Mercy in God's Patience

Jonah 4:9-11

By the end of this sermon, I want you to grasp the profound implications of seeing others through God’s eyes and you will respond with a heart of obedience that goes beyond mere actions.

1. CONTINUED ARROGANCE

   1. God has to repeat Himself
   2. Jonah is defiant and angry

2. CALL TO GOD'S PERSPECTIVE

   1. Jonah’s misplaced pity
      1. Jonah had no work involved
      2. Jonah had no ability to cause it to grow
      3. Jonah forgot it grew miraculously
      4. Jonah is angry at its miraculous death
      5. The plant was an pure act of God’s grace
   2. God’s Perspective
      1. The right question: Is God wrong to pity 120,000 people?
      2. The people are God’s creation.
      3. The people are created in God’s image
      4. The people are God’s responsibility
      5. The people have a moral inability - so removed from God they did not know good from evil. They were so bankrupt morally and ethically and were helpless and pitiful. But they were not innocent and still responsible.
      6. They needed God’s love and concern, they needed God’s gracious compassion.
      7. The Lost of Nineveh matter to God. All the lost matter to God.

3. THE UNANSWERED QUESTION

   1. Jonah leaves us to answer God’s question for ourselves. What is your answer?
   2. Jonah and God have different perspectives. So do we and God!
   3. Will you repent, and seek God’s perspective on the lost?
   4. The facts that Jonah reveals his humiliating failures would suggest that he repented and was convicted by God’s word to him.

Conclusion:

1. Ask God to give you a compassion for the lost.
2. Talk to someone you know that needs Christ.
3. Examine your heart. Do you care more about other things than God’s purpose?