The Pity Of God

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. We greet you again this evening in the sweet and precious name of the Lord Jesus. This evening the sermon is going to be geared toward Christians. So if you're here tonight and you're not a believer, if you're not a Christian, you can listen and you can observe, but this message is geared for Christians. [00:00:38] I'm going to be reading a verse from Psalm 103. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. The Pity of God is the title of the message this evening, The Pity of God. It's taken out of the book of Jonah. I expect this little message was spurred along by our lunch today. [00:01:12] The topic of our lunch was outreach. The topic of our lunch was church planting, reaching out, evangelism. So the pity of God. Now I'd like for you to turn to the book of Jonah. If you've got a Bible in your lap, it wouldn't hurt you a bit to turn to the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah has only four chapters. Now, I have a question. What do you think about when you think of the book of Jonah? [00:01:46] You think of a man that ended up in a, like somebody has said, a whale of a belly. Is that what you think about? Well, it's that and it's more. I don't think the Lord intended this just to be a good fish story. I think that the reason that this was included in our scriptures 1 Corinthians says that these things happened to them for examples and were written for our admonition [00:02:23] and I think there's some wonderful parallels and wonderful types and wonderful examples in the book of Jonah Jonah's book has only four chapters and it's written in the narrative form and it's written as a story. Jonah's considered one of the minor prophets. The rest of the minor prophets, the main contents of the minor prophets is the sermon itself. [00:02:56] The book of Jonah, the main content is written in a story form. Now some Bible scholars, sadly, do not feel that the book of Jonah should have been included. And I say I disagree with that. The reason I say that is because the Lord Jesus Christ referred to the book of Jonah at least three different times. Matthew 12, 38-41, Matthew 16, verse 4, and Luke 11, verse 29 and 30 [00:03:31] And this, to me, would be enough to verify the authenticity of the book Now, for those of you who like types, this book is, the story of Jonah is also a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ And it could be a beautiful little sermon, but that's not going to be the thrust of the message. But I'd like to give this to you just for some future thoughts. Jonah 1, verse 3. This would be a lovely outline of the type of the Lord Jesus Christ's death and his resurrection. [00:04:09] Jonah 1, verse 3. Our Lord boarded the ship of humanity and paid the price. Jonah 1, verse 15. Our Lord became a victim for all that was in the ship. Number three, Jonah 1, verse 17, Our Lord entered into a prepared grave. Number four is Matthew 12, verse 40 and 41, Our Lord resurrected after three days and three nights. [00:04:46] Jonah 3 verse 4 and 10 Our Lord preached judgment and it produced repentance Now that would be a nice little sermon if somebody would want to develop it But that, as I mentioned, is not the thrust of the sermon The thrust of the sermon tonight is the pity of God Now, Jonah verse 1 begins telling the story of an unwilling missionary missionary. Now our children at home sometimes sing this little song, when God tells you what to do, you better do it. Or like Jonah, they go on to sing, you'll find out the hard, hard way. This was a man, Jonah was a man who drug his feet. He was called, he was asked by the Lord to become a foreign missionary and he drug his feet. [00:05:44] Now, why was Jonah reluctant? I want to stick up for Jonah a little bit for a few minutes. He deserves someone to stand in the gap for him, so I'm going to stick up for him just a little bit. Not too much, just a little bit. Nineveh was the mighty capital city of Assyria. And I have no doubt, and I think history would say, that it had already swallowed up, the borders of Assyria were growing and expanding, and I think had no doubt already swallowed up little countries around it. [00:06:27] So there in part you can understand Jonah's reluctancy. He didn't really care to do anything to preserve this mighty nation of Assyria that was swelling and growing and Jonah's little country of Judah stood in its path. So Jonah had very little love or very little pity for Nineveh. [00:06:57] The pity of God The text is found in Jonah 4, verse 11 and 12 10 and 11, there is no verse 12 Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd For the which thou hast not labored, neither made it grow Which it came up in a night, and perished in a night This passing gourd Jonah, you had pity on it. [00:07:29] Now in verse 11. Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than threescore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle? Now here is a city outside of the covenant of God. Here is a city which no doubt has had some of the very same characteristics of the big cities of our day. [00:08:04] They were outside of God's will. He knew about the vulgarity and the nudity and the gambling and the sensuality and all the sin that lay inside Nineveh. He knew it all. And he pitied this city. He pitied it. Should I not spear Nineveh? And so he sent Jonah as a reluctant foreign missionary. [00:08:42] Well, after Jonah got his life squared up and began preaching, Jonah's preaching brought a great revival and a brokenness and a humility to Nineveh. to the extent, mind you, Jonah 3 verse 8, that it even affected, are you ready for this, the animals. I think a real revival will even do that in our lives. It will affect the way we respond to the dog and the cat in our house when God gets a hold of us. [00:09:20] Now, what I'm going to tell you is something I firmly am convinced of and that's why I'm telling you that whatever the attitude of God is toward the city of lost humanity should be the attitude of God's people and that is pity pity The divorce, the remarriage, the homosexuality, the sensuality, the wickedness, it's sickening [00:09:56] But it should arouse in the people of God a pity Should I not have pity? Verse 4, chapter 4, verse 11 You see, God cares God cares. He is not willing, didn't Peter say, that any should perish, not one, but that all should come to repentance. He didn't isolate himself like Jonah did. [00:10:31] He didn't turn his back on Nineveh like Jonah did. He didn't wash his hands like Jonah did. Should I not have pity? He didn't follow other pursuits like Jonah did. The attitude of God towards lost humanity should be the attitude of his people. And if it's not, then I think that you have good reasons to wonder if you're one of them. [00:11:03] Now, point two that I'd like to develop this evening, then, is secondly, God's pity to lost humanity brought divine activity. Did you see that? He sent Jonah. He had pity upon Nineveh, and he sent Jonah. He sent prophets. God's pity towards lost humanity [00:11:34] Eventually, he sent his Son He sent his Holy Spirit He sent his Word The pity of God You see, that was Jonah's problem It was against God's attitude and God's pity It was against that and against God's activity that Jonah rebelled. [00:12:05] He had his own set of plans. He didn't pity Nineveh. He would rather have it destroyed. The people of God and the church of God are called tonight to display the attitude of God. We are called to display the attitude of God. And that is instead of just grasping and hoarding. And somebody told me one time, you know why I got money and you don't? [00:12:41] He said it's because you go like that with money. I go like this. And that's why you got money. That's why I've got money. Well, I think it's the attitude of God is to give, and to give, and to give. It's the attitude of God that we seek out rather than turn our face. It's the attitude of God that we wash one another's feet instead of doing like Pontius Pilate. [00:13:20] I have no part in this matter. It's the attitude of God that we sacrifice. It's the attitude of God that there be love and mercy. The church of God is called to reveal the attitude of God. And the church of God is called to divine activity. Now notice in this book, maybe you have already, and especially there, chapter 1, notice God's preparation. He had to send Jonah. [00:13:56] He had to send Jonah, somebody said, to the Leviathan School of Technology to prepare him. And it took him longer to get his missionary prepared than it took for Nineveh to repent. Notice the preparation in chapter 4 How God was called to divine activity In the preparation He prepared a gourd [00:14:26] I have that underlined, verse 7, chapter 4 He prepared an east wind, verse 8 He prepared a worm, where's that at? Verse 7 You know, if God, here's a question, if God was aroused to divine activity because of his sympathy and because of his pity, should not his people be? Should not his people be? [00:15:00] The question is, sometimes when I'm going through a little tough time, Oh Lord, why don't you just sweep me into heaven at my conversion and spare me all these trials and so on. Why didn't you do it, Lord? Wouldn't that be nice at the time of our conversion that the Lord would just take us at that point into heaven? Do you know why he didn't? [00:15:32] Now there's two reasons, Matthew Henry says, and I'll just give them to you. Matthew Henry said the reason the Lord preserves us here on earth for a time is, number one, to further ripen us for heaven. Some of us are a little hard-boiled yet. Some of us need a little ripening. The second reason he gives is the one that I would like to talk about. Old Matthew Henry said, secondly, the reason the Lord left us here and kept us here is the world cannot spare us. [00:16:09] The world can't spare us. We have an assignment. We have a work to do. And that is to display the divine pity of God. Now, what should be now our relation to the world? I think our relation to the world should be the same as God's was, and that is pity. It should be the same as the Lord Jesus Christ was when he was here. Now, in John 17 and verse 18, in that beautiful high priestly prayer, Jesus said, pray this, [00:16:46] As thou hast sent me into the world, here it is again, so send I them into the world. And sometimes we used to, we sang that song occasionally, so send I you. Remember, anyone know that song? To labor unrewarded, not a marvelous song. So send I you, as the Lord has sent me, so send I you, Jesus said. In my stead, Watchman Nee, the old Chinese writer, said the church is Christ's successor. [00:17:25] The church is a divine settlement planted upon earth, and there's nothing that Satan hates as much. And I think I said earlier this week that you can safely tell what Satan hates the most and what he fears the most. by what he fights the hardest. The church of God and the people of God are a danger, are a thorn in Satan's side. [00:17:59] Satan would have the reference of God and the truth of God be obliterated. And here comes God's people, if they are as they ought to be, with the word of God Would you have it? I have something I would tell you, the songwriter said So the church of God is Christ's successor in a thorn to Satan's side [00:18:36] Our relation to the world should be illumination. First of all, illumination. In following the pattern of Jesus, we have a responsibility to make this world the best of our ability in all we can to make it God-conscious. Yes, there is I think a demonic in time movement to obliterate the very thought of God in our world. It's a demonic in time movement. [00:19:21] John 9 verse 4 and 5, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. But I notice that's a limited statement. He says, I am the light of the world as long as I am in the world. But what about when he's gone from the world? Who's going to carry that light? Well, Jesus went on in another scripture and says, again, ye are the light of the world. The life of a Christian is another manifestation of God in a dark world. [00:19:56] Now I'm very pleased tonight that you've dressed properly and modestly and in a godly way to come out here to this meeting this evening. I'm very pleased. I'm very pleased to see that in the back of your... that when you drove in there you didn't swing around and cut a few kitties before you parked. I'm very pleased at the way you drove in here this evening. [00:20:28] I'm very pleased at the beautiful greetings, how you greeted each other in such a lovely way this evening. I'm very pleased with that. I'm glad that you act appropriately and dress appropriately and conducted yourself appropriately this evening. But more important than this evening, More important than your behavior tonight among the people of God [00:21:00] is your behavior tomorrow among the people of the devil. That's more important, I think. It's more important tomorrow that you dress appropriately. It's more important tomorrow that you respond appropriately. It's more important tomorrow that you act appropriately. because you are a representative of God. You don't need to quit your job tomorrow, go out in the mission field. [00:21:40] You need to if the Lord calls you. But I think it's rather that your job should become your mission field. That those around you, the unsaved around you can see that there's something different about this man. There's something different about this woman. There's something, there's a light about her. There's a, there's a, there's a, there's no, not a shadow over her. There's a light about them. [00:22:12] The way they do business, there's nothing shadowy about it. The way they conduct themselves, nothing shadowy. There's a light there. Now, we just had a big fuss in our county about a year ago about this thing of hanging the Ten Commandments in the courthouse. Now, we have a very conservative county, and they rebelled against this thing that they were not allowed, and they hung that in the courthouse, and the Ten Commandments in the courthouse, among the other documents there. [00:22:51] But here come the ACLU and said, get it down. And they got a lawyer and made a fuss. And finally, eventually, down came the Ten Commandments. The paper lamented. The little county paper lamented. Now, I'd like to read to you an article that came out of the Reaching Out. that I come across and I'd like to read it to you. [00:23:27] Are we then in danger of losing the influence and moral conviction that comes from heeding the Ten Commandments? Certainly the removal of the commandments from public view can do nothing but harm an already secularized society. However, let me propose that the battle for the Ten Commandments has already been lost long ago. Their removal from the public scene is but a system of what has already happened to our society and a professing Christianity. [00:24:01] You see, it's one thing to simply read the Ten Commandments and pay lip service to them. It's quite another thing to live by those principles. How convicting are the Ten Commandments to an anti-God society when the vast majority of professing Christians do not live by what they teach? What motivation do the ungodly have to serve the true God when they see professing Christians serving their gods, materialism, sports, and ultimately themselves? [00:24:36] themselves. What moral imperative do they see in the Ten Commandments when they see the people who supposedly are defending them living in adultery, fornication, and homosexuality? What would motivate them to respect human rights and property rights when they see professing Christians cheating on their tax form and using other dishonest means to hoard material possessions to themselves? The current rage to remove religious references from public view is a wake-up call to Christians across the land. [00:25:14] It is not a call to protest or become politically involved to try to force the posting of the Ten Commandments on an unbelieving society. Rather, it is a call to live the Ten Commandments and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Retaining a display of the Ten Commandments in the local courthouse or in our schools cannot take the place of retaining a display of them in our lives. I say amen. Christ's indwelling presence makes His people a light to the world. [00:25:53] Philippians 2 verse 15 Among whom ye shine as lights to the world. We are, the scripture says, living epistles, known and read of all men. Ye are the light of the world. A light's marvelous thing. Now, brothers, I want to commend you, and sisters here, [00:26:26] I want to commend you for your desire for a church planting here in the future. I commend you. I honor you for that. I want to encourage you, though, to reach out a little further than Elkhart County. I'd like to see you reach out a little further than even LaGrange County. There's lots of light. Lots of witness around. I'm glad for every Christian, every true born-again Christian in Ilkhart and LaGrange counties. God bless every last one of them and every last one of you. I'm glad they're here. [00:27:16] But there are many, many counties and many, many countries that do not have a plain witness. I would suggest, now I think it was Brother Chester said this, so I can blame it on him. But he says, we get a lot of light together. Too much light makes heat. [00:27:52] Thank you, Chester. I'll blame it on him anyway. I would love to see you reach out further. I suggested to the brethren today, hold on to your seats now. I suggested to the brethren today, Rose and I took a little tour of Alaska in June. It's a marvelous state. [00:28:24] Lots of advantages there. One of them, you won't get wealthy. And that's an advantage. You are the light of the world. You are called to reflect the very attitude of God, and that is pity on lost humanity. Oh, brethren, may the Lord fill your hearts with it. Illumination. Illumination. [00:28:57] Our bishop used to tell this story, Brother Melvin, of an ocean liner going across the ocean and they lost their communication system. And the captain called over the intercom. He said, folks, we lost our contact with shore. We don't know where we're at. We don't know where we're going. Everybody enjoy the ride. We're making good time. [00:29:34] You see, this world is rushing ahead in darkness. They have no idea how to conduct a godly, pure courtship. They have no idea how to raise their children for the Lord. They have no idea what a Christian home should be. They have no idea how to conduct their moral lives in a Christ-like way. They're rushing ahead. They're making good time. They're moving ahead in darkness. [00:30:11] And ye are the light of the world. Point two. The Christian's relation to the world is that of separation. Illumination and separation Not, however, the separation that Jonah felt That was selfish Separation is not an end in itself Granted, the scripture calls us to come out from among you, 1 Corinthians, and be separate [00:30:47] Separation is not an end in itself It's not some knee-jerk reaction The world does that and I'll do this. That's not separation, that's reaction. Separation is an eternal principle and it's a relationship with a holy God. And when we have a relationship with a holy God, we will shriek from the tidbits that the world would have to offer. [00:31:21] The greatest difference between a Christian and a worldling is very simple to me. And that is, who is the Lord of their lives? The Christian says in his heart, Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. The worldling says, We will not have this man reign over us. And that's the difference. Worldliness is selfishness. [00:31:58] Worldliness is not so much things as an attitude, but it reveals itself in things. Worldliness is a lack of loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the greatest challenges that I know is to live in this world and not be of this world. And that's a challenge, isn't it? But I think that we can look at this man of Daniel in the Old Testament as a man who would be a wonderful example of being in the world but not of it. [00:32:39] He was taken into Babylon as a captive, but it never was his home. Did you notice that? They even tried to stick a Babylonian name on him, but it wouldn't stick. He remained a stranger in Babylon because his heart was in Jerusalem. See the difference? [00:33:12] His heart was in Jerusalem. He was separated unto God. I like the story of old Uncle Bud Robison, the Pentecostal preacher. He stuttered a little bit. They said somebody took him to New York City and showed him all the beautiful sights of New York City in a day's time and then they heard him pray that night. He said, Lord, I thank you for allowing me to see this beautiful city of New York City [00:33:42] and also, Lord, more than anything else, I thank you that there wasn't much there that I wanted. See, his heart wasn't there. His heart wasn't there. Daniel was an example of a man living in Babylon but never becoming a part of it. Something else, he was never absorbed, but neither was he isolated. He said no to Nebuchadnezzar's diet. No. He said no to Belshazzar's party. He said no to it. He wasn't there. [00:34:30] He said no when they told him that he should quit praying. He said no. But friends, I want to remind you that being a Christian is not just saying no. You know, we don't smoke and we don't chew and we don't run with those who do. Like the old quote goes. That's not being a Christian. Now, it might involve that. But being a Christian is not a list of rules that we keep. Being a Christian is knowing a person. [00:35:02] Being a Christian is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what a Christian is. And you see, it involves a loyalty of our heart. I think that Daniel done a wonderful job and a wonderful, was a wonderful example. I noticed something that Daniel done. He said no, he took a stand, but he didn't isolate himself because when the crunch time was on and they were looking for answers, they went to Daniel. [00:35:43] They realized they didn't have the answers, but Daniel and his God, they might, and he did. Babylon never understood Daniel, did they? Babylon never understood Daniel, couldn't figure him out. He said no to some things. He turned his back on some things that they placed much importance on. He said, no, I don't guess we need those dainties. [00:36:18] He said no, and they respected him. I think we're wise folks as churches to say no to some things. I think we're wise to do like Daniel and call some of the cultural practices of our age on the carpet and examine them in the light of God's word. What does the word of God say about this practice, this worldly practice? What does the word of God say? Are there some things that we should consider on this practice? [00:36:54] I remember, we need to move on. Separation, not isolation. Not isolation, but separating from the loving the sinner, but hating the sin about them. Hating the garments that are spotted with sin, but loving the sinner. The church's relationship to the world, illumination, being a light to the world, separate from the world, and reaching out to the world, evangelization. [00:37:33] Somebody said if you would line the unsaved up fingertip to fingertip, the line would go around this globe 30 times. And the line grows longer, 20 miles a day. And tonight, folks, I ask you in the question, why did you have the privilege of being raised in a godly home? [00:38:06] Does God love you anymore because of your background? Does God love us anymore because we're born in America? I think we have been blessed, blessed, blessed. Folks, let's reach out, reach out, and reach out. One of our dear sisters in our congregation, divorced three times, [00:38:38] Shared her testimony, raised in a nominal Christian home, nominal home, I don't even know if I would call it Christian. But she said, why didn't somebody tell me? Said, I have only myself to blame, but I wish somebody would have told me. If somebody would have just suggested it. I said in church every Sunday, I never heard about this thing of keeping my body pure. [00:39:21] I didn't hear much about the dangers of alcohol, the movies. I didn't hear much about that. Oh, I wish somebody would have told me. Well, we can't tell everybody, can we? But we can tell a few. I think we have a responsibility. I do not think it's an accident that any of you were born. I think that God has work for each of us to do. [00:39:57] And it's amazing to me to notice in the book of Acts how Philip was heading south in the desert and that there was a divine intersection there. And here comes a man in a chariot and he's reading and he's searching and he's longing. And God sent him south, sent Philip south, and there was a divine intersection there. And I like what Mordecai told Esther [00:40:29] That you, who knows whether thou wast born for such a time as this And I think that we need to realize our responsibility There's a circle of people around us that we can reach out to and pity And try to share with them the marvelous love of the Lord Jesus Christ We can't reach everybody. There's 6. so-and-so million human beings on this earth, but we can reach a few. And where God has placed us, let's reach out in love. [00:41:04] Let's reach out in pity. And let's count those meetings not as a chance thing, but as a divine intersection that God has placed somebody in our path God has placed somebody in our path and let's take it as our responsibility that this is my, he is my mission field. And folks, if we turn our back on that, I tell you, we will soon become a mission field ourselves. [00:41:37] If we turn our backs upon a work that God has given us to do, we will become a mission field ourselves. We can't reach everyone, but we are called to reach out as far as we can. The sphere of our influence and to touch lives and to help people. And then we are to reach out a little further. I don't even have my wallet with me tonight, but we are to reach out a little further with our finances. [00:42:11] And then reach out a little further yet with our prayers and intercede for our missionaries and intercede for our pastors and for our evangelists and for our Christian workers and for our churches that they can be strong. We are to pray for our fathers, our daddies and mamas who are attempting to bring up a generation in the fear of God. We have to pray and to pray and to pray. God calls us to himself and we are to share his attitude. [00:42:45] We are to share His pity we can take from the book of Jonah. We are to carry out His activities and to reach out with His truth. We are to be His representatives. We are to be His ambassadors. We are to warn. We are to woo. We are to disciple. And as somebody said about the Great Commission, we are to go. No, no, no. We are to grow and to glow and to go. [00:43:18] As thou hast sent me into this world, even so send I them into this world. I'd like to read to you a little poem. He stood at the crossroads all alone, the sunrise in his face. He had no thought for the world unknown. He was set for a manly race. But the road stretched east and the road stretched west, and the lad did not know which road was best. [00:43:49] So he took the wrong road and went down, and he lost the race and the victor's crown. He was caught at last in an angry sneer, because no one stood at the crossroads there to show him the better road. Another day at the selfsame place a boy with high hopes stood. He too was set for a manly race. He was seeking things that were good. But there was one who the road did know, and that one showed him which way to go. [00:44:21] So he turned away from the road that went down, and he won the race and the victor's crown. Today he walks the highway's fair because someone stood in the crossroads there to show him the better way. And my friends, dear brothers tonight, and dear sisters tonight, that's our assignment. That's our work. And that's what this little book of Jonah is calling us to.