Abounding in Love

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Spirituality

4.8 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The last chapter of Jonah is a surprise chapter. It’s the most surprising ending of any of the books of the Bible. If you gave this whole chapter a title, you might call it “The Incredible Collapse of Jonah.” Why would a preacher get exceedingly angry when, as a response to his preaching, he’s actually turned a culture away from violence, oppression, and wickedness to the living God? The incredible collapse of Jonah is because of a misunderstanding of God’s love. There are several lessons we can learn, but one is that God’s love is a patient love. Fruitful Christians like Jonah can fall back into old patterns of sin and self-deception, but only the patient love of God stands between them and oblivion. God’s patient love will always bring his children back. Why is God’s patient love not more operative and powerful in our lives? How can God’s patient love be more powerful and operative in our lives? Let’s look at four things we can do: 1) Examine your heart, 2) Confess sin, 3) Make sure you realize God’s patient love is the thing that will keep you out of despair, and 4) Seek reality. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 2, 1990. Series: Jonah. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-10. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for listening to Gospel in Life. Today Tim Keller is taking us through a series
0:07.2	on the Book of Jonah, a story about much more than the reluctant prophet being swallowed
0:12.1	by a great fish. And you may be surprised at how profoundly it speaks to the issues we
0:16.8	face today. After you listen, we'd love it if you'd rate and review the podcast. It will
0:21.6	encourage others to listen so they can experience the life-changing message of the gospel,
0:26.1	because the gospel changes everything. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller.
0:32.2	Jonah 4, 1 through 10. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord,
0:43.6	oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to
0:50.5	Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in
0:56.1	love. A God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life for it is better for
1:02.9	me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, have you any right to be angry? Jonah went out and
1:10.6	sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited
1:16.8	to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over
1:22.1	Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy about the vine.
1:29.0	But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm which chewed the vine so that it withered.
1:34.4	And when the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind and the sun blazed on Jonah's head
1:40.4	so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and he said it would be better for me to die than to live.
1:46.4	But God said to Jonah, do you have a right to be angry about the vine? I do, he said. I am angry
1:54.0	enough to die. But the Lord said, you have been concerned about this vine, though you did not
2:00.2	tend it or make it grow. It's spring up overnight and died overnight, but Nineveh has more than 120,000
2:06.4	people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned
2:13.2	about that great city? This is God's word. We've been looking at the story of Jonah and we now
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