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: Jonah 3:10-4:5

 

KEY VERSE: 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)

 

INTRODUCTION: If this book had ended at Jonah 3:10, history would have portrayed Jonah as the greatest of the prophets. Alter all, he preached one message that motivated thousands of people to repent and turn to God. This was no small accomplishment. But the Lord does not look on the outward things; He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7) and weighs the motives (1 Corinthians 4:5). That is why Jonah Chapter 4 was included in the book, for it reveals “the thoughts and intents” of Jonah’s heart and exposes his sins.

 

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 Jonah 3:4.  Sure, no one would print it in a book of "best sermons."  They couldn't.  Or if they did, they'd have to use 72 point font with a lot of surrounding graphics, because the entire speech is only five words in Hebrew, eight words in English: "FORTY MORE DAYS AND NINEVEH WILL BE OVERTURNED."

 

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, 8/4/08

 

I. GOD’S COMPASSION TOWARD NINEVEH (Jonah 3:10-4:2)

 

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 Nineveh. Did God break His Word? No. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

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 Nineveh that changed, and that makes all the difference in the world.

 

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 Nineveh turned to God -- he did not like that.

 

C. Jonah complained because a miracle had taken place in Nineveh. (Jonah 4:2)

 

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 Nineveh and as he sits in the shade he prays. He is very unhappy; in fact, he’s miserable.

 

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 Nineveh. But listen to him now: “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.”

 

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 Nineveh in forty days, if Nineveh would turn to You, You would save them because that’s what You always do.”

 

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 Nineveh. Jonah said, “If those Ninevites would turn to God, God would save them, and you just can’t depend on Ninevites -- they might put up a good front. They might say that they have turned to God.” Jonah should have known that the Lord knew their hearts and knew whether they were genuine or not. But Jonah did know how merciful and good and gracious God is.

 

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 Nineveh, he gave out God’s Word faithfully, and the city turned to God. This man is now overwrought, over stimulated. He is exhausted, absolutely drained – and he wants to die.

 

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 Nineveh because I am in the saving business and I save sinners. I wanted you to bring them the message of judgment to see whether or not they would turn to Me. If they turned to Me, I would save them. They did turn to Me, and I have saved them.”

 

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 Africa, and he was showing me a picture of some little black boys in the orphans’ home there. I could tell by the way he looked at the picture that he loved those little boys. I said to him, “When you first went to Africa, did you love the Africans?” He said, “No, I really wanted to go to my people in Greece, but at that time the door was closed, and I could not go; so I had to go to Africa.”

 

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. Vernon McGee

 

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.”

 

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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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