Jonah 4

JONAH RECAP:
        ● Call
        ● Rebellion/Running
        ● Big Fish
        ● Repentance
        ● Call Again
        ● Nineveh
        ● Nineveh Responds
        ● God Relents

TWO HEARTS IN CONFLICT:
        ● JONAH’S HEART FOR JUSTICE (JONAH 4:1-3)
        ● GOD’S HEART FOR PEOPLE (JONAH 4:4-11)

TWO HEARTS IN CONFLICT: JONAH’S HEART FOR JUSTICE
        ● JONAH 4:1-3:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. —JONAH 4:1
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. —JONAH 3:10
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. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” —JONAH 4:2-3
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” —EXODUS 34:6-7

TWO HEARTS IN CONFLICT: GOD’S HEART FOR PEOPLE
        ● JONAH 4:4-11:

And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 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.

But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.

And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” —JONAH 4:4-11
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” —MATTHEW 18:21-22
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” —LUKE 6:27-28
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” —MATTHEW 6:14-15

ONCE YOU EXPERIENCE GOD’S GRACE, YOU NO LONGER HAVE A RIGHT TO WITHHOLD IT FROM OTHERS.

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

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. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.

When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” —JONAH 4:5-8

TWO HEARTS IN CONFLICT:
        ● JONAH’S HEART FOR JUSTICE (JONAH 4:1-3)
        ● GOD’S HEART FOR PEOPLE (JONAH 4:4-11)

When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” —JONAH 4:8-11

TWO TRUTHS TO HELP IN FORGIVENESS:
        1. YOU AND I ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY ARE.
        2. JUSTICE IS COMING SOMEDAY.