Jonah 4
 
 
 

Introduction:

A. I read of a great evangelistic campaign in a major city -- the whole city was converted!

B. Of course, I'm thinking of the familiar story of Jonah. The amazing thing is the success of that meeting despite some things which would seem to argue against such visible success.

C. What about us? Most of us say we want to teach others and be evangelistic. What can we learn from the overwhelming success of Jonah?
 

1. First, note Jonah's lack of whole-hearted cooperation.
1. He was not willing to go, at first.
1. He eventually reveals the reason for his reluctance -- the unwillingness to see people so bad as the Ninevites saved.
2. Could our reluctance be similar? Are we afraid of what or who might "come into the church?"
2. Even more amazing is the display of this attitude after he had seen the great success in Nineveh.
3. God's rebuke of Jonah, through a stunning object lesson, is instructive to us as well -- Jonah was "sorry for the gourd", but not about the lost souls in Nineveh. To put it another way, he became more easily moved by a minor problem in his life than he did about the lost condition of men.

 
2. Even more amazing is that Jonah's preaching was successful!!
1. God knew Jonah's heart was not in his preaching, yet this was the man he used to bring about one of the most shocking responses ever to gospel preaching! Jesus referred to it as He rebuked certain cities because of their unbelief (Mt. 12:41).
2. Think about what happened, in summary:
1. A man was sent to teach others about God -- he did not want to go, but eventually went when confronted with the alternative!
2. Once there, his preaching brought about a great wave of repentance in the pagan city.
3. Afterward, the evangelist was still not pleased with the results! But, they happened and stood nonetheless. (Phil. 1:15-18).
3. We are reluctant to be evangelists for any number of reasons -- most of them are surely reasons far more incidental than Jonah's unwillingness to see people saved. Now, will God not bless us and use us if only we will do it?
4. Like Jonah, there are things, for whatever reason, we don't want to do.
1. Some days we don't want to go to work, but we do because we realize the necessity of it and our responsibility toward it.
2. We have surgery sometimes, even though we dread it to the point of fear.
3. We go places and attend to certain matters, even though it takes us away from areas of comfort, because we deem those things important and necessary.
4. Just the same, why not face our reluctance, and just do what God wants done, and let him bless us in it?