A Man, His God, and His Purpose

In this 10-message series, we will discover the boundless compassion of God.  But it is also a book about God’s judgement.  It seems that whenever we stress the compassion of God at the expense of his justice and righteousness, we are in danger of turning compassion, as one writer said, into mere sentimentality.  It is mere sentimentality when only we say that God has compassion because he just feels so deeply moved in love toward us.  That’s a sentimental thought, and yet, far too often that thought is meaningless because it is not understood against the background of God’s righteousness and his glory.

Compassion can only be compassion when it means that it is surprising or undeserved.  If we think we are getting what we deserve it is not compassion but something else entirely.

The book of Jonah is a book about compassion, yet Jonah, as we will see thinks that God is far to lavish in his compassion.  It is a book that will force us to look at the boundless compassion of our God and it may make some of us uneasy for we will see God’s compassion among people who really have no business receiving mercy.