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Let us pray. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3.18 Dear God, thank you for your love and mercies. Thank you for watching over me and providing protection in your arms. Please help me to seek you in times of trouble. Please remind me of your unconditional love during times of doubt.
I know that I cannot do things on my own. So stand by my side as I face the challenges of today. Free my thoughts of negativity, guilt, and shame, and allow my faith to grow with each new day. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's daily prayer. For more inspiration and an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay tuned to Pray.com's Sunday service.
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Amen. I want to invite you to reach and grab your copy of God's Word and go back to the book of Jonah. We are in Jonah chapter 4 today. We're going to look at those first four verses. And we started, if you're new with us, both in person or online, we started a new series all the way back in Easter talking about running with purpose.
And we looked at the idea that we don't ever want to run from God. We don't ever want to run from our calling. And even if we do, then we want to turn around, run back to God in prayer, crying out for God's mercy, crying out for God's love. And Jonah did all of those things. And today we're going to talk about the idea that we need to run sometimes from our anger with the world and with God. How many of you from time to time you're angry? How many of you are never angry?
If you're never angry, I want to be your friend, right? Now, I definitely want to ride in a car with you because it seems like, man, it's just road rage is crazy. But Jonah, if you're new, he's a unique prophet and it's not in a good way. He is the only prophet that is known more by what he did than what he said, the messages he preached. He's the only prophet that ran from God, literally, physically ran from God.
He is the only prophet, and we're going to see this as we continue looking at this book. He never truly repents and gains God's heart for other people. Jonah literally led a whole city, a great city, to the Lord. God showed them his grace, and Jonah responds by getting angry. See, it's kind of interesting. We see Jonah here in chapter 3, as we looked at last week.
Jonah responds finally in obedience and he does what God wants him to do But he doesn't do it with the heart that God would want us to have and you know I think there are times in many many of you may know Christians that are like this that they walk in obedience But there's no joy anybody knowing you just point at them now in the New Testament
Those were called the Pharisees, right? They were all about fulfilling God's law, living by the law, living by the ceremony, living by the ritual, but there was no joy in their heart and there was no smile on their face. And so today I want to talk to us about how we can run from our anger. I ran across a study, we'll put it up there, I ran across a study released December 20th of 2023, just a couple of months ago, it was a survey of Americans, and here's what they found. We'll put this up.
60% of Americans feel angry or irritable at any given time 60% That irritates me. I don't know about you just right now. How many of you are angry like right now? How many of you are irritated now? You better not lie in your in God's house And if you drove kids to church, how many of you are a little irritated right now, right?
60% of Americans feel angry or irritated. So when we think about running from anger, 84% of Americans feel angrier this year or at the end of last year than they were the year before. How many of you would fit in that category? You just feel a little more angry. All right, good, good. We know who to watch out for. If people are raising their hand next to you, just keep an eye on them for us. All right?
9%, this estimated by psychologists, 9% of Americans have an impulsive anger issue that they can't control. All right? 25% of Americans frequently feel angry at home. It's not uncommon for people to feel angry on 75 or the toll road or any of your other roads, but they admitted 25% feel angry at home. That's probably the percentage with teenagers, right?
38% of Christians are angered by the state of America right now. How many of you are? Yeah, that's 100%. We don't know. So the whole 38% are in our church. I can just tell you right there. It's all of us. There are other churches out there that they're not angry. I mean, we're just angry to look around and go, man, how is this going on?
So I want to invite us to look at Jonah chapter 4. Let's look at Jonah here today, but let's rebuild the story and set it up. Let's go back to Jonah chapter 1, verse 1. Let's look at this prophet. It said, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai. It says, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. That was the call.
because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah did what? Instead of going to Nineveh, it says, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed toward Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port. And after paying the full fare, no discounted tickets all the way, paying the fare, he got on board, sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Now you remember what happened? We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. God sent a storm to shake them up.
The sailors begin to cry out and pray to their God. Jonah went to sleep. They cast lots. Sure enough, it was Jonah. Jonah said, he's got a death wish. He says, throw me overboard. They go, we don't want to do that. We're going to roll harder. No one sends in isolation. Others are going to have to cover for you. We looked at that. If you miss those, go find those online.
They finally throw him over. He is sinking to the deep. God provides a fish. The fish was not judgment. It was help. And from the belly of the fish, Jonah cries out to God, forgive me and give me grace. God does. The fish spits him up, vomits him up on dry ground. And Jonah thanks God. And we said, although there have already been a lot of miracles, the greatest miracle of the book of Jonah is that there was a chapter two at all.
Because Jonah did absolutely nothing in chapter 1 to earn a chapter 2. He was disobedient. He was running from God. He hated the idea. He literally paid the fare. He paid the fare to go in the wrong direction. He was willing to die before he was willing to obey God. It's kind of crazy, but God stepped in and literally saved him from himself. How many times, if I'm honest, has God done that for me?
How many times has God saved me from who? Me, right? And so here we is, here it is. So look at Jonah chapter 3 verse 1. We'll put it on the screen. So now Jonah has thanked God for a second chance. It says the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Everybody say a second time. So here's the key. How many of you celebrate the fact that we serve a God of the second chance?
All right? And we do. But can I tell you this? When God gives you a second chance, it's so you can still do the stuff He wants you to do. All right? A lot of us say, man, I'm just so glad for God's grace and His love and His compassion. God's given me a second chance. You know what the second chance was? To do what God told you to do the first time.
And so, child of God, if you're sitting here and you're celebrating God's second chance, and I will tell you, you're looking at a pastor who is grateful that I serve a God that doesn't just give second and third and fourth and fifth, but an infinite number of chances, but it's always a chance to then do what God wanted you to do the first time.
And so pick it up, listen, notice what it says. It says, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. That's a great miracle. And notice what God says. Now do what I told you to do the first time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and do what? Proclaim to it the message I give you.
So remember, God gives you a second chance to do what He told you to do the first time. All right? Jump down. Let's see what happens. Verse 5. The Ninevites believe. So Jonah rolls into Nineveh. He rolls in kind of disappointed. He's obeying, but his heart's not in it. He's obeying, but his attitude's not right. But he goes in and preaches, probably with a little more venom.
hoping he can just rail on them and then leave and say, all right, I did it, God, let me alone. Notice what happens in verse 5. It says, the Ninevites believed God, a fast was proclaimed, and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth. Boy, you would think Jonah would say, I'm sorry, God, you're an awesome God.
You're an amazing God. God, I don't know why I doubted you. I don't know why I didn't trust you. I didn't know why I headed for Tarshish and not for Nineveh. God, you did a great thing.
Now jump down. What did God do when he saw the Ninevites repent? It says, when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, that is always the goal. When you think about a sinner or someone you want to witness to or someone, man, that is headed down the wrong journey or wrong path, the prodigal in your life that you know, your greatest desire is that they would turn from their wicked ways and come back. And so notice what it says. It says, when God saw, he saw it,
What they did and how they turned from their evil ways, which is the goal, God relented. God relented and did not bring on them the destruction that he had threatened. You say, why would God do this? If it was an evil city and a great city, let me put it to you simply. God saw the who, not the what. See, Jonah saw everything, the what, that the Ninevites did evil. Right? Right.
God saw the Ninevites. And Jonah is very much like us. When we think about being angry in our country, how many of you just look at the news or see something on social media or read about some event happening and you look at it and you see what they do and you are angry? See, we're a lot like Jonah. But here's the beauty of a God who lives in a different dimension and sees from a different perspective. When you and I see the what, God sees the who.
God sees the people, the Ninevites. Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 3, verse 16 and 17? He says, for God so loved the world, that's the who, that's all of them, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever, notice the who, not the what, believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. A lot of times we stop right there. But look at verse 17. Verse 17.
For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. See, the whole reason Jesus was sent is because God saw the who. God saw the whoever. Yes, God sees the what, but he also sees the who. Why? Because it was the who, the person, the individual, the man or the woman that was created in his image.
And so God is always looking to save. The reason He sent His Son is that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. Then verse 17 says, man, God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might have life through Him. So what's our call?
Man, as we make our journey in work and life and wherever we're about and every relationship we're in, even if we're in a relationship somehow, in a conversational relationship or working with someone, when you look at their what? Their Ninevite. Just remember, God is introducing and encouraging you to remember the who. And the who, whoever that person is, male or female, that God sent His Son not to condemn them, but to save them if they will simply believe in Him.
Here's the deal. If you want to, you know, maybe you want to bring it all down to the core. Here it is. People matter to God. Lost people matter to God. Ninevites matter to God. The big question for us is not does God love them, is do they matter to us? Do people matter to you? Do lost people matter to you?
Do the Ninevites in your life matter to you like they matter to God? That's ultimately our call. Yes, we can hate the what, but we have to understand God loves them. And God has put us in their life, and we all have Ninevites in our life. God has put us in their life to introduce them to the who who truly wants to save them.
See, and that's ultimately our call. And we want to, yeah, we step back and we look at what happens and what people do and how they sin and the commandments they break. And we remember that, man, we were broken, but for the grace of God, there go I. We remember all of those things. But we also can look on the what they do and realize that is evil, but we can understand the God who created them still loves them and wants their salvation.
So fast forward. So Jonah finally obeys. His heart's not right. His attitude's not right. Lost people, Ninevites matter to God, but they don't matter to Jonah. He's ready for judgment more than anything else. He preaches. They repent. God relents. All right? Now notice Jonah's response. In Jonah chapter 4, verse 1, here it is. But Jonah…
Now, you've seen that a lot. There's several times as you go from chapter 1 to chapter 2, it's God said this, but Jonah. Jonah said this, but God. Now God has relented. Now we're back to but Jonah. Notice what it says, but to Jonah, this seemed wrong. Anybody in here ever looked at something and thought, that just seems wrong. It just doesn't seem right at all, right? And that's what it says. To Jonah, from Jonah's perspective, it seemed wrong. Why? Why?
Because they were evil people. They were wicked in all of their ways. And he became angry. There's your word. How do we run from our anger? He became angry and he prayed to the Lord. Isn't this what I said to the Lord when I was still at home? That is why. Jonah says, this is exactly what I knew would happen, God. Is that sure enough, I would go preach to them and you would save them and I'd be fired up because I would rather them experience judgment than grace.
And so he says, this is exactly what I said would happen. And he goes, that is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. He goes, I knew that you are. Now notice, I think these words, these Hebrew words, he's kind of dripping with sarcasm. You can almost imagine, you know, God, here's the problem.
Yeah, when I went to, before I even came here, I knew that you're a gracious God. You're a compassionate God. You're slow to anger and abounding in love. Yeah, I knew you were a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life. My guess is if I was God, I would think that's a great idea. You know, we're all about done here, Jonah. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Right? Right?
Jonah, you're exactly, that is a good, why didn't I come up with that? I'm the God of the universe. Yeah, I'm done with you, Jonah. Right? So it's interesting. Jonah says, all right, and by the way, he's got a death wish, right? This is not the first time. This is the second time. He said, throw me in the deep. I want all this. And now here he is. He preaches. They repent. He wants to die. Just crazy. It doesn't make any sense to me. He says, the Lord relents. Now, Lord, he says, take my life away.
For it is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, is it right for you, Jonah, or us to be angry? So that's the question. Is it right for us to be angry? So if you're living in an angry space, an angry life, angry world, angry emotions, angry heart, angry attitude, how do we run from our anger even when God's in the midst of it? Thought number one, stop playing God. Don't play God.
Just let God be God. You say, where do you see that? Verse 1. But to Jonah, that's his perspective, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry with God. Ran across another couple of articles about people who are angry with God. Let's be honest and do it fast so God won't take notice. How many of you, let's be honest, from time to time you've been angry at God? Some of you are so scared.
Beyond it. How many of you have been a little angry with God? A little disappointed with God? Combination of just looking through some research, reading some devotions, and just things I've experienced with people sitting in my office as they're walking through stuff. Here are kind of my top six things that I've seen why people get angry with God. Number one, when our lives aren't turning out like we hoped. That there are some people, you know, there are some people, I've noticed this, that they live a right and a righteous life.
They live a good life, but it just seems like bad things happen to them. Anybody know anybody like that? Anybody feel like you're that person? Right? They just live life and had so many hopes and so many dreams, and life just deals them a bad hand, but it really wasn't their fault. And it's just not turning out. And I've sat with those people, and I've prayed with those people, I've had coffee with those people, and things just go through their mind. And they get mad at God. They go, I just don't know why God would let this happen to me.
Understand that here's the second one. I noticed a lot of people they get mad at God when they go their own way and God doesn't bless it remember we talked about this week one with Jonah when he took off and he paid the fare to go in the wrong direction and he said man God I'm going to the wrong direction, but he prayed for calm seas I've noticed a lot of people that that they will go in their own way and go in their own direction And then when God says well, I'm gonna send a storm or I'm not gonna bless that direction. They get mad at God and
here's another one when we lose someone or something that we love greatly how many of you have lost someone you love how many of you lost something someone you love too early or you go through all of a sudden you get the diagnosis of cancer and you lose your health or something like that and i've noticed people that i've prayed with people that they just get mad at god they get angry with god i think there's uh remember job's wife job lost everything remember job and she finally looked at him said job i got an idea why don't you just curse god and die
They need a marriage retreat bad, right? It's been interesting to me, and it's real clear to me and oftentimes others in their life, sometimes people get angry with God when they reap what they sow. They've been sowing to the flesh all their life, and all of a sudden they reap to the flesh, and they want to blame God for allowing that to happen. And if that's you, my encouragement to you, sow to the Spirit, don't sow to the flesh, because as it says, God is not mocked. You will reap what you sow.
in your marriage and your kids and your relationships and your occupation and your job and your community. When we're hurt somebody, by someone who's a Christian. I've sat in my office and someone said, man, this person did this to me and they're a Christian or they're this or it was a minister or a pastor or a deacon and people get angry. Maybe there's some here that you're mad at God because of what someone else who pretended to be a Christian did.
And I want to encourage you, let's run from that. Here's the last one, and this is Jonah's problem. You know, people that are mad at God, when God blesses someone, we want Him to curse. Anybody ever been in that situation, that perspective where you're sitting here going, Lord, maybe you didn't say it exactly this way. This is just the way I say it. God, I'm way more righteous than they are. Okay, maybe, yeah, that's exactly the way I say it, right?
You know, they got what they wanted. They wanted fame. They won this. God, I'm doing with humility of heart. I'm doing it your way. I'm this and that. And God, they're just scoundrels, right? I mean, just we all have scoundrels in our life that it seems like everything goes well for them, right? Am I the only guy that, I mean, have you seen our staff? You're supposed to laugh right there.
No, you don't want to, I mean, right? We've all been in those situations where you're like, God, you know, why did they seem to get your blessings and
I struggle for your blessings, and we can get angry. Let me just encourage you. Don't play God. I love what Isaiah said, the prophet. He says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So step back. The next time you want to play God,
And you want to be like Jonah and say, hey, from my perspective, this looks wrong. Step back and say, God, here's what I know. I see from an earthly perspective. You see from an eternal perspective. God, I'm simply going to trust that you know better than I do, and you're going to work it all out. So thought number one, running from God.
Stop running from your anger. Stop playing God. Just step back when things don't make sense to you or you're struggling or someone who just seems to be living the wrong way seems to get all the blessings. Just step back and say, God, I don't get it, but I'm going to leave that one to you. All right? Here's number two. Don't ever estimate God's goodness. Don't ever estimate God's goodness. That's exactly what Jonah did. Jonah underestimated God's goodness. Here it is in verse two. It says, he prayed to the Lord.
This is after they've repented. Isn't this exactly what I said was going to happen when I was still at home? That is why I tried to foresaw all of this and flee to Tarshish, dripping with sarcasm. And he quotes Exodus 34 here. He basically begins, he says, I know that you are gracious and a compassionate God, that you are slow to anger and abounding in love. You are a God who relents. That word relents, it has the idea of burning, it has the idea of flared nostrils. How many of you know what I mean?
That when someone, you ever just seen someone that all of a sudden they get a little fired up? They haven't said anything, but you just look at the nostrils and you can just see them. They're ready to hit somebody. That's exactly the Hebrew word. It says, man, God, I know you're one that instead of flaring your nostrils, you show your grace.
You show your love. And so he says, I know that you are a God that is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. And this is an indictment from Jonah. Remember Jonah? Just a brief outline. Remember what happened? Jonah was disobedient. He went into the fish. He ended up on dry ground. He thanked God for salvation. He preached to the Ninevites. God gave them salvation. Jonah gets mad.
You're like, Jonah, you are completely, you're the poster child for being a recipient of God's grace and compassion and love. But you don't want God to give it to anybody else. So let me give you a couple of thoughts. When you think about it, you can read that Exodus 34 passage. Let me give you a couple of thoughts from right here. When you think about don't ever understand and underestimate God's goodness. Number one, don't ever forget that we serve a God that is completely gracious and compassionate.
And we've all experienced it. How many of you know for sure you've experienced God's grace in your life? How many of you can look back on your life when you've been more like Jonah than you would like to admit and you've experienced God's compassion? We've all been there.
And man, as I think about how many times God has been gracious and compassionate to me, how I should also want God to do the same thing for others. I love what the psalmist said in Psalm 103, verse 8 and following. He says, the Lord is compassionate and gracious. God is slow to anger and abounding with love. He's a relenting God. He's a loving God. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever. He does not, listen to this, listen to how many times us,
Our and we are in here. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us as our iniquities deserve. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, that's the way his thoughts were, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us.
Man, how many of you take great comfort in those words, right? That God doesn't treat me as my sins deserve, as my transgressions deserve, but instead God is a gracious God and as far as the east is from the west, so far God has removed our transgressions and sin from us. Don't ever forget that God is a gracious and loving and a compassionate God. Here's number two.
Don't ever forget, not only is God gracious with us, those who love him, but God is also patient with sinners. That's where God was with the Ninevites. That's what Peter says over in the book of Peter. He said, man, God is not slow.
God wants everybody to come to repentance. And so that's what Jonah didn't understand, that God, why are you so patient with sinners? Why? Because God prefers repentance over judgment. Remember what it said? Verse 17, John 3, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world would be saved through him. That's God's desire. So if you ever look around and say, God, why do you put up with that? Well, I can tell you why, because he is a patient sinner.
God. He is a loving God. And then step back and do what I want to do and what we should always do is remember the times that God was patient with us. Look what Isaiah said in Isaiah 43 verse 25. He says, I, even I, this is God speaking, I'm the one who blots out your transgressions. Now I want you to read this little phrase, this next phrase. God blots out your transgressions, not for your sake, but
But notice what he says, for my own sake. And remembers your sin no more. See, God wants to forgive you and show you his grace and love. Why? For his sake. He created you in the image of God.
God doesn't want anybody to spend eternity in hell. He wants all of us to come to repentance. God doesn't want us to reap what we sow if we sow to the flesh. Why? Because at the end of that road, at the end of that folly, at the end of that are the consequences and the results of the sin we committed. So what does God do? He wants to be patient so instead of us continuing down that path, we would turn away.
So here's the third thing we always have to remember about God. Not only is He compassionate and gracious and loving, He's patient with sinners, but don't ever doubt this, God is a just God. There will come a day when grace is no more. There will come a day when it is judgment day. Until He comes, the writer of the book of Hebrews said, it is appointed for a man or a woman, a person, once to die and then judgment.
See, you better make a good decision here about what you're going to do with Jesus because there is going to come a day when we're going to look in God's eyes and he's going to say, what did you do with my son? If you said I rejected him, it would not be loving for God to say, all right, I'm going to make you spend eternity with him. Instead, God is going to say, listen, you rejected my son on earth. Man, go live where you wanted to in eternity apart from me. But God doesn't want that.
But don't ever doubt in the midst of the fact that we serve a gracious, compassionate, and loving God who is patient with sinners. Don't ever forget the fact God's just. So wherever you are in this room or online, you better make a decision for or against Jesus Christ and understand that determines where you spend eternity.
with God or apart from God. Why? Because God is gracious, compassionate, loving, patient, but He's also a just God. He's also a just God. Here's the next thought as we just continue to read down. Look at number three, going to verse three. It says, don't let your darkest thoughts ever control you. I don't know where you are in your mind space or mental space. Don't ever, ever let your darkest thoughts control
Control you so where do you see that look at verse 3 now? Jonah says Lord take my life away for it is better for me to die Than to live that's a dark thought. That's a bad thought can I tell you this that is a wrong thought and Maybe there's someone here that you've not been called to be a prophet You've not been called to preach in Nineveh, but you have those dark thoughts that maybe it'd be better for me to die than to live Can I just tell you this that's a bad thought that's a wrong thought and
Because here's what I know, when I look at God's Word and I look at God's character, when I look at God's nature, when I look at God's call, when I look at God's purpose for every person in this room or online, let me tell you what, it is not better that you would be dead than whether you'd be alive. Because God wants to take the life that you have, the breadth that you have, the ability that you have, the talents that you have, the skills you have, and He wants to bless you through you and bless others through you.
So don't ever, ever, ever let your darkest thoughts control you. Man, something was going on in Jonah that in chapter 1, he said, I'd rather go the wrong way instead of the right way. There's something going wrong with Jonah where he said, I'd rather go in the deep than just repent and go back and do what God called me to do. And here we are again in chapter 4, he's allowing these dark thoughts, his darkest thoughts, to control him.
So my encouragement to you, if there's someone here that you are walking in this space that, man, would it be better for me to die than to live? Can I just tell you? These are God's words to John. No, no. It's better that you live and be used by God to your fullest potential and let God determine when your last breath is. How many of us understand that? Here's the last thought. You ready? Number four, we pick it up in verse four. Don't let your emotions run you.
last point don't let your darkest thoughts control you don't let your emotions ruin you his emotion was anger notice what it says but the word of the lord came and said is it right for you to be angry is it right so let me just kind of stop this sermon where we started we live in an age of anger where people are bitter and mad and so here's how we end are you one of those people
Are you someone that if you think about where you're living truly in your space, that you're living in such a way that you're angry with God? Can I invite you just to pause, step back from that, confess that, and ask God to help you deal with that? Maybe there's someone here that, man, you've experienced a loss and you're angry with God. Maybe you've lived a good life and hard things have come and you're angry with God. Can I just tell you that as long as you let your emotions...
control you you will never be able to fulfill god's ultimate call in your life that's why we want to run from anger because in spite of this and we're going to see it next week in the next week in spite of all of god's blessings jonah missed it all and i don't want that to be your story let's pray god thank you so much for an opportunity to look at a prophet that you just described so clearly
who runs from you, never truly repents. He obeys, but he doesn't have a heart or attitude of love. Instead, he lets his darkest thoughts control him. He lets his emotions get the best of him. The saddest thing of all is he missed your blessings. God, don't ever let that be us. Don't ever let that be the people in the room or the people online. Let us be a people.
that run from our darkest thoughts, that run from our emotions, run from our anger, and run to your grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The podcast, The Bible in a Year with Jack Graham, is a moving and inspiring biblical audio experience that will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you'll learn to apply biblical principles to everyday life.
Each cinematic episode is a journey through the Bible's most profound stories that will strengthen your appreciation of the Word and inspire you to keep learning. Listen to The Bible in a Year with Jack Graham on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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