Do You Do Well?

Thank you very much, Sean. That was very kind. It is always a blessing to be able to come down and preach here or just be with you all.

I can't begin to tell you how much joy it brings to me when, you know, the amount of times that Sean and I prayed at King of Grace for what I see now.

So it's an answer to prayer, right? This is a miracle. This is really amazing.

And so I think sometimes, like, I don't even know you and I prayed for you. What a blessing, right?

I mean, yeah, I hope you all are as encouraged to be here on a Sunday as I am to stand here and look at and see you all on a Sunday.

So, yes. All right. He wants me to move on, no doubt. So we're going to be preaching from Jonah today.

And we'll be reading, we'll start our reading, actually, in Jonah 3, 6, and we'll go to Jonah 4, 4.

I'm only going to be preaching from Jonah 4, 1 through 4, but we're going to go ahead and, for context, pick it up a little earlier than that.

If you're not familiar with where Jonah might be, it's after, for instance, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Lamenta, it's after all of those.

It's right after Obadiah, that one pager. And when you get to heaven, Obadiah is going to be there and he's going to say, did you read my book?

Don't walk in the door and say, Obahu. All right. So make sure you read Obadiah's book, too.

All right. So just to give you some background, because we're going to drop it in kind of late into Jonah here.

Jonah initially starts in chapter 1, where Jonah is being called by God to go to preach to the Ninevites.

That's a country, a city in the country of Assyria. They're the enemy of Israel, and Jonah has no interest in following God's words.

So in chapter 1, we see him, instead of going east to Nineveh, he goes west, about 5,000 kilometers.

That's his goal, to a city called Tarshish, and he runs away in the other direction.

That boat eventually, God brings a storm and causes the boat to flounder.

The sailors are trying to keep the boat afloat.

Jonah says, I'm your problem here. Throw me overboard, and the seas will get quiet.

They don't want to do that, but eventually they do. They throw him overboard.

The seas quiet down, and chapter 1 ends with Jonah being swallowed by a fish.

Chapter 2, we have Jonah's little experience in the belly of the fish going down to the bottom of the ocean.

And if you were to pick up in there, in the end of chapter 2 is Jonah's resolution to it.

It says, when my life was fainting away, I remember the Lord, and my prayer came upon you into your holy temple.

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

And the Lord spoke to the fish and vomited Jonah out onto dry land.

Now, just as a real caveat there to understanding that a little bit, Jonah is kind of saying,

hey, those people out there who worship idols, they don't deserve your salvation.

But me, I do.

Because I follow what you say.

I deserve your salvation.

All right, Jonah 3, he now gets to Nineveh, and God again calls him to cry out to Nineveh.

And he says that he is to call out, in verse 4,

yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Now, unlike every other missionary I have ever met,

the people immediately repent and turn to God.

And that makes Jonah really angry.

We're going to pick up in chapter 3, verse 6.

All right.

Now, the word of the Lord reached the king of Nineveh,

and he arose from his throne, removed his robe,

covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

He issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh,

by the decree of the king and his nobles,

let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

Let them not feed or drink water,

but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,

and let them call out mightily to God.

Let everyone turn from his evil way

and from the violence that is in his hand.

Who knows?

God may turn and relent

and turn from his fierce anger

so that we may not perish.

When God saw what they did,

how they turned from their evil way,

God relented from the disaster

he had said he would do to them,

and he did not do it.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,

and he was angry.

And he prayed to the Lord and said,

O Lord,

is not this what I said

when I was yet in my own country?

That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish,

for I knew that you were a gracious God

and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,

and relenting from disaster.

Therefore,

therefore now,

O Lord,

please take my life from me,

for it is better for me to die than to live.

And the Lord said,

do you do well to be angry?

May God bless the reading

and the hearing of his word.

Let me pray.

Father,

Father,

thank you,

Lord God,

for these words.

Thank you for the book of Jonah.

We thank you for what it reveals

in our own hearts.

Lord,

today,

as we prepare to preach and hear,

Lord,

I just ask

that you would prepare our hearts

to receive the word.

Lord,

give us ears to hear,

eyes to see,

hearts that are soft.

And Lord,

be faithful to your promise

that your word never goes out

and comes back void.

Transform us today.

Conform us to the image of your son.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So the title of today's message

is,

Do You Do Well?

Imagine

you were to sit down

in your living room

this evening

and God

met you there.

Like,

literally pops up.

Boom.

There he is.

And he says,

Do you do well?

Now,

this is God

asking you.

This is the God

who

nothing under the sun

is hidden from.

This is the God

who sees in the dark

as if it were light.

The God

who has written

all the number

of your days

in his book

before there was one.

This is the God

who knits you together

in your mother's womb.

Who knows

the words

of your mouth

before they

are spoken.

Who knows

the thoughts

of your mind

before you think them.

And who knows

the desires

of your heart

before you recognize them.

Imagine God

our God

enters into

your room

tonight

and says,

Do you do well?

Do you do well,

Stephen?

Do you do well,

Enza?

Do you do well,

Taylor?

Do you do well,

Mike?

What do you say?

This is God.

He's not going

to let you

get away

with this casual

I'm good,

all set.

He's not going

to let you

get away

with that shallow

answer

because he

already knows.

He already knows

that you're not

all good

and you're not

all set.

He already knows

the depth

of your depression.

He already knows

the hopelessness

you feel,

the frustration,

the bitterness,

the anger

that you're experiencing.

He knows

all of those

things already.

See,

he's not going

to let you go

because

he loves you

and he wants

to see you

set free.

he won't

let you go

with that

shallow answer

of all set

because

he is working,

actively working

in your life

to conform you

to his own image.

See,

this is the story

of Jonah.

In truth,

the sailors,

the fish,

even the Ninevites

really,

are background

to what God

is doing

in the life

of Jonah

to conform

him to himself.

God is,

throughout the story,

showing Jonah

his own

personal idols.

That is,

the things

that Jonah

holds more valuable

than God.

Namely,

his love

for his nation

and his own

self-righteousness.

Let me just say

that God

is after something

in every one

of you

as well.

Every one

of us

has things

that keep us

from wholeheartedly

loving

and following

God.

Every one

of us

has,

at some point,

drawn a line

in the sand

and said,

God,

I will follow

you anywhere.

I will do

anything you ask

except maybe

this thing

here

that I've put

in this box.

I don't want

to cross

that line.

But anything

other than that,

I'll do.

See,

you can apply

it in your life

as well,

I'm sure.

You've all,

we've all

drawn that line

and said,

I'm not

willing to go

past this.

We've all

put a box

around something

and said,

I'm just not

willing to give

that thing up.

But I'll do

anything else.

See,

but those

lines you

don't want

to cross,

that box

that you

want to keep

that special

thing in,

those are

your idols.

In the first

three chapters

of Jonah,

we see

some of

Jonah's

idols.

Jonah

runs

from God

because he

does not

want to

take God's

message

to Nineveh.

Why?

Jonah

knew

that if

he declared

God's

message,

the Ninevites

would repent.

And if

the Ninevites

repent,

repent,

then God

will have

mercy

and relent

and not

destroy them

as he

promised.

The kingdom

of Israel

hated

Nineveh.

They hated

the Assyrians.

they hated

them because

they were

an empire

that was

going after

the same

lands,

the same

contested

lands that

they were

fighting over.

They hated

the Assyrians

because they

were evil.

They were

violent.

And they

hated the

Assyrians

because they

weren't

Israelites.

Jonah hated

the Ninevites

because they

were not

us.

They were

them.

The Ninevites

were Jonah's

enemy.

And because

he wanted

nothing to

do with

compassion

and mercy

on his

enemies,

he had

run away.

Jonah

wanted the

destruction

of the

Ninevites

and all

the Assyrians.

Jonah drew

a line in

the sand

and it

was called

judgment

and destruction.

God

called him

to step

over that

line and

follow him

into

compassion

and mercy.

Jonah put

a box

around his

thing called

national

interest

and God

asked him

to drop

that precious

box of

national

interest

and embrace

God's

plan

to have

compassion

and mercy

on Nineveh.

National

interest

was an

idol

for Jonah

and God

was calling

him to

throw that

down,

to step

over that

line

and follow

him.

As we

see in

chapter 4

verse 1,

God's

compassion

and mercy

made Jonah

angry.

In fact,

a direct

translation of

that word

anger would

be it made

him burn.

He was

furious with

God.

He was

seething.

Can you

relate to

that?

I can.

I can.

Yeah.

In 1991,

February 24th,

remember Sean

said I was

in the

military,

my battalion

crossed into

enemy territory.

We crossed

into Iraq.

We did

everything

that we

had ever

been trained

to do

and our

enemy broke

before us

and ran.

And we

pursued.

When they

stood their

ground,

we fought

and we

destroyed

them.

Just like

we were

trained to

do.

We did

our job

and we

did it

well.

At 8

a.m.

on the

28th,

we're

looking across

a valley.

We prepared

to engage

the enemy

and a

call came

over our

radios and

said,

cease

fire,

stand

down.

It was

over.

The

president

had called

a cease

fire.

We had

completed

his

objectives.

We had

done

everything

he intended

us to

do.

And so

we stood

down and

watched the

enemy move

off over the

ridge line.

and I

was furious.

All I

wanted was

their

destruction.

That is

all I

wanted.

I had no

interest in

mercy or

compassion,

only destruction.

But my

president had

other ideas.

And so we

stood down.

See,

in some

way I

felt like

I had been

cheated.

I had been

betrayed.

My

president had

somehow broken

covenant with

us, with me

personally.

At the time,

I didn't see

the president's

order as

being good.

Him being

faithful to

his word

made me

angry.

In fact, I

felt it was

evil.

In some

sense, this

is what

Jonah felt

as well.

Do you

see in

verse 2

that Jonah

prayed to

the Lord?

Do you

see in your

Bible that

the Lord

is in

all caps,

right?

What that

stands for

is the

word

Yahweh.

Yahweh is

Israel's

personal

name for

God.

When you

see that

personal

name for

God,

that's

Israel's

creator

God.

It's the

God of

Abraham and

Isaac and

Jacob.

It's the

God who

brought them

out of

slavery in

Egypt,

defeated

all of

their enemies

and set

them up in

the promised

land.

God.

This is

the God

of

covenants,

their

personal

God,

the God

who said,

I will

be your

God and

you will

be my

people.

Yahweh

was the

God of

Israel

and Jonah

was an

Israelite.

In

Jonah's

mind,

he was

not the

God of

the other

nations.

God of

the Gentile

nations and

he certainly

was not

the God

of the

Assyrians.

To

Jonah,

showing

mercy and

compassion

to the

Assyrians

was a

breach of

contract.

It was a

breaking of

covenant.

To

Jonah,

to relent

from

judgment

and the

associated

destruction,

to show

mercy and

compassion

on the

Assyrians

was to

allow

the enemy

of God's

chosen people

to grow

strong

and threaten

Israel.

To

Jonah,

God's

mercy and

compassion

on the

Ninevites

was not

good.

It was

evil.

And it

made Jonah

furious

with God.

in your

Bible,

verse 1

says,

but it

displeased

Jonah

exceedingly

and he

was angry.

Now,

if you have

footnotes

in your

Bible,

that footnote

may tell

you there's

an alternate

reading of

that first

part.

The alternate

reading would

be,

but it

was exceedingly

evil to

Jonah

and he

burned.

Jonah

was

displeased

with God's

mercy

and compassion.

It made

him angry.

But I

think it

was much

deeper

than that.

See,

Jonah

saw

what God

did as

exceedingly

evil.

And so

he burned

with anger.

He was

so angry,

verse 3

tells us

that he

prayed to

God to

take his

life and

take it

now.

Can you

identify with

that?

Can you

identify with

that sort

of anger?

Have you

been in the

place where

you felt

like God

broke the

contract?

Have you

been in that

place where

you could

not see

any good

God's

need to

do it?

In what

God had

done or

was doing?

In what

he had

allowed to

happen?

Where

somehow,

in truth,

it felt like

what God

was allowing

to happen

was just

evil.

Have you

been so

angry that

you would

just rather

die than

deal with

that situation

or bear

the consequences

of it?

I have.

Most

recently,

and I

give you a

lot of

examples of

this.

Is this

anger thing

seeming repetitive

for me?

Anyway,

most recently,

last May,

not so long

ago,

I had to

decide to

close our

church in

Salem, a

church I

had planted

four years

earlier.

It felt

like God

had made

promises to

me.

I was quite

sure of

it.

I had

people that

prayed with

me.

I got

green lights

from all

sorts of

places.

Four years

earlier,

we had

gone into

Salem and

planted.

I felt

like God

was somehow

breaking

his promises

now.

It felt

like God

was betraying

me in

some sense.

In truth,

it felt

like evil.

I was

angry,

and I

struggled

mightily.

And friends,

I know,

though,

at this

point,

I can look

back and I

say that as

long as I

have idols

in my heart,

even good

things that

I hold

dear,

that I

hold more

tightly maybe

than God,

he will,

in his

goodness and

mercy,

ask me to

give up.

in love,

he will

smash those

idols so

that I

can more

fully follow

him.

So Jonah

cries out

in verse

two to

God,

O

Lord,

is this

not what I

said when I

was in my

country?

that is

why I

made haste

to flee

to Tarshish,

for I

knew that

you are

a God,

gracious

God,

and merciful,

slow to

anger,

and abounding

in steadfast

love,

relenting

from

disaster.

Here,

Jonah is

partially

quoting,

partially

paraphrasing

God's word

from Exodus

34,

6,

and 7.

The actual

words of

God,

and he's

speaking to

Moses here,

are,

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

iniquity

of the

father

on the

children

and the

children's

children

to the

third and

fourth

generations.

Jonah

left out

the second

half of

that verse.

Jonah

left out

God's

justice.

Jonah

chose to

see the

truth that

he wanted

to see.

Jonah

chose to

take parts

of the

passage that

he wanted

to use,

parts that

supported his

version of

the truth,

and give

them back

to God.

Jonah

didn't apply

the whole

truth.

He didn't

apply the

whole truth

of Scripture,

only what

was convenient

for him.

Let me

just say,

church,

that cherry

picking the

truths of

Scripture is

a dangerous

business.

Thomas

Jefferson,

one of our

founding fathers,

our third

president,

was known

for this

actually.

He had

created his

own biblical

text.

He went

through the

Bible and

meticulously

cut out

the parts

that he

thought were

good,

trustworthy,

the parts

that he

liked,

and he

pasted them

on paper

and created

a relatively

comprehensive

or at least

readable,

coherent text

of the story

of Jesus

and his

teachings,

but then

leaving out

the things

that he

disagreed

with.

Now,

how many

of you

use

highlighters?

This isn't

a gotcha.

I use

them.

I write

all over

my Bible.

I mean,

they fall

apart by

the time

I'm done.

I hate

to get

rid of

them because

there's so

many notes

in them.

Now,

imagine

you've got,

some of you

probably use

a lot of

different

color

highlighters

too,

the pretty

ones,

and your

Bible's

very colorful.

Thank you

for artsy

people.

Now,

I only

use a

yellow one,

but imagine

you've got

your highlighters

out there

and you're

using your

highlighter.

Oh,

this is so

beautiful.

I love

this.

This truth

is so

wonderful to

me.

I don't

particularly

like what

that one

says.

Where's

that black

Sharpie?

Oh,

yeah,

there it

is.

Imagine

that's how

you did

your Bible

and took

the black

Sharpie

on the

parts you

don't like,

highlighted

on the

parts you

do like.

What's

left,

right?

It's a

Bible full

of half

truths.

That's what

Jefferson did.

That's what

Jonah is

doing.

And if

we're not

careful in

truth,

it's what

many of

us do

as well.

When God

relented of

the destruction

that Nineveh

rightly

deserved,

God's

compassion

and mercy

were seen

as evil

by Jonah.

Jonah could

not see

any good

coming out

of what

God was

doing,

so he

questioned

God's

goodness.

He

questioned

God's

goodness

to the

point of

seeing it

as evil.

Unless we

judge Jonah

too quickly,

I'm not

so different.

And if you

find yourself

ever in that

place of

doubting God's

goodness,

you're not

alone.

I say you're

not alone

because at

the core

of the book

of Jonah

is the

oldest

question

posed

by man

about

God.

Is God

good?

Can I

trust him?

Can I

trust God's

goodness?

It's at the

heart of the

story,

really,

of the fall

of Adam

and Eve.

God

commanded

Adam and

Eve not

to eat

of the

tree of

the knowledge

of good

and evil.

It was

the only,

the only

rule in

the garden.

Now look,

there was

more food

in the

garden than

you can

imagine.

There was

no issue

of food

insecurity

here.

It was

not a

question of

hunger or

any real

need that

they had.

No,

it was a

question of

God's

goodness.

When

Satan tempted

Adam and

Eve,

the question

quietly being

posed in

the background

was why

would God

withhold from

them what

was obviously

good?

A fruit

that looked

good to

eat.

A fruit

that would

make them

like God.

They

couldn't find

a reason.

They

couldn't find

a reason

that the

fruit would

not be good

to eat.

See,

the picture

that Satan

painted for

them was

that God

was petty,

selfish,

and capricious.

The

implications of

that line of

thought,

if we were to

carry it

through,

was that God

is not good

and if he is

not good,

then he is

potentially evil.

In the

end,

they chose

to believe

that God

was not

good.

They chose

to believe

that their

own understanding

of what

was good

was more

right than

God's.

They put

themselves in

God's place

and decided

that they

were the

ones who

were best

able to

determine

what was

good.

Like Adam

and Eve,

we're all

tempted by

this question,

is God

good when

I cannot

see any

good coming

from it?

Is God

good when

my business

fails?

Is God

good when

my child

starts running

with the

wrong crowd?

Is God

good when

I'm unable

to have

children,

when I

can't find

a spouse?

Is God

good when

I get a

diagnosis of

cancer or

Alzheimer's?

The question

that Jonah

was forced

to deal

with was,

is God

good when

he shows

mercy to

my enemies,

the enemies

of me and

my country?

Now,

our personal

questions may

be different,

but you and

I each

have them.

Is God

good when

dot,

dot,

dot,

and you

fill in the

blank?

Well,

I want to

take a few

moments here

to help us

consider that

question out

of what we

saw in

Exodus 34,

Exodus 34:6

verses 6

and 7.

In that

passage,

God describes

his goodness

in terms of

mercy,

grace,

slowness to

anger,

forgiveness,

an abundance

of steadfast love

and faithfulness.

grace,

but also

in his

justice

and a

remembrance

of justice

across

generations.

For me,

I believe

that the

scriptures teach

that God

is good.

It's my

bedrock

and the

foundation

of my

faith.

But the

scriptures

teach me

other things

about God's

goodness

that help

me understand

it more.

They remind

me that God

is the

creator

of time

as we

understand

it.

And that

moreover,

he is

outside of

that time.

God is

eternal

and he

knows the

end from

the beginning.

You and

I,

though,

are not

eternal.

We have

an expiration

date.

I don't

know what's

going to

happen in

the next

second.

You and

I are

like less

than a

millisecond

of time

in a

millennia.

Yet our

God knows

us by

name,

created us

in our

mother's

womb for

his purposes

which he

will fulfill.

God knew

you from

before time

and he

set his

love upon

you.

While you

were still

his enemy,

he sent

his son

to die

for you.

He

pursued

you

across

time

with

his

goodness.

He

changed

your

heart.

He

opened

your

eyes.

He

softened

you.

He

gave

you

faith

to

believe.

He

set

you

free

from

darkness.

He

forgave

all

of

your

sins

like

we

read

earlier

as

far

as

the

east

is

from

the

west.

He

gave

you

the

faith

to

believe.

He

filled

you

with

his

Holy

Spirit,

called

you

his

beloved,

made

you

his

child,

gave

you

the

hope

of

the

resurrection,

promised

you

an

eternal

inheritance

all

through

his

son.

Why?

Because

he

is

good.

You

are

not

the

recipients

of

those

things

because

you

are

good.

You

are

not

the

recipient

of

those

things

because

you

were

born

in

a

Christian

family.

You

are

not

the

recipients

of

those

things

because

of

your

own

righteousness

and

the

good

things

that

you've

done.

You

are

the

recipient

of

those

things

because

God

is

good.

He

is

merciful

and

gracious,

compassionate,

abounding in

steadfast love,

forgiving sin,

but also

maintaining

justice.

Jonah

wasn't

interested

in

compassion.

He

wanted

justice.

He

wanted

to see

his

enemies

destroyed

for their

evil,

and he

wanted to

see it

now

on

his

time.

Yet

God

is

able

to

do

both.

He

is

able

to

be

both

compassionate

and

just.

So

let

me

give

you

just

a

quick

example

from

history

that

relates

to

this.

The

events

of the

book

of

Jonah

take

place

somewhere

between

782

and

753

BC

under

the

reign

of

Jeroboam

II.

Somewhere

in that

period,

Jonah

preaches

to the

Ninevites.

They

repent,

turn to

God,

God has

mercy on

them,

and instead

of destruction

that Jonah

wanted,

they receive

mercy.

And much

as Jonah

feared,

they grew

strong,

and in

722 BC,

they attack

and defeat

the kingdom

of Israel,

send them

all into

exile.

Israel.

Yet 110

years

later,

the

Babylonians

overrun

the

Assyrians

and destroy

Nineveh

in 612

BC.

The

prophets

will

actually

interpret

both

of these,

the fall

of Israel

and the

fall

of Assyrians

as God's

judgment

for the

evil that

they had

done.

So what

do I

learn from

that?

Why am I

telling you

this?

First,

I learned

that God

is good.

He showed

mercy and

grace to

the people

of Nineveh.

He had

compassion and

forgiveness of

their sin.

That is

evident.

He relents.

Second,

God is

good.

Justice

was given

as he

promised.

God

promised

through the

prophets

that if

they did

not turn,

both Israel

and Nineveh