Purkey’s
B i b l
e S t u d y
Outlines
H O M E
P A G E
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Rev. Ronald C. Purkey claims no originality for this Bible study
outline.
However, every outline posted on this website
has been taught by Rev. Purkey.
To see more Bible study outlines go to page two: More Bible Study Outlines.
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OUR COMPASSIONATE GOD
SCRIPTURE:
INTRODUCTION: If this book had ended at
If in chapter 1, Jonah is
like the Prodigal Son, insisting on doing his own thing and going his own way;
then in chapter 4, he is like the Prodigal’s Elder Brother -- sullen, angry,
critical, selfish, and unhappy with what was going on. It is not enough for
God’s servants simply to do the Lord’s will; they must do “the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). The heart of
every problem is the problem in the heart, and that is where Jonah’s problems
were to be found. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry”
(Jonah 4:1).
The remarkable thing is
that the Lord tenderly dealt with His sulking servant and sought to bring him back
to the place of fellowship and joy. -- Warren
Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New Testaments
The Greatest Sermon Ever
Preached
Ask a panel of preachers for their vote on the greatest sermon in
history, and I'm guessing you'll get a fairly uniform response. The vast majority will point to Jesus' Sermon
on the Mount. Some might vote for Paul's
address on Mars Hill. A few could lobby
for Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." A handful of modern admirers might suggest
M.L. King's "I Have a Dream"
speech. But if I had a ballot, I'd cast
it for a lesser-known sermon; it doesn't even have a title.
My nomination for the greatest sermon in history goes to Jonah's message
to the Ninevites in
How can that be a great sermon?
There's no introduction, no need raised, no forecast, no points, no
poems, no illustrations, no conclusion.
The sermon has one verb, and it's in the passive voice. The little sermon doesn't just break all the
rules of homiletics; it shatters them.
Try delivering this in Preaching 101 and watch the professor mark not an
"F," but a complete zero for your grade. How could anyone vote this "The Greatest
Sermon in History"?
Easy.
I grade it on results. This
little eight-word sermon had an unprecedented effect on its hearers and sparked
a revival that spanned all social classes from peasants to kings. It may have impacted the largest number of
people in the shortest time in history; the sermon caused somewhere between
120,000 and 600,000 people to radically repent in under 40 days. It saved an entire civilization from
extinction. On a word-for-word basis, in
comparison to any other speech, it is the most economical. Fewer words, greater
results. It's the greatest sermon in history! -- Hal
Seed, sermoncentral.com newsletter,
I. GOD’S COMPASSION TOWARD
A. Jonah saw a real revival break-out among the
people. (Jonah 3:10)
And God saw
their works, that they turned from their evil way; and
God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he
did it not.
(Jonah 3:10)
1. Who changed?
Did God change? No, but it looked as if He did.
Jonah had said, “Yet forty days, and this
city is going to be destroyed. God is going to destroy it.” But God did not
destroy
2. Two options.
The city had two options. If they had not accepted
His Word, they would have been destroyed. But they did accept God’s message,
they believed God, and they turned from their wickedness. God did not change;
He will always save people when they turn to Him. Although it looked as if God
changed, it was really the city of
B. Jonah was very angry because God forgave the
Ninevites. (Jonah 4:1)
But it
displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. (Jonah 4:1)
It did not simply displease Jonah a little bit; it displeased
him exceedingly. He was not angry just a little bit; he was very angry. What is
this man angry about? He’s angry because the city of
C. Jonah complained because a miracle had taken
place in
And he prayed
unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I
was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that
thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
and repentest thee of the evil. (Jonah 4:2)
1. He prayed.
“And he prayed unto the Lord” -- the last time
Jonah prayed he was inside the fish. Here he is outside of
2. He remembered.
In chapter 1 Jonah had hatred and bitterness in his
heart against the Ninevites. He probably had justification for it, and that it
was one of the reasons he did not want to go to
3. He grumbled.
It is very clear that Jonah knew God and that he
knew Him very well. Jonah says to God, “I knew You
were of great kindness, I knew You were gracious, I knew You were merciful, and
I knew You were slow to anger. And I knew that although You
said You would destroy
4. He hated.
Jonah knew God and, knowing God, he said, “I hate
Ninevites. I do not want them saved. I want God to judge them.” So he had
headed in the opposite direction from
II. JONAH’S
ANGER TOWARD DIVINE GRACE (Jonah 4:3-5)
A. Jonah wanted to die because he knew all along that
God would show compassion to the Ninevites. (Jonah 4:3)
Therefore
now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to
die than to live.
(Jonah 4:3)
1. Jonah’s problem.
Jonah has really been through the mill – in fact,
he has been through a fish. He had quite an experience. Then he came into the
city of
2. Our problem.
Many of us reach this stage sometimes. We get to
the place where we feel like saying, “This is it. I give up. I quit. I don’t
want to go any farther.” We are tired; we are exhausted. But God does not want
us to quit. He wants us to be faithful.
B. Jonas was asked by God if it was right for him
to be angry. (Jonah 4:4)
Then said the
LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? (Jonah 4:4)
Young’s translation has says it much better here.
Young has translated it like this: “Is
doing good displeasing to you?” – that is what God
meant. God says, “Jonah, I have saved
C. Jonah still wanted to see if God would judge
Nineveh, so he waited outside the city and watched. (Jonah 4:5)
So Jonah went
out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a
booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of
the city.
(Jonah 4:5)
1. The question.
The Lord is now going to move in on this man Jonah,
and He is going to deal with him personally. We are going to have an answer
here to the question that is often asked: Do you have to love people before you
can bring the Word of God to them? Do you have to love a people before you can
go as a missionary to them?
2. The answer.
Jonah may be a good example in this particular
connection, for one thing is sure: Jonah did NOT love the Ninevites.
I Don’t Love Them
Dr. Vernon McGee said this: When I was teaching in a Bible institute, I used to say, like all the
other teachers were saying, that if you are called to go as a missionary, you
ought to love the people to whom you go. I disagree violently with that now,
because how can you love people before you know them? I first applied that to
myself. I have never accepted a call to a church because I loved the people; I
didn’t know them to begin with. I went because I felt that God had called me to
go there and preach. But I also have never been in a church in which I didn’t
become involved with the people. I have stood at their bedsides in hospitals,
I’ve been at their grave sides when death came, I’ve been with them in the
marriages that have taken place in their families, and I can truthfully say
that I have never yet left a church where there wasn’t a great company of
people whom I loved—and I really mean that I love them in the Lord. But I did
not love them when I went there because I did not know them.
God is saying
to a great many people today, “I want you to go and take the Word of God to
those who are lost.” And they say, “But I don’t love them.” God says, “I never
asked you to love them; I asked you to go....”
I remember
talking to a missionary who was home from
As he held
that picture, I said to him, “But do you love those little fellows now?” Tears
came down from his eyes. He said, “I love them now.” God says to you and me,
“You go with the Word. I love the lost. You take the Word to them, and when
they are saved and you get acquainted with them and know them, you will love
them, too.
– J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible with J.
CONCLUSION: As Jonah came to realize, people who antagonize
us, insult us, and injure us are still people, created and cared for by the
Lord. He wants us to love them because He does. It is not easy, but it is
possible when we remember the compassion and grace the Lord has shown us –
something Jonah forgot.
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: “We can stop
showing mercy to others when Christ stops showing mercy to us.”
* * *
REFERENCES: References used in this
Bible study are the Scofield Reference Bible, the Believer’s Bible Commentary, David C. Cook Publishers Bible-in-Life,
Dr. Cliff Robinson Bible Outlines, Dr. Lee Roberson’s Sermons, KJV Bible
Commentary, Our Daily Bread, The Bible Reader’s Companion Ed. 3, The Nelson
Study Bible: New King James Version, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee,
(Warren) Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the New Testament Ed. 4, (Warren) Wiersbe’s
Expository Outlines of the Old Testament, With the Word Bible Commentary,
Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New Testaments, selected
illustrations, and other references.
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Outlines: CLICK HERE
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