TEXT: Jonah 4

SUBJECT: Grace Explained

We come today to the fourth sermon in our study of Jonah. The theme of this book is not angry preachers, big fish, or penitent cities--but something better and more relevant: God's grace to sinners. This grace is proposed in the first chapter; resisted in the second; triumphant in the third--and here in the last--explained.

That it needed explaining is due to two facts: (1) Nineveh's extreme wickedness. If God is just, how can He spare a people so steeped in depravity? (2) An unfulfilled threat. Weeks before the message was given: "Forty days, and God will overthrow you". But the people repented, the deadline passed, and the city remained. Has the Divine Word fallen to the ground? An explanation was called for.

And Jonah was ready to demand it. So upset is he with the ways of heaven that he rages against mercy and wishes for death. But God gives him something else: an accounting of His ways. And this He provides by use of a parable. Jonah goes to a nearby hillside to see what God will do. But it's not very comfortable there due to the heat. Till one night a gourd grows up over the campsite and furnishes a much needed shade. And for this gourd, the prophet is mighty grateful. But the next night, a worm eats the plant, leaving the poor man exposed to the blistering heat of a Mediterranean summer. And now, Jonah is very sad. "If only the gourd was still here!" he cried. But it wasn't. It was dead. And now Jonah wished he was, too.

But then God came to him, asking a question: "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" "It is right for me to be angry--Jonah thundered--"even to death!" But then, the answer: "You have had pity on the plant, for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred-and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

The interpretation is something like this: Jonah had invested nothing in the life of the gourd, but still regretted its death. But if God had spent much in Nineveh, why should He take pleasure in its destruction? Thus, God justified His grace by pointing to the huge investment He had previously made in the Assyrian capital. He had founded it centuries before and sustained it ever since. And if God had done this much for them already, why shouldn't He also give them repentance? It is not that He is obliged to, for God owes them nothing. But His great mercies would encourage them to look for greater still. Not presume, of course, but hope. Is God good to all? He is. Then no one needs to despair of further mercies. If God has granted so much to you already, why would He withhold His richer blessings?

Or, to put it in Biblical language: "The goodness of God leads you to repentance". It causes you to hope in His mercy and seek His face with confidence.

What things, then, has God done for man to imply that He would grant us further and greater mercies?

Firstly, He has created us. This was not necessary. God is perfectly happy and fulfilled with Himself. Yet He made us anyway. Now why would He do this if He didn't intend something good? Is He a destructive child, building sand castles only to see them swept away? Collecting insects only to squash them with delight? Surely, if God blessed you with the mercy of life, He would "take no pleasure in your death".

Secondly, He created us in His own image. This makes our fellowship with Him possible. But did God invest us with this great potential, only to see it wasted? If He has made you capable of communing with Him, doesn't this imply that He wants you to? Thus, would be happy to give you the repentance and faith which are necessary to His friendship?

Thirdly, He has sustained the human race. And this was no easy thing, when you consider its gross and nearly universal apostasy. By the days of Noah, only one family still feared God. And later, the whole race had again sunk into idolatry, when the LORD found a pious couple in Ur. And later still, He "winked at the Gentile folly". And even to this day, what keeps God from unleashing a worldwide judgment? Thus, God has protected the race from countless dangers, not the least of which is His wrath. But why? To merely prolong our misery? To increase our guilt? No. "God is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance". The fact that you are alive ought to encourage you to seek the mercies of God. For if He had no mercy for you, He might have cut you off long ago. You deserve it. But He has spared you. Who can tell if it was not to "grant you repentance and the remission of sin"?

Fourthly, He has restrained human depravity. If it was ever unleashed, the race would quickly annihilate itself. Think about it: world leaders have access to weapons that might kill every last person on earth. What keeps them from using them? Innate virtue? Good sense? No; nothing but the hand of God. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee, the remainder of wrath Thou shall restrain". Or, without recourse to nuclear weapons, an easier way could be found to wipe out humanity in one generation. What if parents suddenly lost the affection for their children? Could an infant survive without his mother? Could he live three days without her? Well, what keeps parents from abandoning their children? Is it impossible? Some do. Then why don't we all? Because God keeps us in check. But why does He retard the growth of wickedness if all He is going to do is torch the world? Why not get it "over and done with"? Why not? Because God is merciful and wants to show greater mercy yet.

Fifthly, He has stimulated human goodness. Not that any man is righteous in His sight, of course. But God, in common grace, has stirred up charity and heroism within all nations. But why? To make life bearable, and to cause men to appreciate what they have and seek its Giver. And if He is willing to give this "outward" or "civil" goodness to men, why wouldn't He grant an inward and spiritual goodness, too?

Sixthly, He has sent messengers into the world, offering mercy to the penitent. First prophets, then Apostles, and now preachers have sent the Gospel into "the uttermost parts of the world". Hundreds of millions have heard the good news. But why would He reach out into the world, if He didn't want their conversion? Is it to merely condemn them? They are already judged by their own consciences! The Gospel is not sent to damn sinners, but to save them. Not to prove their sinfulness, but to point them to God's mercy.

Seventhly, He has sent Christ into the world. His birth was announced with these words: "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth, peace, good will to man". If God was unwilling to save sinners, why would He send His Son? And why would Christ consort with them? And why would He invite them--indiscriminately--to come to Him? And why would He "be lifted up and draw all men to Him"? The Incarnation and Atonement make no sense if God were without mercy or if He didn't care if sinners went to heaven or hell.

Eighthly, He has sent His Spirit. And He was poured out--in the words of Joel--"on all flesh". At Pentecost, men and women from more than a dozen nations were converted. And this was a kind of firstfruits--a precursor to the great and universal work He would do in the centuries to follow. And that this ministry would succeed is proved by the heavenly vision, in which John saw "a great multitude which no man could number, out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue".

Ninthly, He has preserved His word throughout the ages and translated it into many languages. Now, the mercies of God are received by faith. And "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God". Therefore, only those who have access to the Word are capable of receiving His mercies. But to whom has the Word been given? Untold millions. But why would God do this if He didn't intend to do something good with it? "So shall the Word that goes out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I shall please and prosper in the thing whereto I send it".

Tenthly, He has inspired His people to pray for the conversion of sinners. And this He has done, not to frustrate them, but to grant the petition. And make them remember His mercies and return thanks.

And so, these are a few ways in which God has invested in the conversion of sinners. And having spent so much on them, is it reasonable to expect Him to do no more and so waste His huge expenditure? It is not.

If Jonah had pity on the gourd for which he had not labored, then God will have compassion on a sinful world in which He has invested so heavily. And so, the grace of God is vindicated! If it is right for Jonah to pity the gourd, it is right for God to pity Nineveh. And if it is right for you to care for your things, then it is right for God to care for His!

Thus, Jonah is silenced. God is justified. And the world is heartened.