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We're going to talk about Jonah 1, verse 3, the school of hard knocks. Ever been there? You've gone through some hard times and just learned some lessons the hard way. You know, it's always easier if you listen to someone trying to give you instruction. But I think many of us, or at least for me, I know, I like to learn. I don't think I like to learn. I just happen to learn the hard way. And I happen to learn as God gets my attention. by oftentimes bringing me to the end of myself. It's a whole lot easier to listen to God's instruction than it is for Him to give some coercion. And God has a way of doing that in your life and mine. In Jonah 1, verse 3, we're going to talk about this, the school of hard knocks. Imagine a coach leading a team. When the player disobeys the game's strategy, the coach might bench them, not out of spite, but to teach them the importance of unity and discipline. Similarly, God, as our divine coach, may allow us to face consequences when we rebel against His plans. His judgment serves to realign us with His purpose and encourage our growth. reflecting his deep love and commitment to our journey." End quotes there, a little illustration, and it's a wonder that God extends so much mercy to us. In Jonah chapter 1 verse 3, we'll read verses 1 through 3 just for context. 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 has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarsus, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. We often put God to the test and fail to do all that he wants us to do. Many people are like Jonah. We do our own thing. We put our lives and our desires before the will of God. Let alone, we don't even want to listen to God at times. We want God to listen to us when I'm in really big trouble so that the pain goes away. In last week's sermon, I discussed Jonah's reluctance to reach the fierce and brutal Assyrians. As we had mentioned, the Assyrians, the Ninevites, were a people that were notorious for being very savage. In fact, they would even skin people alive. They would have killed some of Jonah's own people. So hence, there was a great reluctance to reach these people for God. Verse 2 God says Jonah go arise He says their wickedness has come up before me and God hears the cries of those who are hurt by the wickedness of these people And Jonah's message was to cry out against them. They were notoriously evil God's demand was definite it was precise and God wanted to obeyed he was a preached against the sin of this place and Jonah is a man noted as a servant of the Lord and he had been used of God. But there's an underlying spiritual issue in Jonah's life that creates an attitude of superiority rather than compassion and yieldedness. I had just this week, there's a young man that I knew back in, I met him in 2005. He was a 10-year-old boy. And a very broken home. Anyways, this morning, Pastor Cook, who was here with us just in May, he's gonna take this young man to church. This young man has gone through some very difficult times in his life, and I've been reaching out to him for years and desiring him to come back to the Lord, and I've been very hurt by things in the church, and I'm so thankful for Pastor Cook. But you know what? I'm thankful that God doesn't give up on us. And here are, as you'll look at Jonah 4, verse 11, 120,000 people, more than 120,000 people. They need to learn and hear about a God that loves them. Yes, their actions are very violent. You see, when things go bad in our life, many times we're saying, God, I don't want to do what's right. But I encourage you, when life begins to get difficult, Would you ask the Lord, God, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be here? Is there anything in my life that I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing? And in the case of Jonah, we see a man that was running from God's calling on his life. And what it did is it brought about such deep darkness and even desires for death and suicide. He wanted God to kill him. wouldn't say suicide, but his desire for his mental health, wealth, and mental health was completely decimated because he was separated from the God with whom he was to be united in fellowship, and he was not united in fellowship. He did not have God's peace inside. I want to encourage you this morning as we look at this. Seek God's will, don't run from it. I'm going to look at a calculated escape. It might be a two-week message. I'm not sure. We'll see how far along I get. But as we pray, I pray that you'd open your heart and say, God, as you speak to me today, I'm willing to listen and obey. I trust that that would be true. And maybe you're here this morning, and you can't give me a Bible reason why you know you're a Christian. Some might think, well, maybe I grew up in church, or maybe I did good things. My friend, that's not what the Bible says. You need to see what the Bible says. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There's no prerequisites. The only prerequisite is to come and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you've never done that, I trust today will be the day of salvation. So as we pray, would you with open hearts just ask God, say, God, I will obey as you speak to my heart. Not as I, not as me, I, Chris, speak, but as the Spirit of God speaks to your heart, you say, God, I will follow. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this today. Lord, I thank you for being our gracious Savior. Lord, we thank you for the fun songs we were able to sing for the VBS. Lord, I am so excited for so many kids. Lord, we have such a tremendous, tremendous privilege to reach these wonderful kids. And, Lord, sometimes the kids don't seem so wonderful. They seem like we're going to pull our hair out. But, Lord, help us to give them love and compassion. Lord, today, as we also look at the very truth of Scripture, of Jonah being called to a people that were very frustrating and irritating and harsh. But Lord, you had such tremendous compassion on him, on them, and on Jonah. And Lord, I know I thank you for the hard times you allow in our lives because it brings us to the end of ourselves. So Lord, we can find our identity in you alone. We can find our peace and joy and our connection with you who are our creator and savior. Father, I pray today if there's someone that is not saved, they can't give a Bible reason when they were saved. Just as we were physically born, there's a time we were spiritually born. And I pray that everyone here has a time they know when they were spiritually born again. Maybe they don't remember the exact date, but they do remember the time that you came in and changed them. And Father, I thank you for being our gracious Savior. May you take over this service today. And Lord, may you help us to reflect on our lives, and God, as you work in our lives, I submit, and I trust all of us would submit to you, and say, God, I'll do as you call me to do. Father, I love you, and I thank you for this day. Thank you for these wonderful people. In your precious name of Jesus, I pray, amen. In verse 3 we read about a calculated escape about Jonah. He tries to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. He goes down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarsus, and he pays the fare thereof. He pays what is needed to get on that boat and to flee from God. Jonah ran from the Lord's calling. He looked and searched for travels going the opposite direction, and he purposely fled from the Lord's presence. I want to give you some history of Tarsus today. My eyes are a little bit off. I was out paddle boarding yesterday. My glasses got all wet as I fell in the water a few times, and my eyes are a little bit off. So, anyways, forgive me if I'm a little delayed on some of the things. But in Genesis chapter 10, verse 4, we read about Tarsus. Tarsus was the great-grandson of Jonah, excuse me, of Noah. and a great-grandson of Japheth, with which Jonah's... I'll try that again. Noah's son. And Noah's son Japheth, right? Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Tarsus is the great-grandson of Japheth. Let me write that again. And this place was absolutely opulent. I mean, it was phenomenal. It was an excellent place. 1 Kings 10, verse 22. Let me read a little bit about some of what went on in this place of Tarsus to which Jonah is fleeing. For the king had at sea a navy of Tarsus with the navy of Hiram. Once in three years came the navy of Tarsus, bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. This place is overwhelmingly Rich, I mean, it's just very very wealthy and the mineral riches of this region You can read about in Isaiah chapter 60 verse 9 surely the aisle shall wait for me in the ships of Tarsus first To bring thy sons from far their silver and their gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God the Holy One of Israel because he hath glorified thee we again read about the silver and the gold this place was overwhelming, I mean it was just over abundance of wealth and And here we find Jonah fleeing to a place of wealth rather than a place of God's calling. And I say that that is an action that happens in the lives of so many professing believers today. We flee, it's a very comfortable place. Ezekiel 27, 12, Tarsus was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches with silver, iron, tin, and lead they traded in thy fares. They were a tremendously, they just exported all of this wealth. They had all of this wealth internal. It was a place that you and I would want to live, or so we would think. It was named after one of the sons of Javan. It was an ancient merchant city of Spain, once proverbial for its wealth. It supplied Judea with silver and Tyre with all manner of riches, iron, tin, and lead. Ships destined for this voyage at that time so long and built for carrying merchandise were naturally among the largest then constructed. These ships would carry huge loads of goods. Ships of Tarsus corresponded to the East India Men, which some of us remember. The breaking of the ships of Tarsus by the east wind, Psalm 48, 7, is on account of their size and general safety, instance as a special token of the interposition of God. That's Albert Barnes, he mentioned this, and they think it was a very wealthy Phoenician merchant city. I say all of this, I'm saying that Jonah flees from doing what God wants. I want you to look with me at a passage of scripture in 2 Peter 2. We'll come back to Jonah, but in 2 Peter 2, verse 18. Can I tell you it's in the Christian life that we begin to get comfortable. And then God calls us, and this was at least the case in my own personal life. I was there in the military. I was an Air Force officer, electrical engineer. I had finished my university degree. I had started my master's. I thought, and I knew God called me to be a pastor, and I said, no way. So I ran towards the money. I said, man, I can make a whole lot more money as an engineer than I can as a pastor. And I ran from it. I ran towards materialism away from God's calling. And can I tell you something, that when I ran towards the money, and I ran towards the good things, life didn't get any easier. In fact, internally, I felt a greater and greater unrest and lack of peace. In 2 Peter 2, this is exactly what happens. You see, because when I chase after things, they become my idol. But that idol isn't so friendly. when it ensnares you and holds you in captivity. In 2 Peter 2, verse 18, I want you to look with me, this is a very important passage, all the Bible's important, but in 2 Peter 2, verse 18, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity, he's talking about these false teachers, they allure through, hey, you can have all this and God wants you to be your best self and all this, God's got a plan for you. He says something for, For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they puff you up. They allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness. That word wantonness is, hey, do whatever you want, follow your heart. Those that were clean escape from them who live in air. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. Look at this next part. This is really what I want to, for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he says, you get saved. They are again entangled therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning." Have you ever made a commitment, I'm going to serve God? And man, you're just like on fire for God. You said, man, I'm going to serve Jesus. You get on it, and you're moving forward. And I know in that my life, I had that. But then all of a sudden, something happens in my life. And I said, well, God, you know what this whole Christian thing is? It's a whole lot of work. And I began to get my eyes off of Jesus. It's not a lot of work. It's a relationship, man. It's unbelievable. But I got my eyes off of Jesus. I began to look at all the work I was doing for him. And I said, ah, you know what? I can rest. So I began to chase after nice things. And what happened in my life is it brought me into bondage. And you know what happens? You go and buy all these nice things, and maybe you have to take out loans and all this other stuff, and then you become a slave to having to work to pay for all the toys. And you can't be faithful to God. It ensnares you. Now, there's nothing wrong with having nice things. I'm not saying there is. But I'm saying what happened is, is Jonah said, oh, beautiful city, wealthy city. I'm going there. I'm not going to those people. Jonah goes to flee towards Tarsus. He doesn't make it. He goes down to Joppa, which is about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, one of the oldest towns in Asia. It was a chief seaport there of Judea. And it was never wrested from the Phoenician. It became a Jewish town only in the second century BC. It was from this port that Jonah took a ship to flee. To this place also wood cut in Lebanon, I'm reading a commentary here, by Hiram's men for Solomon was brought in floats and they would build the temple through all this stuff coming through this port. Scarcely any other town has been so often overthrown, sacked, pillaged, burned, and rebuilt as Joppa. But I want to look at several things today. An immediate departure. You see, there's several reactions that a person will do when they're resistant to God's will for your life and mine. I want to look at the first one, number one, Exodus chapter four, verse 10. The first thing a person will do, reaction number one, is we question God. Is this really what I should do? I know in my life, I was like, God, I think you got the wrong person. God, I'm not cut out for this. In Exodus chapter four, verse 10, the first reaction we'll find, number one, is Moses questions God. I'm looking at just various reactions in light of what Jonah did, and I'm just giving some introspection on this from the scriptures and what other people have done. When God calls you to do something, you say, Pastor, how do I know God calls me to do it? I'm going to say, you're going to know. You know when God calls you to do something. I tried to run from it, I tried to do other things, and every time I was trying to do it in my own personal life, it was like there was no joy. When I finally came to that place and I said, God, I don't care what I have to do, I just want your peace back in my life, and I will do whatever you want. You know the peace returned? Because I'm telling you, we're not an island to ourselves. Here's 120,000 people that need to know about a God they've not heard of. 120,000 people that are ruthless and hard people. But I've got a message for them. And I've got a person for them. And you and I are that person. When God works on our hearts, In Exodus chapter 4 verse 10, and Moses said to the Lord, when God says, Moses, I want you to go back to your people and lead them. And Moses said to the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since I was spoken of thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. He said, I can't speak very well. The Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? just a little rabbit trail, as you see that there, someone might have a lack of ability that you and I have. But God said, I still made them. They're not a mistake. I want you to notice that. He said, or who make it, the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind? You know what? They're made the way God wants to use their life. We carry on. Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, Oh my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou will send. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. He said, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee. And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. If you ever had, you knew God wanted you to do something. See, what happens is in your relationship with God, you get to a daily time in this precious book. And I'm not saying just reading a passage. You might read a verse and you just write down your thoughts, and God, you're meditating, you're thinking, in thy law, doth he meditate day and night? The Bible tells us in Psalm 1. Joshua 1, verse 8 also talks about meditating day and night. It's a meditation. It's not only I'm reading, I'm thinking about, and now how do I practically apply what I've just read? But as we see here, Moses says, oh God, I don't have that ability. Can I tell you this week? From a human perspective, I said, God, I don't know how we can do this. And you might be saying, man, I don't know how I can do it. Physically, I don't know how I can do it. I'm tired, I'm weak, and bad things, struggles, and my mind, and you know what's going to happen? In Proverbs 16.3, the Bible tells us, commit thy works unto the Lord. and thy thoughts shall be established. God says, listen, you do what's right, and I'll establish your thoughts. I'll give you strength when you don't have it. Number one reaction is, God, I can't do this. You don't know something. God says, how does God respond to Moses? He says, Moses, I made you. I made your mouth. I know what your mouth is capable of. If God made us, he knows what we're capable of doing and not doing. He didn't make a mistake when he made you. He didn't make a mistake in any limitations you may have. He says, you're the person, you're the tool that I want to use to benefit and help more than 120,000 people. In church, he's saying, you're the person for those who have signed up and helped, said, I want to help. You're the person God wants to use to reach some kids this week. Number two reaction, 1 Kings chapter 19. Let's look at this one. And this was the reaction that Jonah would have, and we'll read about it later on in Jonah, but in 1 Kings chapter 19. Here we see a situation, Elijah says, God, no one wants to serve you. I just want to die. Ever feel like that in your own life? You get discouraged, and you're trying so hard, and it doesn't seem like it makes any difference. In Jonah's case, he's like, God, you didn't kill him. Just let me die. He's there in the whale's belly and he's like, God, let me die. 1 Kings chapter 19. And here is a situation after Elijah has God work a tremendous miracle. you have the sacrifice and you have where he pours the water and the lightning from heaven comes down and it it licks up the ox it licks up all of the just decimates the rocks the altar all the water around them and they just kept pouring water and water and water and the 450 prophets of Baal they're doing it for hours and they're chanting and doing all their stuff they're cutting themselves and doing everything they can to get Baal to send lightning from heaven only to realize Baal is a false god And then Jonah calls down lightning from heaven and it not only, I mean it just totally destroys everything, rocks and all. And right after that valley, that mountaintop experience, we find Elijah going into a valley experience. Do you ever have that in your own life? Something great happens, you're so excited, and then something happens, and you're just like, I was just yesterday, or a couple days ago, man, I was on a high, and I was so excited for God, and now I'm on a low of a low, and I'm like, God, why am I here? I don't know if you're that way, but I've sure been there. And Elijah gets to this in verse one of chapter 19 of 1 Kings 19, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all, how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger and Elijah saying, Elijah saying, so let the gods do to me a more also if I make not thy life. There's a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, O Lord. Take away my life, for I am now not better than my father's. As he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. God, Jezebel, that woman wants to kill me. The same God that had delivered him, the same God that had brought lightning down from heaven. You see, when we're focused on our circumstances, And I'm focused on how bad it is rather than focused on Christ. I might even get to the place I'm saying, let me die rather than live. And that's exactly what Jonah did. And we'll read about that. Jonah would get to the place. He said, God, let me die. Take my life. That's the number two reaction. What can happen? God, you run from God. And life becomes very difficult. You get away from faithfulness to God's Word. You get away from faithfulness to God's house. And life becomes very difficult. And maybe you say, man, I wish my life was over. Number three. As we think about Jonah in verse three, as he runs, rose to flee, I like this little poem. about running as fast as you can without any, excuse me, without any real wisdom, fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Here's a little poem, and I think kind of like the gingerbread man. Any of you and came a pig and cow and hair who joined in the chase around the square. They were all hungry and ready to eat, but that gingerbread man was too quick on his feet. Run run as fast as you can. You'll never catch me. I'm the gingerbread man. I ran from the baker and his wife too. You'll never catch me. Not any of you. He came to the pond that blocked his path and gingerbread men don't like to bath out. Jump to Fox who said hop on. I'll take you safely across the pond. Run, run, as fast as you can, you'll never catch me, I'm the gingerbread man. I ran from the baker and his wife, too, you'll never catch me, not any of you. He climbed up onto the fox's back, who licked his lips and wanted a snack. He climbed on the fox's head, who loved the taste of gingerbread. Run, run, as fast as you can, you'll never catch me, I'm the gingerbread man. He trusted the fox to help his plan, and that was the end of the gingerbread man. As you think about that story, you cannot outrun your problems. Especially if the problem is the fact that you're running from the Lord you cannot run him Jonah could have had some fears of these people reminds me of stories I've seen in the movies and others, you know a mother you you have to sleep sometime I gotta go back home Jonah was running and this is far worse. He would rather face a the justice of God and to do God's will. I want you to look with me at chapter 4, verse 2 of Jonah. 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 into Tarsus, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repentancy of the evil. And then he says in verse three, therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech you my life for me, for it is better for me to die than to live. He says, God, I don't want to live. I know you're gracious, and those people don't deserve it. It was his bitterness. You know what? In our bitterness, sometimes we can think certain people don't deserve forgiveness. And he ran. He said, God, I will not do that. Those people, God, are not worthy of your care. Are you running from God's will for your life? We see that Jesus Christ is humanity's solution. I want you to look with me in the Bible at Philippians 2, verse 5. Philippians 2, verse 5. I want to read about Jesus Christ and His response. This is a contrast to this, I'm running, to now I'm running towards the problem, I'm running from the problem. And I think many times we want to run from the problem. We know what God wants us to do, but we don't want to do it. We don't want to submit our will, because I could become uncomfortable. But in my thinking of being uncomfortable, I fail to remember that God will go with me, that I'll have God's peace and joy. I'll have God's strength to accomplish the task, even when in my own thinking I think it can't be done. Philippians chapter 2, I want you to read, this is a very, very important passage about Christ. He said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, we know that Jesus is God, but made himself of no reputation, he was born in a stable, and took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. or for God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Here is the creator allowing the creation to kill him. That's humility, my friend. That's a servant-like attitude. And that's why Jonah was going through the school of hard knocks. We also find reaction number four. Jonah's actions are very reminiscent of Ezekiel, who bemoaned, God, why did I have to be called to this occupation? This is a terrible job, and he just begins to whine and complain. God, I knew you would do that. I knew you'd be nice to those people, and I don't like them, and they're not, you know, I'm just emphasizing, but the fact is we can get to a place that God's calling for a life, and God, I don't like this. In Ezekiel 3, we read about this. God told Ezekiel in verse 8 of chapter 3, He's saying, Ezekiel, the words that you speak are going to get into their hearts. They're strong, they're adamant, and there's nothing they can do about it. And I want you to go unto them, because Ezekiel, they're going into captivity. They're going to make a mess of their lives. Some of them will die. Some of them will be held, taken captive from this land, and never return to the land from which they came. Ezekiel, give them the message. It says in verse 14, So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then he says something. I want you to look with me at Ezekiel 3, verse 17. The fourth reaction is we complain about what we've been called to do. I think we all, none of us want to go into uncomfortable situations. I don't know about, at least I don't. I would assume most of you don't want to go into a hard situation. I don't like hard situations. I don't like it where I don't know what's going to happen. The unknown! But God gave a message to Ezekiel, and he complains about it. And then God gives him a special calling. And can I tell you God's given you and I a special calling? in your life and mine. God's not done with you. He's not done with me yet. He's still working on me. He says in verse 17 of Ezekiel 3, Ezekiel 3, 17, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I acquire thy hand. He's saying, listen, Ezekiel, you have a message to give to these people. And if you don't give it to them and they somehow perish, their blood is on your hands. Because they never came to know Christ. Now Christ wasn't existing, hadn't come yet at this time, but they've never come to know the Lord. He says, I'm going to hold their blood against you. He goes on to say, here in verse 18. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt not surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest him. Actually, verse 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. You can read all of this, and then verse 22. In the hand of the Lord was there upon me, and said unto me, Arise, go forth into plain, and I will there talk with thee. He's telling Ezekiel, he says, listen, I'm giving you, I know what you're, I know you're dealing with some obstinate, stubborn people, but Ezekiel, I want you to go. You're the watchman. And can I tell you, as a parent, you're the watchman in your family. You're watching your children. You're the watchman. God's given us a watchman here as a church in this community to reach our community for Christ. Jonah, go. He had the mission. He didn't have a vision for it. He understood God's nature. He understood that God was merciful and compassionate with people that don't deserve God's mercy. Jonah positioned himself into a place where he could easily go where his heart desired or so he thought. I want you to understand you cannot, look with me at Psalm 139. There is not a place you can run to, there's not a place you can flee to where God will not see you and cannot access you. You can run but you can't hide is a statement. you might try to run from God's calling for your life. You might try to find an alternative. You might try to find some other way. There's people all the time, they try to justify behavior that is clearly out of line with the scriptures. And you know what? They're suffering. And I can say, man, if you'd only do it God's way, it would be better. God's not trying to be mean, but God loves you and He wants a relationship with you. He said, I have something better for you. I've got a grand plan. I've got something. Man, you'll have joy and peace if you'll just listen. It's on 139 verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Psalm 139, verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Also verse 9 through 10. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Jonah, you can't run. You see, Jonah's real problem was his bitterness. You see in Hebrews 5, 14 and 15, Jonah's real problem was he was bitter against the Ninevites. And what would happen is it would be a very calamitous route. His actions were going to hurt those with whom he was around. Revelation chapter 18 verse 4 and I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people that she be not partakers of her sins They received not of her plagues and God was telling here and and wrote like in Revelation He's saying Babylon's gonna be destroyed and this whole one-world system get out of her. Don't be a part of her There's destruction coming Jonah goes to Nineveh, please 40 days and yet Nineveh shall be destroyed Repent of your sins and trust Jesus There's heaven or hell, that's the choice. But the real choice is I want God who loves me, or do I want to choose the world in my ways? I don't want to be seen like one of them Bible thumpers. I don't want to be seen as a Christian. I want people to like me. But can I tell you, people liking you isn't going to help you to get to heaven any faster. There's a God in heaven, he sent Jesus, who died on the cross. God was judging Jonah, he was aboard that ship, and his actions would end up putting at jeopardy these men. I'm gonna carry this forth into next week, but I want us to just look at this. The school of hard knocks, maybe some hard times in your life, it's because you've run from God's calling in your life. Number one, you need to be saved. In the Spirit of God, He's convicting you, even now. Repent of your sin. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and be your Savior. Number two, maybe the next step of obedience you need to make is you need to come forward and be baptized, scripturally baptized. Follow the Lord in believer's baptism and join the church. Whatever it is that God has for your life, maybe it's something else. But can I tell you, you can't outrun God. I would say it would do us very well if this morning we would say, God, Maybe I've had some struggles. Maybe there are some things in my life and I've been disobedient. And God, I want to ask you to forgive me this morning. And can I tell you, I don't care what you've done. 1 John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And there is a God in heaven that loves you. And you are so worthy that God would allow some hardships in your life that would push you back to him. Because he wants to be in a sweet and close embrace with you. God wants you to enjoy the peace and the joy of the Lord. If you're trusting in the fact that you grew up in church, you're trusting the fact that maybe you were baptized when you were young, or you're trusting in something else to get you to heaven, my friend, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, As we think about these various truths, I want us to say that all of us would say, God, you can have my life. I had a professor one time when I was back in training for ministry. He said, class, you can live your life with open hands, letting God fill it with all the blessings he wants to put into your life, or we can have closed fists, never allowing the blessings and rewards that God wants to put into our life because I want control of my life. I want to do it my way. Why don't we say God? Israel never got into the promised land because they're whining and complaining and unthankfulness. In your life, God wants to do so much more. There's blessings and rewards when we get to heaven someday that maybe we've never received because we say, God, it's my life, I'm gonna do it my way. And God says, I can't let you, I can't give it to you yet. As the music is gonna play as we come to the invitation period, the song we'll sing in your blue hymn book, if you grab your blue hymn book, we'll sing it, number 204, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. And I trust that you would say, God, if there's something and you've never, you haven't asked God to forgive you, if maybe going your own way, you'll say, God, forgive me. Number two, maybe you'll make a commitment. God, I want to be faithful to you and I need your help to be faithful because maybe there's some things that get me distracted. Maybe it's salvation. Maybe it's, you need to come forward for baptism or whatever it is. I don't know what it is in your life, but you would just say, God, I'll follow you. Stop fleeing to Tarsus. Stop fleeing to the money and the wealth and the nice things. How about we flee to God and let God do a great thing? And this week, we've got a tremendous opportunity to reach some precious young boys and girls. And we have a heart. And if you're not here, would you please pray for us? But would he also have a heart, say, God, I need you. And I'll follow you as the music plays. Would you take some time between you and the Lord to pray?
The School of Hard Knocks
Series Book of Jonah
It is painful when you run from the Lord. Some people have to go through hard times to learn that running from God's calling on their life does not pay.
Sermon ID | 41620425333060 |
Duration | 40:46 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - AM |
Bible Text | Jonah 1:3-10 |
Language | English |
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