Surely Not Me...and Definitely Not Them (Part 6)

Have you ever been angry with God for his mercy. Now I'm not talking about his mercy to you or his mercy to a loved one will love that. But I'm talking about your frustration with God when he shows mercy to somebody whom you consider to be a Roscoe when he shows mercy on someone that you think that he ought to be strong buys ears in the public place. You know what I'm talking about Melinda make a confession to you upfront in my confession to use this if I was writing my own biography like Jonah was riding his in this book I will stop the chapter 3 and chapter 3 would have just made me unemployed, presented me in the best light, ending with chapter 3 would have proved that I'm a guy who always put his best foot forward.

I mean after all the movies that we all love are the ones that always has a happy ending right even in the business world recite the best deal is when everybody wins when it's a win-win deal. We like a happy ending with lack of a fair deal. But why in the world did Jonah include chapter 4 in this book. At the end of chapter 3, he left us on high at the end of chapter 3, he left us with the account of the greatest revival that is known in biblical history is one of chapter 4 as if to say now let me show you my dockside now let me show you my shallowness. Let me show you my self-centeredness. Let me show you my pitting this. Let me show you my selfishness. Let me show you my Achilles heel. Let me show you my love was heart. Listen, that is not a PR firm in the world would have allowed chapter 4 to be written. There is not a spin doctor worth his salt that would've included chapter 4 in the book of Jonah is not a ghost writer whose worth his pay. That would've included that part of a famous preacher's biography because we into this thing.

This is show them the good stuff shows them the strong character traits show the my strengths shown on the successes shown on the greatness of the man show them Matthew, weakness, show them, not your warts show them that that you're sweating. I'm sure somebody would've said to Jonah. Jonah, if you gonna have to write chapter 4 my friend listen just summarize it there in the following manner. Just spin it to make it look good in and say well you know after three days of preaching all over Nineveh, from one end to the other. I was so exhausted and I said some things I'm not proud of. He said the man just said that you were exhausted after all the energy that you expended traveling with three days preaching in Nineveh that you just said few things that you didn't really mean is just telling that you know what I am free. I am grateful to God the Holy Spirit every single day and I thank God the Holy Spirit who moved the men and women of God to write the Scripture I am so thankful to him every single day of my life that he did not take these men and women of God in the Bible and slow laundromat and clean them up and wash them off and then stalks them and then wrap it was some sort of fun paper and then placed on a pedestal and said that you be like them.

That would've been frustrating. Everyone of us in America. That in fact I'm grateful to God the Holy Spirit that the account of the lives of the apostles that were presented to us as they were not shoot the man, but I was all of their weaknesses, all many times did I identify with Peter that the foot-and-mouth disease.

My goodness, how many times are used to identify with John and James, the sons of hunger. You know that's how they got that nickname sons of thunder read about that when you go home. Chapter 9 because what I'm going to tell you about them is really my my interpretation. Okay, just my type of use. If things are taken from Montgomery's at home for yourself.

Jesus sends them on to a city in Samaria and he said guys the team and I gonna follow you go over there and you get a hotel reservation and will follow you.

Next day, so what happens they go into the hotel to try to make reservation for Jesus and his team in Samaria. What happened they kicked him out of town this and get out of here when I got to stay in town we wanted to know if you and you know what happened. John, I mean. Again, this is a rough translation but you get it just went out on the corner and he waited for Jesus when he couldn't wait for him to get here and as soon as Jesus arrived. He said not Jesus before you do anything in this town.

I wanted to call heaven and bring fire and burn everybody in this town. The miserable people into ashes.

Jesus is what would burn the turn of the their bad people will ever listen to me. Jesus had a different thing in mind for Samaria. Here the different thing in mind the Samaritans for John himself that St. John writes in his gospel in chapter 4 and is that Jesus was tired and then he sat at the well and then a Samaritan woman came and had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and then she testified into the city and she went and she told him about the Messiah ship of Jesus Christ, the one who forgave her sins, the one who loved her unconditionally and the Bible said the whole city came out and they all believed in Jesus to the mind.

Salvation, not scorching of the city. That's why to me it's really incredible when you think about it the same apostle John who wrote more about love than any of the other apostles the same sound of thunder wanted to call fire from heaven to burn the Samaritans is the one who wrote more about love readings officials than any of them love and listen to me when I'm going to tell you is really important and this is the truth. It's easy for me.

It's easy for me to pick and choose who, upon whom God should have mercy upon whom he shouldn't. It's easy for me to decide who is a candidate for mercy and who's not and I suspect that is easy for you to I wanted to him right on this one. The book of Jonah was not about Jonah. The book of Jonah is about the God of Jonah the book of Jonah is about the God of mercy, the book of Jonah is about the God of grace. The book of Jonah is about the God who is totally sovereign, who is in total control who is perfect in his knowledge, who is perfect in his wisdom, the God whose ways are different from our case as far as the East from the West for Jonah. Poor Joan, he cared more about the shading of the divine, then the fact that tens of thousands of people were saved does not break your heart. He was more happy with the vine in the shade than the salvation and have you ever thought about this I tell you through the years, I've always been amazed and what makes people happy and what really makes people angry and so is it that makes you happy with the good for you. Hello God bless you would make me happy at all, but make S find them. That makes you angry is not even important or that makes you angry and the question for you is this. I hope you never rest until you asked your answer the question to yourself what makes you happy. What's really makes you happy, are you more happy when you see people saved when you only get your personal needs met. More happy when you experience the desired change in your circumstances or when you see the unchanging God being glorified in somebody's life. What makes you happy. What makes you happy can tell more about you until more about me than anything else, let me ask the same question a different way. What you will find what you vine. We know what Jonah's mind was there was a shade of helping from the scorching heat of the part of the world.

What is you find what you focus is that the blessings all the blessing what you vine because we are so blessed right and left and therefore our greatest danger.

Listen, the greatest danger is making our blessings to be the object of our worship instead of the blessed Jonah was more happy with the vine than the God of the vine and beloved, you know, and I know there are so many professing Christians today who get so hung up on the minor issues of life. Not the major ones. There are so many professing Christians today who get hung up on the things that are not necessary for salvation and then the lost souls that are going to end up in a Chrysler fraternity. There are so many professing Christians today who are hung up on style and not substance.

There are so many professing Christians today who are more happy with self gratification them with gospel preaching. There are so many professing Christians today who are more concerned about their likes and their dislikes in the church, then reaching the lost and equipping the saints. There are so many professing Christians today are so hung up on finding somebody who will agree with them, then finding somebody who's going to rebuke them and exhort them to live in obedience. No wonder Jesus said when the son of God returns what he find faith in their we are looking at the vine instead of the God of the vine were more interested in the shade. The divine is providing then serving the will of the God of the vine were more concerned about our comfort, our convenience and our concerns, then seeing lost people getting saved internally is what normally happens, listen to me. Please listen carefully when you become so preoccupied with your violent and something happened to your vine. You're going to become filled with resentment at the loss of your vine, whatever your vine may be in your vine and your vine event. All lines are different. My vine is different from yours and when we become resentful at the loss of that vine. Whatever it is for you.

We become irrational. We become unproductive, we become touchy and be quick to take offense and we become better and complainers we well in self-pity and we develop a distorted picture of reality. Jonah became irrational over simply a loss of the shading of the vine he become irrational wanted to die over the vine will ask yourself the question, what makes you irrational, I know this is a fact of life own husbands and wife get into some altercation most often over some silly thing.

Jonah was this will you us wanted to die. Saving Jonah should be ecstatic that tens of thousands of people were saved as a result of your proclamation Jonah.

You should have been rejoicing my friend Jonah. You should praying to God to let you stay in then ever so you can disciple all these people. John cloud nine. Now that you have fulfilled the purpose of God in your life, you should be singing your heart of praise and adoration and thanksgiving instead of wanting to die over a silly little vine above a limitary something in case you think that I'm standing here, judging and condemning Jonah. I really am not untruthfully. I'm not condemning him at all. You know why because there's a little Jonah and everyone of us, including your pastor. We are discontented people instead of being the most contented people well so preoccupied with the blessings instead of the lesser. We are so ungrateful about the things that we don't have instead of being grateful for all the things that listen carefully. Please if you are not reconciled to the will of God in your life. Listen carefully please I want to help you if you are not reconciled to the will of God in your life. I can tell you with assurance that nothing nothing is going to make you happy. Nothing you can on half of the world and you're still not happy when you are not reconciled to the will of God in your life. The smallest disappointment.

The least offense. The smallest unintentional mistake on the part of others is going to set you off will set you off and you be spending your life doing nothing but wallowing and murmuring and complaining and criticizing and feeling sorry for yourself and you never serve the purpose of God in your life. Like the two guys who are playing golf and one of them was one of those people always complaining about something and he said to his friend he said you know one day on the last God while he allows poverty and injustice and unbelief. When you could do something about it and his friends are well why don't you said because I'm afraid that he may ask me the same question that you asked me the same question here on this one is easy to hide from the call of God upon your life.

It's easy you know that it's easy to withdraw from the battlefield.

It's easy to abandon your mission post. It is easy to be a deserter in the Army of God and the best place to do that is in the church pew. Jonah was so consumed with anger at God's goodness on Nineveh, that the slightest thing, just tick them off and threw them into this effect. He was like a wounded bear. I wounded bear lashes out at the slightest provocation. Even if it was imaginary. If you spend as much time studying Jonah like to have the last few weeks and you couldn't help but conclude that Jonah really was not a very happy guy. He was not. I think we see him happy once when he got that shape the vine over his head. As always, always seem happy running Jonah is so opinionated that if God doesn't do what he says to God to do is just like on a corporate is not his idea is not for he was unhappy with his first commissioning, he was unhappy with the storm. He was unhappy in the belly of the fish he was unhappy with the second commissioning he was unhappy when God showed mercy on Nineveh. He was unhappy when God responded to the Ninevites repentance even when he obeyed.

Listen carefully, even when he obeyed. It was a reluctant obedience. We sort of obey, but was a reluctant obedience. But you know what that tells you more about God than Jonah card was so glad to get obedience, reluctance, or otherwise.

That's our God tells you more about God than Jonah tells about his mercy.

It tells you about his patients tells her about his perseverance tell you that he honors the smallest amount of obedience. Even if it is reluctant obedience, mommy of Peter. You know Peter when the Lord Jesus gets in the boldness of Peter and I have been fishing for long, just so the net on the site. Remember Peter's reaction. I was Lord tomorrow now. I'm a veteran fisherman. We fished up and down this lake Lord, we know this lake like the back of our hands and for goodness sake.

Whoever heard about fishing in the middle of the day, but because he said so reluctant obedience and got all of it anyway because he said so and then they got more fish than they can take into one boat.

You've heard it said that Blessed is he who expects nothing for he is never going to be disappointed and yet with God.

Listen to me with God and of his word. Teach me anything if it teaches you anything it teach you to always expect God to bless obedience really does always expect God to make his infinite resources available is willing and obedient children always expect God to fulfill his promises is trusting children always expect that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of God always expect the knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the water covers. The sea always expect work until no man would say to his neighbor know the Lord for he shall know him from the least to the greatest always expect him to help you elevate your vision to see things from his perspective and to see the fields that are) to the harvest and all of that is possible because a greater greater than John had come taken on flesh lived among us will not sin suffered and died the lacrosse and triumphantly rose again from the dead. In order to accomplish salvation for everyone who would come to you. Everyone who would come to him for this salvation is found in no one else, for their is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved. The name of Jesus, shall we pray, justice the time when the surgeon is about to operate is the most vulnerable time for the patient to get infected. This is the most holy and sacred moment because the Holy Spirit is about to operate and take those words that are spoken to you his word from his Scripture and begin to apply them to your heart.

This is a holy moment this a sacred moment allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you to take those words and tucked them deep into your mind and your heart and you will and ask yourself the question on my reconciled with the will of God in my life for my fighting it with every fiber of my being and thus I'm not contented in life with the appeal to you, but in the privacy of your heart, the Lord Jesus, I want to reconcile my life to your will. I cannot demand that you reconciled to mine, for I am a sin unrepentant by faith in grace saved and begin to experience the joy of that reconciliation. Thanks for listening to this message from Dr. Michael.

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