God of Patience, God of Mercy

You know, that's where we go because we know that if God said it, it's absolutely true. We know His promises are sure. If He said it's going to happen, it's going to happen. We don't have to doubt. We don't have to second-guess it. No matter how things look in life, we know that what God says is going to actually happen. He is all-knowing. He is wise. He is gracious.

He is forgiving. Right? His will is that all of us will repent and come to the knowledge of God, repent, and then be in His kingdom and receive eternal life.

We know He heals when we approach Him properly in His own time. Not exactly when we might demand healing, but when we have learned what we need to learn and when He sees the faith in us and we learn and grow and see His healing in us, we even learn that God is jealous.

He doesn't want us to serve any other God, just Him.

Completely rely and depend on Him. He is all we need.

There are other things that we could list. We could go on and on and on. But let's go to the Bible and look at a couple more things that I haven't mentioned. Back in Exodus 34, after God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel after Moses passed on some of the statutes and the everyday life things that Israel needed to pay attention to. And when He was coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments that were written on stones on a tablets of stone, in verse 5 of Exodus 34, it says this, it says, The Eternal descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

And the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, the Lord, Y-H-W-H, the Lord, God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. He's merciful. We all have experienced God's mercy, every single one of us in this room.

And He's long suffering toward us. And boy, can we be thankful for His mercy. And boy, can we be thankful that He is long suffering with us.

Now, if we go on and read it, it shows just how great God's mercy is, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty.

He doesn't tolerate it, but He is merciful and gives us time to overcome and to repent, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. He is merciful. He is long suffering with you and me.

In the New Testament, in 2 Peter 3, we see a few other attributes of God. Verse 8 says, Beloved, don't forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. God is timeless. He doesn't count days the way that we do. To Him, there is no time because He is eternal.

The Lord, verse 9, is not slack concerning His promise. In fact, He very much knows His promises, and we can count on Him that in His time He will keep them. But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but He is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He is patient with us. He is long suffering to us. And that is something that we should think about and be so, so grateful for. Back in Luke 6, Christ had this to say about God the Father. Luke 6, verses 35 and 36.

Oh, let's look at verse 36. Luke 6, 36. He commands us, therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. So we see that these attributes that God has, that He displays toward us, and He shows them to us first, are the very attributes He was looking to develop in you and me as we go through our life. He is long suffering toward us.

None of us have gotten the swift retribution that we all deserve when we sin and we fall short of what He wants us to do. He is merciful. He isn't this stern God who slaps us up against side the head and the minute we walk out, we step out of bounds, He is merciful. It doesn't mean that He condones what we're doing, but He gives us time. Jesus Christ understands our frame. He understands exactly what it is that we go through. And how tough this life is and how tough it is to have the carnal mind that we all still have, you know, bit by bit, bit by bit being washed away and replaced by God's Holy Spirit. David was aware of this too. Back in Psalm 145, Psalm 145, verses 8 and 9, David says this, The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and full of mercy.

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great is mercy. He is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Slow to anger. That's patient.

That's something that some of us can work on, right? Slow to anger because God is slow to anger, and aren't we thankful that He is slow to anger? And He's mercy, merciful. And we've all experienced His mercies. Back a few chapters in Psalm 103. We often look at Psalm 103 where it lists God's benefits. We're very familiar with those. In the first few verses of Psalm 103, it tells us that, you know, not to forget His benefits. He forgives us. He heals us. He redeems our life from destruction. And we get down to verse 8. We see more. The Lord is merciful. He's gracious.

He's slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He explains that down in verse 10.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins. If He had, we'd all be dead. Or we'd all be in a much worse state than we're in. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. He's patient with us. He's merciful with us.

Those two qualities. Let's talk about those today and what they mean to us and how important they are to us and how God demonstrates those to us because they are extremely important qualities.

I should mention, you know, as you go through the Bible, you see the word patience. And the patience that I'm going to be talking about today is the long-suffering slow-to-anger patience. There's other patience in the Greek. It's hoopamony. It talks about the patient endurance that we endure all our trials. We keep going until the end. That's patience, but it's a different type of patience. Today we're going to talk about how God is with us and how we need to be. That we need to develop this patience of being slow to anger and merciful. Let's see how God works through all that. I'll mention James 5, verses 7 and 8. In that it tells us, you know, in James 5, 7, and 8, to be patient. And that patience there in James 5, 7, and 8 is the patience that we're talking about. Later on in verse 11 in James 5, it also uses the word patience, but that's the hoopamony. The patient endurance, enduring through our trials and keeping our eye on God and keeping our eye on His plan and keeping our eye on the vision that He has for us. Let me just talk a little bit about some of the places that we can see God's patience and His mercy. Let's look at the nation of Israel. God called Israel, or He brought them out of Egypt. They were a hopeless people. They were slaves, as we know. They had no place to go. They weren't going to be able to muster the power to overcome the greatest power on earth at that time in Pharaoh. But God brought them out. He took them across the Red Sea when they were scared to death of Pharaoh bearing down on them. And yet, Israel didn't get it. You know, we read just last week in the Bible study in Hebrews 3, where God said, those people, Israel, they tested me, they tried me, they even made me, they made me, in the New Testament it says, angry. But in the Old Testament, or in the Old, in the King James Version, it says that they grieved Him. They didn't give Him what He wanted. They should have known better. They should have just simply been, look at God, what you've done for us. Look at what you've done. Everything you say I'm going to do, but they didn't do that.

And God could have been the type of God that says, you know, this people, as He said, when we read in Hebrews 3 about hardening our hearts, they always go astray. They just don't pay attention to me. They just keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. How many times was God patient with Israel? How many times was He merciful with Israel? If it had been you and I, and we were the ones who were over Israel and bringing them through and did everything that we could for them. And they kept disrespecting in that way, not paying attention to what had been told. Would we have said, just wipe them off the face of the earth? You know, God actually said that, remember, to Moses. And He said, Moses, I'm just going to get rid of this people. I'm going to raise a nation up from you. And Moses said, no, no, no. You love these people. They're your people. Don't do that. And God relented, but He saw in Moses' heart something He wanted to see.

Be patient with them. Be merciful to them. And God was. God was. And He, despite everything they did, He still led them into the Promised Land. He still gave them the land that He said He would give them. Even though they probably didn't deserve it, we all remember the story about the scouts, but He still brought them in and gave it to them because He still had that hope that they would become the nation that He wanted them to become an example to the rest of the world. A people who would live by His laws and experience the happiness, the joy, the purpose, the meaning that He wanted to give them. But even when they got into that land, they had to have a King. And you know how the Kings in Israel did? They just disrespected God. He was merciful with them for many, many years, and He was patient with them many, many, many years. But it didn't last forever.

Eventually, the time came for Israel to be taken out of its land and to receive the punishment and the justice and the judgment that they deserved. We can look at Judah. God sent Jeremiah to Judah, and for 40 years, He preached to that people.

40 years, He warned them, turn back to Me. Do away with your gods. Understand what you've been called to. Turn back and know what you're doing and honor Me with your heart, mind, and soul, and at that time, just the physical obedience. Jeremiah was there. God sent him as a warning to the people. If you don't do it, Babylon's going to come in, a kingdom from the north, and you're going to lose everything. But they didn't listen to Jeremiah. In fact, they hated him. They made fun of him. They made his life miserable, but he kept doing what God called him to do. That's what God's people do. It's not a popularity contest with the people you're speaking to. It's giving God's word and truth to it for people to hear and to turn back to Him. Judah didn't do it. For 40 years, 40 years, God gave that people. Was He patient with them? Was He merciful to them?

He absolutely was. Maybe far, far longer than you and I would have ever, ever been. Matthew 23 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. When Jesus Christ was there in Judea, when He came physically to the people, did all the works that He did, healed everyone that was brought to Him, spoke truth. Verse 37, He knew that they wanted to kill Him just like they did all the other prophets that were sent. They just weren't listening.

We don't want to hear what you have to say. We want to do things our way. So, you know what? The best thing to do is kill the messenger because we want to do things our way is what the message from the Jews of that day were. In verse 37 in Matthew 23, you see Christ's heart. You see the mercy. You see the patience that He has with these people. He didn't just lay them out and say, destroy them all. Get rid of all of them. We saw that with some of the disciples before that.

When James and John said, let's just wipe out these people, He said, no, no, no. We can't do that.

Be patient with them. Be merciful with them. Verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

He didn't listen to all the warnings God sent. How often I wanted to gather your children together as hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you weren't willing.

Was He patient with Jerusalem who had killed all those prophets that were sent away and were about to kill Him too? Yes, He was. Was He merciful? Yes, He was. Yes, He was.

You know, a few times as Jesus Christ spoke, He compared that generation to some surprising cities. Let's go back to Matthew 11. Matthew 11 and verse 23.

And here He is because the people aren't even paying attention to the works that He did, the miracles that were occurring and what He did. In verses 21 through 24, He kind of chides them for that. But let's look at verse 23. It says, You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

For if the mighty works which were done and you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Isn't that interesting?

Capernaum. You people who say you are God's people, the Jews, the city, all the mighty works that were done in you, everything that you've seen.

You know what? When Christ returns, it's going to be more tolerable for all places, Sodom, than it was for you. He says in verse 24, if what had happened in Sodom, if what had happened in your city had happened in Sodom, you know, they would have remained until this day.

They wouldn't have been destroyed. And that's what he's saying to a people that thought they were the people of God. Interesting comparison in chapter 11. He makes another interesting comparison in chapter 12 of Matthew. The Pharisees are asking for some signs.

Are you who you say you are? Show us. Prove it. They weren't looking at his works. They weren't looking at his character. They weren't looking at his words of truth. They wanted a sign. And in verse 39, Christ answered them in Matthew 12 and said, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Verses we've all looked at. Verses that we know what Jesus Christ is saying.

Verses that if the world was paying attention would be a sign of where the Messiah is, and they wouldn't be keeping the days they're keeping. Verse 41, he says, The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here.

You know, as the people heard that, and Jesus Christ said it like what? You're comparing us to Nineveh? You say that Nineveh would have responded better than us, the people of God? You mean they would have listened? They would have listened to God? They would have paid attention?

And in those two cities, when we look at those two cities, we can see the scope of God's patience and mercy. Not just with His people, but with all mankind, because we have to remember that Jesus Christ died for all mankind. God loves all mankind. His purpose and His will is that every man, woman, and child, when it's His time to call them, will, repent, choose Him, receive eternal life. That's what His will is, not just for the Church of God today, certainly for us today, but for all of mankind. And Jesus Christ uses these two cities.

He uses these two cities, and in it we find examples, great examples, of His patience and His mercy, even on people who weren't His people. Let's go back. Let's go back to Genesis and look at this Sodom, who Christ said, if the works that I did in you, Capernaum, were done in them, they would have remained until this day. He was telling them, of course, your hearts are hardened. You just simply don't want to hear what I have to say.

You're still making excuses for yourself. But back in Genesis 15, before we get to Sodom, I just want to reference here verse 16. In Genesis 15, we have Abraham and God that has him in a vision and showing him what's going to befall his descendants in the generations ahead. And in verse 16, it says this, it says, But in the fourth generation, Abraham, your descendants shall return here, where we are today, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

The Amorites are here. They are sinful people. But their iniquity is not yet complete. It tells us that God was being patient with that people. They weren't at the point where he would say the Amorites need to be ended. Judgment is now on the Amorites. What was he waiting for? What was he waiting for? We go back to a couple chapters of chapter 13. We're introduced to Sodom.

That's so infamous in Bible lore of people who know the Bible and the sins that went on there that just seem so atrocious. And for years we might have thought, how could anyone have lived in Sodom? Today we're beginning to understand how you live in Sodom as we watch the morality in the world around us. In chapter 13 of Genesis, verse 10, we see Abraham and Lot coming to a decision. Their flocks have increased so much they can't graze in the same land. So Lot is going to move over. Abraham, let's lot decide where do you want to move your flocks to. First, then it says, Lot lifted up his eyes. He saw all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the eternal destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Like the Garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zor. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other. Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. I'm going to choose to live in this city. How was the city at this point in time? Verse 13, the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked. They weren't this innocent little group of people. They were exceedingly wicked. At the time, Lot decided to move there. They weren't just wicked. God uses the adjective, they were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. They had disregarded everything. When you read through the commentaries, you know, they'll say that what they did, the men of Sodom, not only were they sinful, but they had taken the natural of order of things and switched it around. We know exactly what they're talking about. It was a land that was just even sinning against nature. The natural things had been undone or were being undone in Sodom. So when Lot moved there and God saw where Lot was going, this was a sinful, sinful city back then. When we come to chapter 14, we see Sodom again, and they're under attack when we look at verse 1 from these kings, these kings of Shinar, Cheder Lomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations. It says in verse 2 of chapter 14, they made war with the king of Sodom and they made war with the king of Gomorrah and these other places as well. And here they were, you know, Sodom, a wicked place, now at war with someone who's attacking them. And as you go through the story, you see that Sodom gets conquered. We come down to verse 10. It says, the valley of Sidom was full of asphalt pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled. Some fell there and the remainder fled to the mountains.

And then they, the aggressors, they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way. They also took lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed. Well, maybe this was the retribution of God on Sodom, an exceedingly wicked city. Now they've been captured, now they've been conquered, now they've lost everything.

Isn't that the justice God would want for that city? And yet, God was merciful to Sodom. That was not their end. Verse 14, when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his 318 trade servants who were born in his own house, and he went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods. He also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. What? Why would God let his servant go and rescue Sodom? Of all cities, they were exceedingly wicked. Where's this mercy coming from? Why did God bless Abram? Abraham to do that. He is merciful, and he is a patient, and he is a long-suffering God, and he's got a mind to see what people are about. Verse 17, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheva, that is the king's valley, after his return from the defeat of Chedr Lomer, and the kings who were with him. And then Melchizedek, we know who Melchizedek is. We'll be talking about that later in Hebrews 7 when we get to it. Then Melchizedek came to Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Job well done, Abram. Good job that you went out and rescued Sodom. Good job that you brought Lot back. Good job that you brought back all the things of Sodom. And God is blessing him for that. Abram responded by giving a tithe. In verse 21, the king of Sodom, he's very grateful what's gone on. He knows who Abraham is. He knows what Abraham believes. He knows that what has happened probably understands that it's the God of Abraham that has allowed this to happen. The king of Sodom said to Abram, just let me have the people take all the goods for yourself. I am just so thankful that the kingdom remains and you've done this. But notice Abram. He wasn't in it for the money. He wasn't in it for what he could get out of it. Abram said to the king of Sodom, I've raised my hands the Lord God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth. I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap and that I will not take anything that is yours. What you should say, I've made Abram rich. And then he tells him what he will take just to pay back his expenses. Abram wasn't in it for any reason other. God led Abram to save Sodom at that point, even though they were wicked. The iniquity of Sodom was not yet complete. God was being merciful to them. Now that they've seen God involved in their lives, now that they've seen this happen to them, what would they do? What would they do with what God had given them?

Abraham didn't even take the spoils. What would they do with that? Would they recognize what had gone on with them? Let's go forward to Luke 6 because there's a lesson for us in that as well.

You notice that it says here that, you know, God has delivered your enemies into your hand.

It wasn't that Abraham saw Sodom as, oh, they're friends to me and I'm friends with this evil wicked city, as God calls it. He says, he's delivered your enemies into your hand.

In Luke 6, verse 35, we've already read verse 36, but look at the verse leading up to where we're told that we need to learn to be merciful just as God, our Father is merciful.

Verse 35 of Luke 6, love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for God is kind to the unthankful and evil. He's merciful with them. He's patient with them.

And he tells us, don't you be judgmental, don't you wish destruction on them, let me be the judge of when it is. It may not be now. God will take care of things in his time. But you, people of God, you be kind. You don't judge. You don't cut them off. You don't say all these things evil about them. Let God do it. Love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. Kind of a lesson for us. Abraham lived that. Abraham lived it. What do we learn from that? What do we learn about doing the things that God would have us do? Patience and mercy.

He's full of that. We've all experienced it. Sodom experienced it. The world is experiencing it now.

Many of us are experiencing it more than others. God is patient. God is merciful.

And he will determine when the time and if the time comes for someone to be judged or punished.

Well, that's Sodom. Let's leave Sodom alone for a minute. Let's talk about the city of Nineveh. The city of Nineveh was a very evil city as well. We've all heard of the kingdom of Assyria, and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. And we know what Assyria was a very cruel, a fierce nation. People dreaded even the thought of the Assyrians coming near them.

You know, we read of Judah and the dread that would come on people if the king of Assyria was even anywhere in the neighborhood. They were just an awful, awful place we can't even imagine.

Back at the time when Isis was alive and well and wreaking its terror across the Middle East, you would read about the things they did in our minds who were devolved. Like, wow, what a cruel people! Whatever Assyria did, it was worse than anything we've ever heard about Isis and what they did and what they wreaked on people. There was no mercy. There was no patience. They were torturous, terrible people. None of us could even imagine what it would be like to be in the face of Assyria. So you see the world around were just in dread if Assyria was even looking their way.

And you see that, you know, in Judah, and it was Assyria who conquered Israel.

And their lives were absolutely miserable.

God sent the prophet to Nineveh, of all places. They weren't Jews that were there. They were Assyrians that were there. Let's go back to Jonah, the book of Jonah, and the minor prophets.

And for some reason, God decided, this evil city, this evil city I'm going to send, I'm going to send my prophet Jonah. And you remember the story of Jonah. When God says, go to Nineveh and tell them to repent, Jonah says, I want to be anywhere other than Nineveh. I don't want to go there. And he actually tries to run away to Tarshish, right? And so, you know, the story of how he was thrown into the sea, and God created or made this great fish appear and protected him during that time. Jonah had to realize, it's not where I want to go. It's not what I want to do. It's what God wants me to do. And even reluctantly, Jonah went on to Nineveh, he had no choice. We learn, you know, sometimes there is just no choice. We do what God wants us to do. And if we resist it and we reject it, he'll get us there one way or the other. Let's read through chapters three and four here of Jonah and just see what God said. Now, Jonah has already been through the ordeal of the great fish. He's been vomited on the dry land. In chapter three, verse one, it says, the word of the eternal came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown. Forty days, you guys are done.

Now, that could have created people of Nineveh to say, who do you think you are telling us that?

That's probably what Jonah expected, and then God in forty days would just wipe Nineveh off the face of the earth. But they had a totally different reaction. The people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

And word came to the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Don't let them eat or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Just let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. He recognized it was a fierce city. They were a terrible people.

Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Totally unexpected. Jonah had to be floored when this happened. Verse 10, God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he didn't do it.

Certainly an example of God's mercy. Okay, Nineveh, you've made this motion. You've done these things.

Certainly I'll show mercy on you and I'll relent from destroying you in 40 days.

Was God patient with Nineveh? Sure. Did he expect that when he said let them there in 40 days, he would see what they had to do. Okay, you know what? They've done it. I will be patient with them. Let's see what they do with these actions they're taking, and this mercy and this patience that I showed them. Well, in chapter 4, we find out that here God's servant had to learn something about mercy and patience as well. Well, God was very merciful and patient, even with Jonah, who ran the other way when God told him to do something. But God was merciful in providing that fish, keeping him from drowning. Was patient with him. You're going to do my will. I get it. Okay, pick yourself up, go to Nineveh and do that. Jonah had some other lessons to learn. He very much wanted Nineveh destroyed. He wanted them gone. He wanted to be wiped off of the earth. That was what his mind was on. Just get these people off of the face of the earth. It displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was angry. God, why would you do this to this evil city? Why would you let them off of the hook? So he prayed to God and said, ah, Lord, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my country? That's why I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know you're a gracious and merciful God. I know it. And I knew you would relent from doing these things. I know that you're a gracious and merciful God. Slow to anger. Well, he'd experienced it himself. An abundant and loving-kindness. One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, just take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live. I can't believe I'm even part of this. I can't believe I'm even seeing the fact that this Nineveh city is going to remain here. And God asked him, is it right, Jonah? Is it right for you to be angry? What stake do you have in this? What is it to you if I show mercy and patience to someone? What are you angry about? Maybe you need to look at yourself.

Maybe you need to become merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Maybe you need to become patient as your Father in heaven is patient. First verse 5, Jonah went out of the city.

He sat on the east side of the city, and there he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. What's going to happen? What is really going to go on here? God prepared a plant made it come up over Jonah that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was appropriately and very grateful for the plant.

Thank you, God, for providing this. Thank you for shielding me from the sun. But as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm, and it damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind. And the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint, and he wished death for himself and said, you know, again, can I just die? What am I having to endure this stuff for? He had a lesson to learn. God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? I gave it, and I let it die. And now you're angry about it. And he said, it is right for me to be angry, even to death. How dare you kill that plant that I was relying on?

But God taught him a powerful lesson. You have pity on the plant for which you have not labored. You haven't made it grow. It came up in a night, and it perished in a night. I gave it to you as a blessing. You had nothing to do with it, but now you even want to die because it was taken from you. And God tells him, shouldn't I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock?

Jonah, remember, I love all of mankind. He wasn't going to send his son for just a select group of people. I love them all. I look forward to the time when they all come to repentance. It may not be in this lifetime. Well, it certainly won't be in this lifetime, but it will be at a time when God decides they will do it. Jonah, shouldn't you love them the way I love them? I understand the human emotions involved. I understand the eagerness and the angst that comes with watching evil people and what goes on with them. You know, David wrestled with the same thing. Now we can turn back to Psalm 94. Psalm 94, and many times in the Psalms, we see David saying, how long are you going to wait, God? What are you waiting? Look at the wicked. They prosper. Why aren't you doing anything about it? And it can kind of bother us sometimes. We might look around us, maybe at the places that we work, maybe in the land that we live and say, what about the wicked? What are you waiting so long for? God looks at things differently. He's not willing that any should perish, and he wants to see what will they do with the opportunities that he gives them. 94 verse 1, Psalm. O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth.

Rise up, O judge of the earth. Render punishment to the proud. Come on! Just do it! They deserve it, right? Render punishment to the proud. Lord, how long will the wicked triumph?

What are you waiting for? God's patient, and he's merciful. They utter speech. They speak insolent things. All the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. They break in peace as your people, O Lord. They afflict your heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, God doesn't see. God doesn't see. Nor does the God of Jacob understand.

Nothing is happening to the wicked, and they just keep on in their way. And that's what David saw in many places in the Psalms as you read through it. He says the same thing, asaph in the Psalms that he wrote. You see the same sentiment there. What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for? Down at the end of Psalm 94.

Let's just pick it up, and you can read through the Psalm later, where he again recant this in verse 20. It says, Shall this throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, help fellowship with you? You're going to let that happen, God? They gather together against the life of the righteous, and they condemn innocent blood. But he realizes, ultimately, it's God. It's not for us to take the vengeance. It's not for us to take the judgment and say, it's time for this to be gone. But the Lord has been my defense, and my God, the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their iniquity, and he shall cut them off in their own wickedness. The Lord our God shall destroy them, or cut them off. He'll do it. We patiently wait for Him, as He shows patience not only to us, but to other people. Psalm 37 and verse 7.

We are very thankful for the patience God shows us. We're very thankful for the mercy that God shows us. We have to be patient, as God shows that same patience to other people.

Maybe people in our families, maybe people in work, maybe even people right in the church who may irritate us, who we may look at and say, you know, they're not doing what they should be doing. We should be just blasting them from here to wherever, right? But He says, you be patient. You be patient as I'm patient. I'm patient with you, and you know what? I'm working with these people, too. Let me see where they go, because I'm not willing that any should perish. It's not your job to make these decisions. It's God. Verse 7 of Psalm 37. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Don't fret because of Him. Don't fret because of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger. For sake, wrath. Don't be angry. When we get angry, our mind shuts off. We can't even see clearly anymore. Slow to anger. God is slow to anger. We work and we process things. And God's Spirit can work when we're not angry and pushing everything. And we give Him time.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Don't fret. It only causes harm. For evil doers will be cut off, but those who wait on the eternal, they will inherit the earth.

You know, Jonah had a real lesson to learn. We may have a lesson to learn.

Those who wait on the Lord, they will inherit the earth. Those who develop patience and mercy and waiting for God. For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Indeed, you'll look carefully for His place, but it'll be no more. The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. That's a promise of God. When we learn all of what He wants us to learn, when we become all of what He wants us to become, not just strict obedience—let me take that back—not just obedience, because strict obedience to His laws is exactly what He's looking for, but it's what we become, our attitudes, our heart.

Is it like the heart of Jesus Christ? Is it like the heart of God the Father? Certainly, it begins with obedience and paying attention diligently and carefully focused on God, building the house that He's building in us exactly to His expectations. But learning to wait on Him and having the same attitudes that He does. Psalm 18. Psalm 18 verse 25.

Here's David writing again. He says, with the merciful, God, with the merciful—that's you and me, what we need to become—with the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. He gives. You know, we read that in 1 John, it was God who first loved us. You know, it was God who first showed us mercy. It was God who first showed us patience and long suffering and slow to anger. But He expects us to do that in turn to other people. With the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you will show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. And with the devious, you will show yourself shrewd. You develop what I intend for you to develop, what I've called you to develop, what the Holy Spirit in you will lead you to, if you follow, if you pay attention, if you don't harden your heart, if you don't think it doesn't apply to me and we don't do the natural thing. I'm just going to resist that. I'm not even going to listen to that because I don't want to hear it. Like the people of Sodom, like Judah, like Israel, or you will save the humble people, or you will bring down haughty looks.

So God wants us to look at these things, and we have to ask ourselves, do we show mercy? Do we show mercy to each other? Do we show patience to each other? Do we just write people off and say, they're not even worth my time anymore? I'm not even going to talk to that person anymore. I'm just going to kind of cross them off my list. You know, God is patient. God is merciful.

We need to be patient. We need to be merciful. Do we cross the world off and say, I'm not going to have anything to do with them anymore? I'm just waiting for God to just destroy them and wipe them off the face of the earth. He'll do what he wants to do with his time, but in the meantime, he wants us to develop the affinity and love for mankind that he has because all of mankind will be. Their minds will be open, and they have the opportunity. They have the opportunity to know God's way. I'm not going to turn to Matthew 18, 21-35. That is the parable, if you remember, of the debtors. It's, you know, you remember that one of the debtors had this enormous debt, and he comes to his master and says, please forgive my debt. Show mercy on me.

And he does. He forgives all the debt. But then he runs around to someone who owes much less to him, and he doesn't show mercy to that man at all. In fact, he wants to throw him into prison because he won't pay that little amount. And God goes back to that man and says, who are you? I forgave you all this debt, and you can't show mercy to him. If I show you mercy, I expect that you're going to show mercy. It might take some time later on to read that parable in light of what we're talking about. Patience and mercy. Attribute of God. Some people, and we touched on it already, some people can mistake God's patience and mercy as tolerance. As tolerance for sin. I do this. I've taken a little bit of liberty over here. I haven't been slapped. I haven't gotten to trial. I haven't lost my job. I haven't gotten sick. So God must be okay that I've taken this little bit of liberty, and I may not be doing things exactly the way the Bible says to do it, but since I have not done any of these things, you know what? God's patience and merciful, he probably is okay with that. We should never, as God's people, mistake patience and mercy as tolerance for sin and wrong behavior. Never, never, never. God doesn't expect it, and God doesn't take patience and mercy as his determination that I'm being tolerant with you. I'll just accept your sin. It's okay with what you're doing.

Not at all. Not at all. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 11.

You know Solomon, as he lived his life, and here at the end of his life, he writes this book of Ecclesiastes, says many things in it, very many truths, and as he's thinking about, you know, well, as he's thinking about what goes on in life and how people transgress God's law, transgress the law of the land, in verse 11 he says, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully said in them to do evil.

Now, we have to remember that we have, still, not a 100% pure heart. God is working on that with all of us. So our natural tendency is exactly what Solomon is talking about here. If a sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, if I don't disregard Sabbath, God's Sabbath day, and he doesn't slap me up the side of the head on Sunday and I have something happen, like, then he must be okay. He must be okay with what I did with that.

If I resist this that I've heard, and God doesn't do me, that's what the way of the world is. That's what we see in the land around us. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully said in them to do evil. They look at it as an encouragement. Okay, I'm just going to keep doing it. It must be okay. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged, yet God says, I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him.

What do the people who fear God do? They obey Him implicitly. They're thankful for the mercy. They're thankful for the patience that God shows, but they don't take that as license to keep doing what I'm doing. That would be silly. That wouldn't be what God's way is about. The world may want to preach that, but that's not what God's about.

Those who fear the Lord understand what His purpose is. Understand that we make a mistake, we repent, we get up, and we ask God, give us your spirit. And the recognition that we don't do these things because we more and more perfectly live God's way. We more and more perfectly have the heart that God wants us to have. Verse 13, it'll be well with those who fear God. Remember that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of understanding, the beginning of knowledge, and what it all means.

At the feast, we talked about that. But it will not be well with the wicked. Who are the wicked? Those who disregard God's law. Those in the world. Those in the church who disregard God's law and think, it's okay. I can kind of just do whatever I want. As long as I'm not getting slapped up against the side of the head, I guess God's okay with it no matter what I do. And as long as I do these two basic things, but it won't be well with the wicked, nor will He prolong His days, which are as a shadow, because He doesn't fear God.

So He's telling us something there, but He's also telling us and showing us that in what has happened with these people that we have talked about. We can talk about the land of Israel. God was merciful with them. He was patient with them. All those years He took them into the Promised Land that was hundreds of years before He sent Assyria in to take them away.

At that point, God exacted His judgment on Israel. At that point, He realized, they're not coming back to repentance. They're not turning back to Me. Their iniquity is complete. Just like at a point in time, God looked at the Amorites, who He said to Abraham, you know, these people, you're going to want them to be brought back here because today, the Amorites, their iniquity is not complete.

But when God brought Israel into the Promised Land, He determined, their iniquity is complete. They aren't going to turn to Me at all. They're going to continue in their evil ways. Israel lost it all. God was patient and merciful with them, but the time came when judgment came. And that was the end of Israel.

Same thing happened to Judah. God sent warnings to them. He sent prophets to them. He was patient. He was merciful for 40 years. He said, turn to Me. Turn to Me. Turn back. They didn't pay attention.

They finally came to the realization, they're not going to repent. I see what's in their heart. They're going to continue in the same way they always have. They lost it all.

Sodom had the opportunity. God, a wicked city. God allowed Abraham to go in and rescue that city from being captured and from being, you know what many of us would have said, they got what they deserved. They went on for how many more years?

Because at that time in Genesis 14 that we read about, their iniquity was not complete.

God was being patient and merciful with them. But when you come to chapters 18 and 19, you see Sodom was destroyed in a day. The time came for patience and mercy to be over.

And God exacted his judgment on them, and that was the end of Sodom.

Same thing with Nineveh. You know, we read the beginning of the story of Nineveh in the book of Jonah. We read that, but that's not the complete story of Nineveh. Let's go back to the little book of Nahum. Very seldom do we turn to the book of Nahum. It's Jonah, Micah, and then Nahum.

And let's see what God writes in this little book, because the little book of Nahum gives us the rest of the story of Nineveh. God was merciful and patient with them. But we read in Nahum, some 50 or 100 years later, when God exacts his vengeance on Nineveh because they didn't get it either. When Jonah went to them, apparently their iniquity was not complete and God was being impatient and merciful to them. That was in 760 AD, but here somewhere in the 650 AD area, God sends Nahum to prophesy to them. Verse 1, Nahum 1, the burden or the oracle against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elchishite. Here we have some of the attributes of God. God is jealous. He avenges. He avenges and is furious. He will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger. Nineveh experienced that. He is slow to anger and he is great in power and he will not at all acquit the wicked. He isn't tolerated of sin and his patience and mercy should never be construed to do that. He will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and he makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bation and Carmel wither and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before him. The hills melt and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. Verse 7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who trust in him. But with an overflowing flood, he will make an utter end of its place and darkness will pursue his enemies. Now in verse 8, as Nahum is sending this message to Nineveh, the wrath of God is about to be poured out on them. And in verse 8, when you look at the commentaries and use when it talks about with an overflowing flood, when Nineveh was finally overthrown, it was a mighty city. The walls were 100 feet tall, they said. You could draw three chariots side by side across the walls. It looked like an impregnable city that there could be no place more safe on earth. But the time had come for judgment to be on Nineveh. And as it turns out, entered 612 BC, when Nineveh was completely overthrown, the Tigris River did overflow. And the flood was so great that it damaged the walls of Nineveh. The Babylonians marched into the city and conquered them. An act of God? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It was time. Nineveh had not done at all what God had said. The time, the iniquity, they're complete. They're not going to turn back to me. They're just keeping on doing the things. Everything they learned back a hundred years ago, they become worse people. It didn't make an effect on them at all. And so we can go down through the chapters here. And let's go to chapter 2 and see what this people were like. Verse 11 of chapter 2.

Here's a good description of what Nineveh was. Again, they were the fiercest, and even history shows through everything that just what a cruel and torturous people they are.

Where is the dwelling of the lions, verse 11, and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion's cub, and no one made them afraid. They just tore people to pieces. They were there and no one could really stand against Assyria. They were just so powerful and there was dread and they just tore people apart. The lion tore in pieces, enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey and his dens with flesh.

Cruel people, they showed no mercy on the people they conquered. None whatsoever, even though God showed them great mercy back in around 760 AD when Jonah was sent there. Behold in verse 13, God says, I am against you. I will burn your chariots in smoke and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more. It's done, Nineveh. I've seen what you've done with my mercy and with my patience. If you haven't progressed at all, you're even worse now. You took my mercy and patience and thought that it was tolerance, but I don't tolerate wickedness.

Chapter 3, verse 1, woe to the bloody city. It's full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.

If you wander into it, no mercy, you're dead. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots, horsemen charged with bright sword and glittering spear. There's a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses because of the multitude of harlotries, of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries who sells nations through her harlotries and families through her sorceries.

Verse 5, behold, I'm against you, says the Lord of hosts. I show you mercy. I still look to the time when you will be resurrected, but I'm against you now, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdom's your shame.

I will cast a vominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste. That great city that no one ever thought could be conquered. But who will bemoan her? Where shall I see any comforters for you? Verse 10, she was carried away. Talking of these nations before, she went into captivity. Her young children were dashed to pieces and that the head of every street cast lots for her honorable men and all her great men were bound in chains. You, Nineveh, also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You will seek refuge from the enemy, but they won't find it. Now, the history of Nineveh, it points out in the commentaries, is that it was conquered completely in 612. The kingdom of Assyria was over, conquered by Babylon. Babylon went on to conquer Judah, as you remember. But Assyria was done, and that city was completely eliminated. And when God says that you will be hidden, the city of Nineveh really was hidden. It was destroyed in 612 AD. Do you know when the ruins of Nineveh were finally discovered? In 1842, some 2,500 years later, you will be so thoroughly wiped out, Nineveh, that you will be hidden. People won't even find your ruins, and it wasn't until 2,500 years later that people even found the ruins of Nineveh. God so completely, so completely wiped out that city. The time for judgment had come. They had missed their opportunity. Their time of their iniquity was complete, and God exacted his vengeance on them.

That's the world, and that's the world we live in today. We can talk about nations, and we can talk about when does God say the iniquity of this nation is complete? Any nation. I'm not talking about this nation exclusively. It's in his time. It's when he's ready. But we can bring it back home because God works with you and I individually in exactly the same way. He's patient, and he's merciful. He will give us all the opportunities we have to turn back to him, to build the house that he's building in us to exactly his specifications. He will give us all the time to turn our hearts to him, to have our ears unstopped, our eyes open, that we listen to what he has to say. Because it will only be those who listen and hear and put into practice in God's life who will be in his kingdom. Only those. He's not going to have people who just say, well, I kind of knew you. He's going to have people who really did what God said. He's going to have people who really with their heart have turned to him with all their being. As Christ said, our job is to do. Our calling is to do during the course of our lifetimes. If we go back to 2 Peter 3, where we looked at the attribute, one of the attributes of God here, and where he is not slack concerning his promise, but he's giving time because he's not willing that any should perish. I'll give you the time.

He says, in verse 11, he asks, therefore, well, you know, well, let me, let me, you can look at verse 11. Let's look at 2 Peter 2, verse 20. That's where I wanted to go right now. Speaking of a time where there will be false prophets on earth and people will get led away by their own ideas, little secret things that they think they learn in the Bible and they've got knowledge that no one else has and, or get deceived with the lies of someone who is looking to have those, have someone follow them. It says in verse 20, if after they, and they is you and I, right? If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, if they're again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

God will give time. He'll be patient. But when he sees that we really are turning back and we have no intention of turning back to him, but we get closer and closer and closer to the world and the old way of doing things, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. He'll give us time, but there will come a time of judgment if we don't heed. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, after God gives us the admonition to watch out for one another, pay attention to one another, as we talked about this past Wednesday, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good work. Let's not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but exhort one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. In verse 26 of Hebrews 10, he says, if we sin willfully, that means we are just going to keep going in the direction we're going, even though we might hear the message turn back, examine, look at yourself, do the things that God says, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Just like Israel was devoured, just like Judah was devoured, just like Sodom was devoured, just like Nineveh was devoured, so it will be if you and I are guilty of the same thing that God would caution us against.

On verse 32, it's a frightful thing, it says in verse 31, to fall into the hands of the living God as we appreciate the mercies and the benefits of God. We also might want to remember the powerful God that he is, the purpose that he has in mind, what he has called us to, who we are to become, and the tools he will give us to do that. And if we reject that, either willfully by just resisting everything that he says, or just taking it for granted and drifting along in life, just doing what comes easily to us, and just sort of drift along. Eventually, we head off into the into the horizon. In verse 32, he gives us an admonition. Recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, when God opened your eyes to the truth, you endured a great struggle with sufferings. You went through the trials. You kept the faith. You walked on through it, partly while you were made a spectacle, both by reproaches and tribulations. Maybe your family made fun of you. Maybe your work made fun of you. Maybe they challenged you and thought, you know, it's kind of foolish to be doing this in the 21st century. Come on, get with life.

Partly while you were made a spectacle, both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. Remember those days? You were able to stand up against those. Remember those days you identified with the people of God. They became your family. For you had compassion on me in my chains, the author says. I was there, but you know what? I saw your mercy. You were praying for me. You understood what I was going through. You had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. Whatever God sent my way, I was willing to do it because my eyes were on him, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. And so the admonition to us as we hear these things, as we watch God's patience, as we watch God's mercy, as we see it in our lives, and what we need to develop, don't take it for granted. Don't think that it's tolerance for the way we live our lives. Continually examine. Get back, as we've said so many times, to the way what you were taught in the beginning, and don't drift away. Don't give yourself permission to do things that you know are against God's way. Therefore, he says in verse 35, don't cast away your confidence.

Our confidence is in God. That's where it needs to be. The fear of God, looking to him, watching him, being patient with him, showing mercy to those, and not being judgmental with anyone, but following him as he leads us.