rebellious, doesn't love.
He's lost the first love.
Help us to have a tender heart like the king of Nineveh and when we hear preaching Lord
help us to respond to it and help us to have real sorrow for our sin.
Not just one time but every time we sin Lord help it to grieve us like we know that it
grieves the Holy Spirit when we sin.
And in Jesus name we pray, Amen.