Praise the Lord. All right, let's take our Bibles tonight and go to Jonah chapter number one. Jonah chapter number one. Let's stand as we look into the word of God tonight. Jonah chapter one, and we'll read verses one through three. The Bible says here, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for allowing us to be gathered together to worship you this evening. Father, we thank you for your holy, eternal, perfect word. We pray that you would bless your word this evening. Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts. Lord, teach us, we pray, so that we may be further shaped and molded into the image of your Son. And may it all be for your honor and glory, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Just to give some of the historical background here in this passage, Jonah was a prophet, of course. He was a prophet during the reign of King Jeroboam II. And he was most likely, most scholars believe he was a contemporary prophet of Hosea and Amos, those prophets. And the majority of his ministry was to the nation of Israel, as it was for most of the prophets of God. But there came a day in the ministry of Jonah where God called him to a different people group. When this happened, Jonah's world was rocked when God called him to Nineveh. He was reluctant to follow God's command. And we might look at Jonah and the story of Jonah and think, Jonah, how could you do that? Why would you not obey the Lord? And we might judge Jonah for, for his lack of obedience. We might judge him for that. But how often do we ignore or even outright disobey God's commands to us? And we might rightly call Jonah the reluctant missionary. He was called by God to go to a particular people group to preach to them, to preach what God had told him to preach, and he was reluctant to go. He was a reluctant missionary. The word reluctant is defined in Webster's 1828 dictionary as striving against, unwilling, or much opposed in heart. And that perfectly describes Jonah here in this passage. He was reluctant to obey God's call, to obey God's command. But we have many reluctant missionaries today in our churches, do we not? Men and women and even children who God has said, go, I want you to go. And they, like Jonah, flee. They run away from God's call, from God's command. So what makes a believer like Jonah or like us, what makes a believer reluctant to obey God's command to preach the gospel? Well, there are a few things that we see from the book of Jonah that the believer fails, and I believe intentionally, fails to remember about God. The first thing is that God's love reaches to every person. Let's look at verse two again there. God says to Jonah, arise, go, to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for the wickedness has come up before me." And then chapter 3, verse 2, God says, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. And then chapter 3, verse 10 says, 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. And then chapter four, verse 11, God says to Jonah, and should I not spare Nineveh, that great city where there are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle? The Bible says in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed that the end should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loved Nineveh. God loved Nineveh. He did not love them because they were good. He did not love them because they had earned it or they were deserving of it. Just the opposite. Because of their sin, they had earned God's wrath. The wrath of God is not something to trifle with. It is a serious thing. The Bible says in John 3, 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. God loved them, again, not because of anything they had done, but because of how good God is. God loved them and He loves us because of how good He is. Christ died for us. Christ died for us, not when we were right with God, but while we were still sinners. Romans 5.8 makes it very clear, but God commended. That means that He shows or demonstrates His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God wanted to forgive the people of Nineveh. That is why He called Jonah to them. Because they needed a preacher. Bible says in Romans 10 14, how shall they hear without a preacher? Jonah was that preacher that God anointed to reach them. Why? Why would he call a man to go to a city full of wickedness? Because he loved the people. He wanted them to be forgiven. He wanted them to be redeemed. And that's why Jonah didn't want to go. He knew, Jonah knew that God loved them. And that if they repented, God would forgive them. Jonah didn't want God to forgive them. He did not want God to forgive them. Look at Jonah 4, verse 2. This is Jonah speaking to the Lord. 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 knew that about God. And when God called him to Nineveh, Jonah knew what that meant. If I preach to them, they repent, God will forgive them. Jonah didn't want them to be forgiven. Is there anybody in your life that you don't want God to forgive? maybe someone in your family who has hurt you, maybe a neighbor who is ungodly and who has made things difficult for you in your life, maybe someone at work, someone in your life who has maybe hurt you, or has made things hard for you, and they're unsaved, or maybe they're saved, but you don't want God to forgive them. And so, because you don't want God to forgive them, you're not going to preach as God maybe has called you to. Is that keeping you from from praying for them and preaching to them. See, Jonah did not want to preach to them because he knew what God would do if they repented. He didn't want them to be forgiven. When we look at our culture today and our politics and the world around us, There are a lot of people that it's tempting for us to not want God to forgive them. Those in politics who make things difficult for us, they pass laws that hurt us, and we don't like that. Or maybe people in the culture who are doing things and promoting things that we know are absolutely wicked, they're completely ungodly, and they hurt our children. Do they not? The stuff that they're trying to teach and to indoctrinate our children with, that's harmful to them. And it's easier for us to think, you know, I don't want God to forgive that person because of what they did to me or because of what they're doing to our country, to our land. That's one thing that Jonah failed to remember. That God's love reaches to every person. What's the next thing, Will? The next thing is that God's call reaches to every Christian. Look at Jonah chapter 1 verse 1. We read it earlier. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying. And then chapter 3 verse 1. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying. And God was not purpose for Jonah. Jonah disobeyed God's call for him to preach. That is clear. He disobeyed that call. But the Bible says in Romans 11 29, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Every believer has a general call to obedience. We're all called to obey the Word of God. We're called to to be faithful in our church attendance, to assemble together. We're called to pray. We're called to read our Bible. We're called to live holy lives. We're called to obey the Word of God. But every Christian has a specific call to a particular place, to a particular people group, or to a particular person. For example, Jonah was called to Nineveh, that's a place, that's a specific place God called Jonah to. Jonah, go to Nineveh, go preach there. For us, for my family and I, God has said, Riverside, go preach to the people of Riverside, amen. The apostle Paul was called to the Gentiles, a people group. And there are some missionaries who target a people group. Some missionaries target Muslims. Some target Mormons. Some target a particular ethnic group. It might be Hispanic, Chinese. It might be any other people group you could think of. They speak that language, they know that culture, and God has called them to reach that people group. And that's what God did with Paul. He said, you will be an apostle to the Gentiles. Philip was called to the Ethiopian, a person. God said to Philip, I want you to go down to Gaza. Philip saw that Ethiopian, God said, I want you to go there to him, preach the gospel to him. So every Christian's call is different. Our call is different from the call that your pastor has. God called him to Farmington, Utah. God has called us to Riverside, California. God has called other men to other places, other countries. God calls some men to the continent of Africa, some to South America, some to Asia, some to Europe, regardless. Every Christian has a calling. And again, let me just say this. You may have a calling, but that doesn't mean that you'll be necessarily the missionary, the church planter, the pastor. But you're called to some particular place, some particular person, some people. You might not be the missionary or the pastor, but you're there to help in the work of that ministry. Jonah tried to run away from God's call. How many believers are there in our churches today, especially in this country, who are trying to run away from God's call? Look at Jonah 1.3 again. It says, but Jonah rose up to flee. Look at that phrase there. What a sad statement. I wonder how many Christians are like that today here in America. God says, okay, I want you to go. wherever it might be, and they rise up to flee to somewhere else. At least the Lord, okay, I'm gonna go somewhere else so I can get away from this calling. It says that he rose up to flee unto tortures from the presence of the Lord. How foolish is it of us to think, and we would say this about Jonah, Jonah, how could you think you could get away from the presence of the Lord, a God who is omniscient, omnipresent? You cannot run away from God. And we might look at Jonah and think, Jonah, how foolish of you. How many times do we do that? We try to flee from the presence of the Lord. We fail to recognize that He is always there. And Jonah paid for his disobedience. Look at verse 17 of chapter 1. The Bible says that the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And look at chapter 2 continuing on verse 1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell I cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet, havest thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God." Jonah tried to run away, but God wasn't going to let him get away that easily. But think about your own life. Have you been trying to run from God's call on your life? As Jonah discovered, running away from God's call does not make it go away. That's important to remember. Trying to get away from what God is calling you to do does not make that calling just disappear. But what else do believers fail to remember which makes them reluctant to be missionaries, to be preaching the gospel to people? The last thing that we fail to remember is that God's forgiveness reaches to every sinner. Look at chapter 2, verse 10. After Jonah has received the punishment for his disobedience, the Bible says, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Now look at chapter 3, verse number 10. And God saw their works, the works of Nineveh, and 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. The story of Jonah is one of mercy and forgiveness. You see God's forgiveness on display, but not just for Nineveh, also for Jonah as well. Jonah experienced God's punishment for his disobedience. And that's not a punishment I'd want, to be in the belly of a fish for three days. They don't smell good on the outside. I can't imagine what it's like on the inside. I couldn't think of anything worse. Strange execution would be one thing, but this was much worse than that. But Jonah had sinned against God, just as Nineveh had. And the Lord was not looking to punish Jonah or Nineveh. You know, God delights in extending mercy. He delighted in this story to extend mercy both to Jonah and to Nineveh. The Bible says in Micah 7, 18, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? And I love that. God makes it very clear, all the false gods of all the false religions, there's no pardon for sin. Every religion in the world, is a works-based religion. They've got to work to pay off their sin debt. They have to do the five pillars of Islam, or the seven sacraments of Catholicism, or whatever the Mormons, how many ever they have. All those works that you have to do. The Buddhists, the Jew today, all the works they have to do. Why? Because they don't receive the forgiveness of their sins. They have to earn salvation. The Bible says, Who is a God like unto thee that parteth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnants of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. You know, some people, unsaved people have this view of God, especially in the Old Testament, as an angry, vicious, vengeful God. All God wants to do is punish people. The Bible says the exact opposite. of the sinner. He wants to have a relationship with the unsaved. God loves the world. He does not hate the world. God loves the world. He hates the sins of the world, but He wants to save the sinner. He delights in mercy. We, in our flesh, might take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, but God does not. The Bible says in Ezekiel 33 11, Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Why? Because when that wicked person dies, they die unsaved, their eternity is apart from God forever. In other words, God is a loving God. God created us to be with Him forever. God made Adam to live forever with Him. And when Adam fell, that was it. Right? Punishment came. Death came upon all of us. But God is interested in repentance. Jonah, here, finally obeys God's call to preach. after receiving the punishment for his disobedience. Look at chapter three, verses three and four. So Jonah arose, he finally got the message. And it took a very harsh punishment, but he finally got it. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey. And he cried, just as God said, He told Jonah, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. And that's just what he did in verse number four of chapter three. And he cried and said, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. You know, Jonah didn't even say, if you've repented, God will forgive you. He just said, in 40 days, God's going to destroy you. That's it. That's all he said. repented of their wicked ways. Look at verse five here. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Amen. And proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and satin ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cried mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? All throughout the Word of God, you see God as a God who, before He ever sends judgment to a person or to a group of people, He extends the opportunity for repentance. God always does that. He never judges without first giving the individual or the people an opportunity to repent of their sins. It's very important to remember about God. God will not judge without giving the opportunity to repent. The Lord is a God who wants to forgive. And that's what Jonah didn't want to see happen. Jonah knew that if Nineveh repented, God would not only forgive them, but also spare them from judgments. Jonah wanted Nineveh to be judged because he hated them. He wanted to see them judged. How often do we feel that towards someone or to some group of people? because of what they've done to us personally or because of what they're doing out in society. We want them to receive God's wrath. We want God to judge them. But God doesn't want to judge them. God wants to forgive them. Now, if they fail to repent, He will judge them. Make no mistake about it. That's what the Bible says. There are a lot of Christians or people who call themselves Christians who want to believe that God will just overlook everything, and everyone will be in heaven, and God will not judge sin, no, God will judge sin. But if people repent, God will withhold the judgments. If a person prays for forgiveness, seeks God, if a person prays to be saved, God will save that person, no matter how evil, no matter what they've done, God will forgive them. But Jonah hated the Nineveh because of their wickedness. This was an evil city. And Jonah did not want to see them forgiven. A lot of times, our hatred makes us reluctant to preach the gospel. Deep down in our flesh, we just hate that person. And we don't want God to forgive them. We think, well, they deserve. They have what's coming to them. You know what? They deserve hell, but so do we. That's all I deserve. The only thing I deserve is hell. That's it. Everything else is a blessing. Everything else is God's mercy. Even when things don't go our way, even when things are difficult, when we have bad news, or even when things are rough in life, hey, think about what, where you could be without God. Think about what you deserve, what you and I deserve. So our hatred sometimes might keep us from preaching the gospel, but God's love is more powerful than any hate. His love for the sinner. So are you reluctant to obey God's call? Are you reluctant to see sinners forgiven? Are you reluctant to preach the gospel? Are you a reluctant missionary? Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of salvation, Lord, that you offer to every person. Father, I am thankful, Lord, to be saved, to know I'm going to heaven, to be a child of you, Lord. There is nothing greater. And we thank you, Lord, for the forgiveness that you've extended to us, for the mercy, Lord, that you give to us, and for the grace that you show us each day. Father, help us to be more grateful than we are for all of that. But Lord, help us, Lord, and forgive us, Father, for when we are reluctant to obey, when we don't feel like giving that person a gospel tract, or feel like opening our mouths to preach to them. Forgive us of that, Lord, for those moments when we have been disobedient, when we've been like Jonah, and we try to run away from your command. Allah, we pray that our lives will be a testimony to your power, to your goodness, to your saving grace. And may we be witnesses of that power and give a testimony to everything that you have done for us and your goodness and your love and your holiness, Lord. Help us, Lord, to be witnesses of those things, that we may glorify you in our lives, that every thought may be pleasing in your sight, every word may exalt you, every action may glorify you. Father, help us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Let's stand together tonight.