A Pouting Prophet

Evolution, I don't I don't get what kind of mind it takes to

have to, I mean, think of the things that we've learned from

just animals to figure out how to do things that we use now and

we think that it all happened just by evolution.

It just boggles your mind. But anyways, Jonah chapter 4

Jonah 4 · chapter mention

often the greatest test that I find that Christians have

usually come after the greatest victories.

You think of Christ in the Bible when after he just gets baptized

and hears the this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

The next thing he faces is Satan in the desert.

Think of Elijah after calling fire down from heaven, literally

in the same couple chapters he's running from Jezebel for his

life. So often Satan works so quickly

after a victory because I think Christians and and sadly, we, we

are this way that after a victory, we are the most

vulnerable. We're the most relaxed, We're

the most vulnerable, I guess would be the word to say.

It's, it's one of those things where we think we're, we're on

the mountaintop, we're on the peak and nothing can touch us.

And that's as soon as Satan wants us and and gets in there

and he always is trying to steal God's attention got tension away

from God. He's always trying to take our

eyes and focus off the one that it should be on.

And, and unfortunately here, one of the easiest ways I think

Satan gets that attention off of God is to get it on ourselves

and, and selfishness and, and focusing on us.

And here in Jonah chapter 4, Jonah's, Jonah's more concerned

Jonah 4 · chapter mention

with being right than the revival that just happened.

He's more concerned with himself than what just happened in an

entire city. James 4-5 says this way of what

what we must guard against spirit.

We must guard against the spirit that dwelleth in US lusteth to

envy. You're there chapter 4.

Actually, let's look at the verse before that, verse 10 of

of chapter 3. And God saw their works talking

about Nineveh, that they turn from their evil way.

And God repented of the evil that he had said, and that he

would do unto them. And he did it not chapter 4,

verse one. 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?

Therefore I fled before. I fled before unto Tarsus, for I

knew that thou art a gracious God and a merciful slow to anger

and of great kindness and repentance the of the evil.

Literally an entire city had just been turned over to God

quicker than I think any revival that we read in history.

And, and even the sad part is it took longer for God to get the

evangelist to do the revival than it did for God to have a

revival there in that city. But the sad thing is the only

person that that didn't have a revival was the evangelist

himself. The one that had the, the not a

revival message. Don't don't think that Jonah had

the message of repentant and, and be saved.

It was you are going to be destroyed Nineveh because of

your wickedness. You have 40 days and you will be

destroyed. But Jonah in his all knowledge

that he thinks he has praise hear to God about I told you you

were going to do this. I knew this is what you were

going to do. And pastor talks about it with,

you know, talking about a creation telling the creator, I

knew you were going to do this. What what what right does Jonah

have at all to say anything to God about basically thumbing his

nose at God? See, this is what was going to

happen. I should have just went to

Tarshish like I was going to do. Why'd you have to make me go

through the storm through the what bales belly of the whale?

Get me here when you were going to do this anyways, A pouting

prophet ultimately, I mean, think, think of what?

OK, a prophet is in today's word a not talking about prophetic

things, but he's basically a preacher in our terms.

We don't do prophetics anymore. We don't tell about the future.

God doesn't give that to us. But God gives God's word to the

prophet just like he does the pastor's.

He gives them word, the word, and he gives us the word of God

to teach and preach to others. And that's what Jonah is.

And and it just nobody in the right mind, no pastor, no, no

any person that's in charge of a church seeing a revival happen

would first go verse 4, but it displeased Jonah.

Wait a minute, you you literally just saw an entire city turn to

God and the first thing that comes to your mind is it

displeases you. And he it wasn't just like, man,

that bummer. I was hoping they were going to

get what was coming to him. The last part of that verses and

he was very angry. It wasn't just a well, I guess

this I kind of saw this coming, but Oh well, you know, I did

what I was supposed to do kind of thing.

No, he was angry. He was mad at God for doing what

God does. It's a pouting prophet.

Let's pray and we'll get into this lesson.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this morning for having

your word to be able to read and the examples that you give us.

God, I pray that we we learn from those examples, but more

importantly, we need to be in your word to even read about

those examples. I pray that you, you open your

word to each and every one of us this morning.

Give us eyesight and an open heart and an open mind to hear

and see what you want us to see through Jonah that you've

preserved throughout all eternity.

You've preserved this story for us to learn from, just to see

what it was like and to see what changes we need to make in our

life. I pray that you be glorified

through everything. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

The first thing is it's a selfishness.

Second Timothy 31 says it this way.

This know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come.

Now, now we like to think of, you know, corrupt government

people that do whatever they want and and moral indecencies

and political corruption, horrible crime and everything.

But the rest of that verse is different than what we would

think. The rest of the verse tells us

that for men shall be lovers of their own selves.

It's selfishness that talks about.

What that perilous time is, is men being selfish.

DL Moody used to say, the man that I fear the most is the man

underneath this hat. Lincoln, before he became

president, was asked this by a reporter.

Who of all the candidates do you fear the most?

And he said, yes, I do fear one of them.

And the reporter asked him which one.

And he responded, a man named Lincoln.

If I am defeated, I will be defeated by a man named Lincoln.

Every single person in Jonah chapter 3 experienced revival

Jonah 3 · chapter mention

except for Jonah and I. And I think that it's one of

those things that God knew that was going to happen, But God

gave Jonah a choice. God gave Jonah a chance.

Jonah could have said, praise God, look at what happened.

Thank you, Lord for your loving kindness, your mercy and your

grace to keep these people alive and look at this entire city is

now turned towards you. God gave him that option.

It wasn't a of course Jonah was going to be mad.

And I think like, like I said, we've said throughout this

thing, when, when Jonah went on to the ship, yes, the storm was

to show Jonah, hey, get your attention, John, I'm trying to

get your attention. But it was also for those people

on the sailors on that ship to understand who the true God was.

When, when, when he gets thrown into the sea and get swallowed

by a whale. I'm pretty sure everybody on

that, that sailor that was on that ship realized, oh, that

Jehovah was the real one, that, that the sea is totally calm.

And now Jonah's going deep. That was the real God.

It was for Jonah, but it was also for the sailors.

Just like now we see Nineveh is saved and turned to God and a

revival happens. And that, yes, it was for

Nineveh, but it was also for Jonah.

It was God testing to see, OK, Jonah, what's more important,

you being right or souls being saved?

What's more important in your life?

And unfortunately, Jonah goes the wrong direction.

He is all about himself. Selfishness, pity parties, who

loves having pity parties, who love being around people that

have pity parties. It is never a happy ending.

It is never something. Even when you're in the pity

party, if you are the one having the pity party, you're not even

happy. But sadly we get into that

corner so quickly, so easily, and Paul reminds us that

selfishness kills joy in Philippians 2 two it says,

Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded.

Having the same love being of 1 accord of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in

lowliness of mind, let each let each esteem other better than

themselves. Look, not every man on his own

things, but every man also on the things of others.

It's not talking about cheating. It's just that that was always

the in school. I'm just doing what the Bible

says. Don't look at my own paper.

Look at the other person's paper.

But anyways, too often when we serve God and perhaps we're

doing it something right, we're doing what is right, but it's

not because of we're trying to serve God.

We're trying to get what it's out of it for us.

We're we're serving, we're doing things, but it's to please me.

It's to get me up in front of everybody.

It's to get me to, to get praise because of oh, nobody came out

on Saturday, but Josh did. Yes, I was there.

Well, I did it for the wrong reason.

It wasn't to serve God, it was because I wanted to be getting

praise that selfishness. First Corinthians 1032 says even

as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own

prophet, but the prophet of many that they may be saved.

Paul specifically says I don't do it because of me.

I'm here as a missionary to keep people saved, not because I want

to be written down forever and have a recorded list of

everything I've done for all eternity and I want the praise

of all the people and be called the greatest missionary and the

greatest Christian in history. I do it that they may be saved.

There was a difference and Jonah, again, Jonah didn't have

the message of repent and and be saved.

He had the message of you're going to be destroyed.

So there's a little bit of a difference, but he, I think for

as much as Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh, I think he loved

saying that prophet I love. I think he loved being the one

that said, hey, guess what? All your wickedness, you're

going to get what's coming to you finally.

You're finally going to get what is dealt to you, what you should

have gotten a long time ago. 40 days.

Count them. I am.

I think Jonah was quite ready and quite happy about the

prophecy that he was going to give.

Whether in the ministry or in your family, in society.

Love, the Bible says, seeketh not her own.

Selfishness kills any kind of joy.

Selfishness is almost the same in close relation to jealousy.

But jealousy is a little different than selfishness.

Jealousy is that it, it likes it.

It doesn't like good happening to others.

It it doesn't want you to to to be blessed.

It doesn't want you to have anything happen to you.

Selfishness is just what's good to happen to me.

But they're so close and they cap in so much to where they

they overlap. And here in Jonah, we see Jonah

dealing with both. Think think of Jonah.

He just disobeyed God, got on a ship, went through a storm,

sense was jumped, thrown overboard, goes into the belly

of the whale for doing what disobeying God wants.

All right, I'm going to go to Nineveh, who's literally the

wickedness has gotten so bad there that God says I'm

destroying it. And in a matter of days, God

Forgives them and wipes them clean.

They don't even get a storm. They don't even get half the

wall falling. Buildings don't fall.

No whale comes out. I think Jonah wanted some whale

time for those people. I think Jonah was mad because he

only did one wrong thing and has to deal with all the problems

that he dealt with. But these people that have so

wickedness that God wants to destroy him, get off so easy is

the ways. I think it inhuman.

That's how we would think I did one wrong thing.

You've had a mountain of stuff. It'd be like somebody that

steals for the first time gets the death penalty versus

somebody that has murdered an entire city and they go, well,

you said sorry, so you're good now.

Well, wait a minute. That's not justification.

Where's justice in this whole thing?

I think that's what Jonah was dealing with.

That's why he got so the Bible says was very angry.

He was so mad that these people that were going to be destroyed

got off Scotch free. He was jealous, the Bible says

in Genesis 37. For think of other people that

have jealousy throughout the Bible, Genesis dealing with

Joseph's brothers. And they were jealous of Joseph.

And the Bible says, And when his brothers saw that the father,

their father loved him more than all his brother, and they hated

him, and could not speak peacefully unto him.

Saul with David, when David slew Goliath, and afterwards was

fighting the Philistines, the Bible says, And Saul was very

wroth, and they and the saying displeased him.

And he said, They have ascribed unto David 10 thousands, and to

me they have ascribed but thousands.

And what can he have more but the Kingdom?

Think of, think the prodigal son.

We don't really have anything, but when when the son leaves,

the older brother doesn't have a problem with it.

The interesting thing if you read there, the father didn't

just give the old, the younger son his portion.

It says the Bible says that the father split gave both of them

their portion. The older brother didn't have a

problem with it. He wasn't going to.

Why is he going? He was, he enjoyed it.

He was glad about that. When did he get angry?

When did he get jealous? When the son came back, what

when? When repentance was given, when

forgiveness and grace and mercy happened, that's when the elder

brother was angry. Luke 1520 says 28 says and he

was angry and would not go in talking about the feast that

they were having because his brother came home.

He was jealous because of what had happened.

Proverbs 634 warns us and says for jealousy is the rage of a

man. Jealousy and selfishness is what

we find in Jonah and it's warning us don't have what Jonah

has. Don't be like Jonah.

When something that God does happens, God, God blesses

somebody in church and and gives them a new car.

Are you happy about it? Are you jealous?

That man? I've been working, trying to do

this. I've been praying longer than he

has and my car is now in the shop.

Which is it? Jealousy and anger go together.

The last part of that verse of verse one and he was very anger.

Angry. Anger is 1 short word one letter

short of danger. I don't think that's a goof up

or happenstance that be that way.

I think there's a very easy correlation that anger, if left

to go, brings danger. It's interesting to note that

that as we talked about in in Joseph's life with his brothers,

that in King Saul and the elder son that all had jealousy

towards the brother or or towards David or towards the

brother. Every single one dealt also with

not just jealousy, but it turns to anger.

Anger. Have you ever had somebody that

always has a chip on the shoulder no matter what you do?

Hi. Oh, how are you doing?

I'm fine. OK.

One of those people that you're like, I'm going to stay away

from this person. I was nice and that was it.

That's all. I'm going to go.

I'm not. I'm going to skirt around the

edge to say hi to them. And when we shake hands, I'm

going to go this way because they're going to stay in their

seat or they're walking this way.

There's somebody to avoid. When people have anger issues,

they're always angry about everything.

And they did not even the thing that they're angry about

everything will tick them off. The littlest thing will.

It's like, you know the the needle that broke the camel's

back or the fuse that finally got lit.

Do you find yourself angry when others are rejoicing about

dealing with jealousy? Do you find yourself mad that

somebody else got a blessing? Not just jealous, but angry

about it. The worst part is Jonah's not

angry with Nineveh. He's angry at God.

He's not mad that the king repented and got right with God.

He's not mad that with the Ninevites, he's mad with God.

Just like Pastor talks about the, you know, something that

you make out of clay coming up and mad at you because you made

it not smoosh you. I mean, I really think, and it's

a good thing that we're not God, because I think a lot more

people would be smooshed. But God has a specific purpose

in a plan, and the Bible says that His plans are perfect.

It doesn't matter whether it goes our way or the way we want

it to go. If it goes the way God wants it

to go, we need to be joyful because of it, not angry and

displeased exceedingly like Jonah was.

He called. God says it this way in

Ecclesiastes 79. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be

angry. Listen what he calls people that

are angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

If you're somebody that loses their top blows, the top gets

angry all the time. God says you're a fool.

If you let anger fester, you're a fool.

And that's not, you know, goofy like you're a foolish person.

Fool. In the Bible, there's two

different ways of being called fool.

Foolish like a clown, like goofy stuff.

But a fool here, a fool, the Bible says, says there is no

God. There's a big difference between

being goofy and being a fool, according to the Bible, and

that's why it's so important to realize how much this means.

Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Somebody said, well, my anger only lasts a little bit.

It's it's short, I get over it quick.

OK, last time I checked, the nuclear bomb went off quick.

Pretty devastating though. Anger has no place in a

Christian's life. Righteous anger that God, that

Christ, shows. There's a difference between

righteous anger and what we see here is a jealous anger.

Anger, according to this flesh, has no place.

Matthew 522 warns us of the results of anger.

But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his

brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

There's a disgrace of anger. You're called a fool.

You're in danger of the judgment.

Proverbs 1417 tells us he that is soon angry Dealeth foolishly.

And a man of wicked devices is heeded.

Hated. I can't even read writing hated

there. There's also a damage of anger.

Think of this story a Quaker man.

You know, Quakers are always peaceful.

They they don't they don't get mad.

They don't go to war. They don't.

That was the the staple of a Quaker man.

A Quaker man owned a a very ornery cow and he goes out and

every time he deals with this cow, it's almost like a clash.

Cow doesn't want to be milked, but the, the Quaker man can't

really do much about it. Can't beat the cow because

that's against being a Quaker. Can't, can't force the cow.

So the Quaker man decided, I'm going to, to milk old Bessie.

And I'm going to do this the right way and I'm not going to

lose my cool. I'm going to do everything

right. And he sits down and gets ready

to, to milk old Bessie. And of course, the first thing

old Bessie does is move her foot and step on his.

Now, I don't know if you've ever been stepped on with a cow, but

that's a lot of weight. But old Quaker man said I got

this, bites his tongue, finally gets his foot free of her hoof

and sits back down. And her tail starts going like

this all in his face. So he moves over without getting

mad, without saying a word, moves over and starts milking

her. And halfway through getting all

that warm milk, she reels that leg up and Powell goes that

pale, all half of that milk. And if you've ever milked a cow,

that usually is the straw. For me, it was the straw.

When it's I'm not, I'm not a milker.

But when you finally get going and you're like, all right, I

got it going and there goes everything you just did.

That was usually the straw for me.

But the Quaker man said, Nope, I promised I'm not going to get

angry. So he picks up the pail, sets it

back down and finishes everything.

And he picks up the bucket after being done.

And boy, he's, I mean, he's, he's at the tip of, of what we

would say that the top is going to blow.

But he decides I'm not going to do anything.

And he shook his head. And he gets the he walks around

to the front of the cow, and he says this, Thou dost know that I

am a Quaker. Thou dost know also that I

cannot strike thee back, but I can sell you to a Presbyterian.

Getting a handle of your anger is probably the for men, I think

is the most important thing for men to deal with.

As a Christian, it's so easy for us to, to get angry like that.

And like I said, if, if something goes wrong at work, as

soon as you get home, everything is on a knife, kid does

something. It's not.

It's not that you're necessarily mad that, I don't know, your kid

did something silly or dumb or whatever, but you have the

weight of all the day waiting to just blow.

And I think that's one of the most important things that a

Christian man has to learn to control is his anger and to be

able to keep it inside. First Corinthians 925 says and

every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all

things. We have to have self-discipline

in our own spirits. Proverbs 1632 says it this way.

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he

that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh the city.

Not only do our actions get us in trouble, but a lot of times,

mostly it's our reaction that gets us the most in trouble.

How do you react when something happens?

How do you react when, not necessarily this case where

something great happens, but when bad things happens in your

life, when you're at work and something bad happens, How is

your testimony with those that you work with?

Are you the one that everybody's like?

Oh boy, what's he going to say? I ain't going to tell him

because the wrath that comes out of him, I ain't saying that I

ain't going over to him. Are you the one that they know

because you're a Christian, that you're going to handle it right?

That you're going to react correctly?

The last part here, verse 2. And he prayed under the Lord and

said, I pray thee, oh Lord, was not this my saying when I was

yet in my country? 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. How low do you have to go to

blame God? I mean, I mean honestly, how low

do you have to get in your Christianity?

Not not saying that something as bad has happened, but something

great has happened. An entire city has turned to God

and and Jonah, the first thing that he does is blame God and

then tries to use God's attributes as an excuse for what

he did for disobeying God. We can never question God's ways

what we I mean, we can, but God's ways are perfect.

God's ways are set in and sure, Isaiah 55, eight says, for my

thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your neither

are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways

higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Psalms 1830 says for as As for God, His way is perfect.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.

Psalms 14717 Be careful what you think towards God.

Be careful the way that you handle what happens in your

life, your reactions to the way that what God does for you.

God may put you in a trial. Be careful how you react to it.

God may bless you. Be careful how you react to it.

Romans 918 turn there. Romans 918 We don't need to

question God's acts, God's judgments, God's mercy.

He doesn't have to explain himself.

And perhaps if if we were, and I think most of us probably would,

we probably would have destroyed Nineveh, We probably would have

said that you deserve this Nineveh done.

But we don't, we don't possess God's grace.

We don't possess God's mercy that he has you're there.

Verse Chapter 9, verse 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom

he will have mercy, and whom he will have he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say unto then unto me, Why dost thou yet find fault for

who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou

that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto

him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus?

Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to

make one vessel unto honor, and another under dishonor?

The Bible says you have no right to say anything to God about the

way He does things. God doesn't need to explain it.

God doesn't have to tell you why He did something.

Just know that His way is perfect.

Why did my father pass away so early right when it was finally

filmed? Like I had a dad, again, why?

I don't have a reason. I don't have a leg to stand on

to be able to ask God why I don't have a reason to be able

to say you were wrong about doing this.

God's way is perfect. I may not understand it.

Jonah may not have understood why.

Why of everything God, would you have me go to give a prophecy

that you knew ahead of time was going to to not happen?

Why would you do that to me? But God doesn't have to answer

him. God was concerned with Nineveh.

Yes, He wanted to destroy it because of their wickedness, but

He was concerned about those souls.

Don't ever think that like Noah's flood.

God didn't love all those people that He killed.

God loved every single one of those wicked sinners, just like

He loved Noah. But the Bible says that Noah

found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

It was because Noah's righteousness that the Bible

talks about that that's what saved him and his family.

But don't ever think that God hated those other peoples that

that he killed and and drowned in the flood.

God loved them just the same as he loved Noah.

Just like today, God loves every single person on this earth,

loves every single Sinner. I don't care whether you're the

least Sinner or you're the worst one in death row, or you're the

homosexual or you're the fill in the blank.

God loves that person. But the sin has to be judged.

And what happened here was the sin was taken care of so that

love could be flown freely. That mercy was able to be shown

because the sin problem was paid for.

But Jonah didn't care. And then the last part, we'll go

quick. The last part of that verse and

he talks about, Oh Lord, was this not my saying when I was

yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto

before unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a

gracious God and a merciful slow to anger and of great kindness

and repentance the of evil. Don't ever think God's grace is

an excuse for your disobedience. Don't ever think that you

getting away with your sin is because God loves you and

because God is just not going to judge that sin.

Be sure your sin will find you out.

The Bible says Jonah used God's attributes to say that's why I

disobeyed. I'm justifying why I disobeyed

you because if I knew who you are, don't ever get to that

point as a Christian. That's a very, very, very fine

line you're walking on. When you start using God's

attributes to justify your sin, you're not just backslide,

you've fallen over and you it's it's it's going to be real hard

of a life for you. The way of a transgressor is

hard. First, Peter 222 says it this

way, who think of Christ, think of the the, the one person in

life, in history that didn't deserve what he got.

Christ who hung on the cross, bled and died and destroyed his

body for you and for me. And the Bible said who did no

sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was

reviled, reviled not again when he suffered, he threatened not,

but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

Next time that you think you got the raw deal, think of this

cross. You know, when, when we I'm

done, when we have problems happen in our life or we have

issues or, or trials that come in our life.

I think if we would understand how small that trial, how small

that sin that we're getting tempted to do, how insignificant

it it is when faced with what Christ had to deal with, we

would understand. I don't need to yield to this

temptation. I don't I my, my circumstances

aren't as bad as what I think they are when we compare it to

what Christ had to go through. We should have joy, we should

have rejoicing through the fact that God wants to temper us.

Why are you going through a trial?

Because God cares about you, Jonah.

You just saw a an entire city be turned around and saved for God.

Yes. Did it ruin your whole career?

Yes. Can you say anything now

prophetic? No, because nobody's going to

believe you. You are now a false prophet.

Your whole livelihood is done, but what's more important?

Those souls being saved? Are you having a job as

Christians? Those souls mean more anything.

Those souls are what made Christ come to this earth and die.

Your job means nothing compared to those souls.

And we need to have that grasp and that understanding of not

being selfish, not being jealous and being careful about what we

get angry about. And for sure you be be careful

what you say and react to God about what he does.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so

much for your word for for what you've given us and preserved

for us to have for this generation and it forward.

God, I pray that we read it, that we learn what's in your

word, that we we cherish what you've given us.

And God, I pray that we we not forget what you gave us

ultimately, when you sacrifice your whole, your only son for us

because of us, I pray that we we get a re understanding and a

refocusing on how much that cost you versus what we deal with

every day. It means nothing compared to

what you deal with. God, I thank you for your mercy

and your grace that you showed to us every day and not giving

us what we deserve. I pray that you be with pastor

as he brings the the message this morning, filling with your

spirit as well. And I pray that you be here that

you you meet with us this morning and that you be praised

and honored through everything that happens here today.

And Jesus name I pray, Amen.