Over and over again, God extended grace to the Prophet Jonah, and yet Jonah

struggled to show others the same mercy. If we're honest, we're often guilty of

the same reluctance, aren't we? Today, on Truth For Life weekend, we'll find out

how it's possible to extend grace even to those who have wronged us.

Alistair Begg is teaching today from chapter 4 in the book of Jonah.

So the sulking prophet takes a seat. That's what we're told here in verse 5. He

went out and he sat down at a place east of the city. Now the timing of these

things is quite difficult. It's not really possible for us to deduce just

exactly how everything is taking place. My best attempt at it is this, that as

soon as it was apparent to Jonah that the Ninevites were responding to his

preaching by repenting, and that that in turn, as he understood it, would lead to

this expression of God's compassion towards them. Then at that point we have

the expression of his displeasure and his anger. And as soon as he

understands that, the dialogue that ensues in verses 1 to 3 takes place. When

the Lord asked them, have you any right to be angry? He then shoots off and

decides to make a little shelter for himself on this site that is we're told

east of the city. He sits down so that he might be able to see verse 5. At the

end tells us exactly what was going to happen to the city. Now we might be

surprised at this given that he had assumed that with repentance would come the

expression of God's compassion. But we do also know that there are occasions in

the Bible when punishment still follows expressions of repentance. And while we

may be genuine in our expressions of repentance towards God, the implications of

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