Jonah chapter number one. Jonah chapter one, and if you are able to, I'd invite you to stand with me as we read the word of God this evening. Jonah chapter number one, beginning in verse number one. 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 has 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, we thank you, Lord. for once again giving us the privilege to gather together to worship you. We thank you, Lord, for your word. May your Holy Spirit now work in our hearts. May you empower me through the Holy Spirit to preach your word to these dear people. And we pray that all of it would be for your honor and glory. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. If there is one thing or one way that we could describe the prophet Jonah, it would be he was a reluctant missionary. You see here in this passage how in our text God called him, but rather than obey, he fled, he ran from God's calling, he ran. So he would be, we would describe him as a reluctant missionary. But before we judge him so harshly, let's remember that many times we ourselves are reluctant missionaries. We are reluctant to obey God's commands. And so that's what we're going to look at tonight is the reluctant missionary and what makes a reluctant missionary. The word reluctance or reluctant has the idea of striving against. unwilling or much opposed in heart. And certainly that describes the prophet Jonah. When God came to him and said, arise, go to Nineveh. When Jonah heard Nineveh, his heart was, no way, I'm not going. I'm not going there, God. And so he resisted God's command. He strove against God. He was not going to go to Nineveh. And many people might think that about California. No, God, not California. Lord, let it fall off into the ocean. Well, it hasn't yet. And until it does, let's be willing to go. Let's be willing to send people there to support people who are going there. Again, Jonah was reluctant, and we have many reluctant missionaries today in our own churches. What makes a believer reluctant to obey God's command, not just to be a missionary, but to even preach the gospel to someone? Because truth be told, while there are many Christians who refuse to be missionaries, there are even more Christians who refuse to open their mouth and share the gospel with someone, give someone a gospel tract. What makes a believer reluctant to be a missionary in the local sense, just in preaching the gospel to those in his community, there are a few things that that believer forgets to remember, fails to remember about God and His love. First is, number one, is that God's love reaches to every person. God's love reaches to every person. For God so loved the world, Now there are no qualifiers to that statement. God didn't say, for God so loved the world, accept, or for God so loved the world, but. He said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loved the Ninevites. He loved Nineveh, the people of Nineveh. He did not love their sin. Make no mistake about it, God does not love sin. God hates sin, but he does love the sinner. He died for the sinner. God did not love them because they were good, or because they had earned it, or because they were deserving of it. In fact, because of their sin, they had earned God's wrath. They had earned the wrath of God to abide upon them. They had earned God's judgment. And we as America, certainly California, has earned God's judgment. And in many ways, we're experiencing God's judgment right now. The Bible says in Romans 1 that when we deny God as creator, God sends judgment. That judgment is what we're seeing. Pride month, all of that, that's God's judgment right there. Just yesterday at the White House, they had this big event. I don't know if you saw that, you may have. This big event, a pride event, huge celebration of sin, that's what it is. That's what it is. and displayed prominently in center with American flags. In between the American flags was the pride flag. Now that is a violation of flag protocol. You're not to fly the flags. The American flag is not to be flown subservient to other flags, right? It doesn't fly below other flags and it doesn't fly on the side of another flag. But there they had the pride flag, basically replacing the American flag. And that is where we are as a nation today. We're being judged by God. But God still has mercy. God's love still reaches to every person. God loved them, and God loves us, and God loves the sinners today because of how good He is, of how good God is. Christ died for the sinner, not when the sinner gets right with God, but while we were still sinners. But God commendeth His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God wanted to forgive the people of Nineveh, and that's why Jonah didn't want to go. He did not want them to receive God's forgiveness. He knew that God loved them, and that if they repented, God would forgive them. Jonah did not want God to forgive them. That's what it says, in fact, in Jonah chapter four, verse number two. Jonah is speaking to God, and he says, 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 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. He knew that if he went to Nineveh and preached what God told him to preach, that if they repented, God would forgive them. He didn't want them to be forgiven. Is there anyone in your life that you don't want God to forgive? Maybe you have that annoying neighbor or a blaspheming coworker or a family member who just hates that you're a Christian. Is that keeping you from praying for them or from preaching to them? Maybe you hate California, I don't know. Sometimes we do too who live there. Maybe we hate it more than you. We live with it, we suffer through it. But let's not that keep us from praying, from giving, and even from going to a place that maybe we can't stand. That's the first thing is that we fail to remember that God's love reaches every person. Secondly, we fail to remember that God's call reaches to every Christian. That's very important. The calling of God is not exclusive to only certain Christians. The Great Commission is not for a select few. It is for every single believer. But Jonah disobeyed God's call for him to preach to Nineveh. The Bible says in Romans chapter 11 that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The call of God is good. No matter what it is and no matter where it is to go, the calling of God is good for us. We all have, as Christians, a general call to obedience. We know there's certain things that every believer ought to do, read our Bible, pray, be in church, soulman, all of those things. But every Christian also has a specific calling. It may be to a particular place. or a particular people group, or even a particular person. Jonah was called to Nineveh, a place, a city. The apostle Paul was called to the Gentiles, a people group. Philip was called to the Ethiopian, a person. So whatever your calling is, let me encourage you to be obedient to that calling. Every Christian's call is different. We're called to California. You may not be called, but you might be called to California. Let me encourage you to be obedient to that calling, whatever it is, whatever God is commanding you to do specifically. I'm not the Holy Spirit. I can't tell you what God wants specifically for you. Only you know that, and God knows that. Jonah tried to run away from God's call. Again, verse number three tells us, but Jonah rose up to flee. A lot of times in the Bible, obedience, immediate obedience is described as they rose up and went. They got up and went, like Philip. They arise and they go, right? Well, this time Jonah rose up, but he did not rise up to obey. He rose up to disobey. He was quick to disobey the Lord. He tried to run away from God's call and he paid for his disobedience. Verse number 17, now 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, drop down to chapter two, verse one. 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, 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 around about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. Jonah suffered for his disobedience. God punished him for disobeying. He was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. I think fish smell disgusting on the outside. I can't imagine what it's like on the inside. It must have been absolutely horrifying for him, but it got his attention. But maybe you have been trying to run from God's call upon your life. Many times we run away from God's calling by replacing it with something else. Something good, maybe a ministry. But you know in your heart that's not what God has called you to do. And we hide behind certain things. Or we might go to a different place. Maybe God's calling you to do something here at this church. And instead of doing it, you say, I'm gonna go off to the next church. I'm gonna go find another church somewhere where they don't know me. And so I'm not gonna get asked to do anything right away. I don't know what it might be. But too often, we are running away from God's calling. We run away from obeying the Lord. But as Jonah discovered, running away from God's call does not make it go away. God wasn't done with Jonah. God didn't say, okay, you've disobeyed, I'm done with you. That's what Satan wants us to think, that when we disobey, God's through with us. And so we get discouraged and we think, well, God won't take me back or God can't use me now because I disobeyed. I have sinned. I've disobeyed the Lord. I'm useless now for God. God can't use me. That's not true. Jonah disobeyed and God still used him. God was still after him. We need to remember that God's call reaches to every Christian. But the third thing we fail to remember is that God's forgiveness reaches to every sinner. The story of Jonah could be described as one of mercy and forgiveness, and certainly that's true. But not just for Nineveh, also for Jonah. In fact, Jonah learned more maybe even than Nineveh did. Jonah had sinned against God just as Nineveh had. but the Lord was not looking to punish either Jonah or Nineveh. My Bible says that my God delights in extending mercy. Micah 7.18, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? That's a great question. Every false god, whether it's the Muslim god or the Hindu gods or the LDS church, the LDS god or whoever, whatever false god it is, Every one of those gods, salvation must be earned in those religions. Those gods must be appeased. They're angry with the people, and they must be appeased. You can never do enough to please God, so you're constantly working, striving for your salvation, never sure if you're really saved. Well, that is not the God of the Bible. That is not the living God, I'm thankful for that. That my God delights in mercy, and he pardons iniquity, he forgives sin. Who is the God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. Oftentimes, by the grace of God, People who don't believe the Bible, who are not saved, they view the God of the Old Testament as a different God from the God of the New Testament. They're the same God. And they view the God of the Old Testament as wrathful and angry and judgmental and just seeking to punish people. Actually, the God of the Old Testament is a God who delights in mercy. In fact, the God of the New Testament, again, same God, but in the New Testament, God is even more vengeful. If you read the book of Revelation, you see what happens in the Great Tribulation, you don't wanna be around. In fact, if you're saved, you won't be around. I praise the Lord for that. But God delights in mercy. God always, always, without exception, gives an opportunity for repentance. Now, we don't always take it, and God's, opportunity for repentance runs out eventually, but there's always a chance for us to be forgiven and to make it right. Now we might in our flesh take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, but God does not. 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 is asking a very simple question. Will you turn from your sin? Will you turn toward me? Why do you continue to live in your sin when I am giving you the opportunity to be forgiven? Jonah, again, was punished for his disobedience. But in his punishment, he sought after God. He sought God's forgiveness, and God forgave. Continuing on to chapter number two, verse number seven says, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. I get the idea here that Jonah made a vow in the belly of the fish. Do you see that? That while he was there, he vowed to the Lord something. And we could suspect he vowed, Lord, I will go to Nineveh now. If you save me from this, I will go to Nineveh. It may have been something else, but it might have been the vow to go to Nineveh. But look at verse number 10. God forgave Jonah. When Jonah repented, God forgave. So Jonah finally obeyed God's call to preach. Drop down to chapter three, verse number three and four. God asks Jonah the same question and he gives him the same command. Verse number three, 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 and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. You notice here that Jonah never preached You will be destroyed unless you repent. He just said you'll be destroyed. But what did Nineveh do? What did the people of Nineveh do? They repented. They sought God's forgiveness. So Nineveh repented of their wicked ways. Verse number five, so the people of Nineveh believed God. and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. That sackcloth was a sign of mourning. Sackcloth and ashes, they were mourning over their sin. That's real repentance. Not, oh, you got me. I confess, I did it. No, it's real sorrow over your own sin. It's recognizing that your sin is as bad in your eyes as it is in God's eyes. It is agreeing with God about your sin. and truly being sorrowful over it. That's what happened to Nineveh. They repented. And drop down to verse number nine. It says, who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And verse number 10, 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. They were forgiven. As is the case all throughout the Word of God, God extended a chance for repentance before he judged them. And they repented and God forgave. Jonah knew, again, that if Nineveh had repented, God would not only forgive, he would also spare them from judgment. At the beginning, in his heart, Jonah wanted them to be judged. He did. There may be some people that you know personally or that you see on the news that you are desperately begging for God to judge them. May I remind you that is not a biblical attitude to have. That's what our flesh wants. Our flesh wants them to suffer because of their sin. Just like Jonah, Jonah wanted Nineveh to suffer. That's why he didn't go. And a lot of times that That desire to see sinners punished keeps us from proclaiming the good news to them. Because we know that if they repent, God will forgive them. And in our flesh, our flesh wants to see them suffer. But God's love is more powerful than what you or I want. 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 Christian? Are you a reluctant missionary? I pray that we will learn the lesson from Jonah the easy way and not the hard way. There are some lessons that sometimes you have to learn on your own, but we have a good lesson here for us. When God tells us and God commands us, go to these people and preach to them. We'd be better just to do it rather than not do it and suffer the consequences. Why is God so persistent? Why is God so fervent because of his love? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And all means all. God's will is that every person be saved. Now that won't happen, we know. We know people will reject the gospel. But it's not up to us to decide who to preach it to or not. That's not our decision. Our decision, our calling is to go and preach the gospel to every creature. Whether they will repent or not is not up to us. Whether they will be saved is not up to us. But whether we will go is up to us. It is our decision to make. And if we decide not to, then we have made the wrong decision. We have made the unbiblical decision. Do not be reluctant. I know it's hard. I know it can be discouraging. Trust me, I know, I've knocked streets before, and not a single person even opened the door. That's frustrating. Especially when you know they're home, you can hear them talking, and you knock on the door, and you can hear them in there talking, and you're just like, I'm not a Mormon, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, I'm not selling anything, I'm not trying to sell you a solar panel for your house, I'm not trying to, I'm not here for a political campaign, That's frustrating when you know they're home especially and they don't answer. And you experience that week after week. That can be disheartening. It can be discouraging. But let's not give up. Let me encourage you, do not give up. Do not faint. Satan wants us to be defeated. He wants us to give up. He wants us to quit, to just go live our lives, you know, and to be, he wants us to be content and just comfortable Because he can't take our salvation, he knows that. So there's nothing he can do about that, but he can get us out of the will of God. He can get us out of church, and he can get us away from soul winning, away from missions, not giving to missions, not being involved in missions. He can get us away from all of those things if we let him. And our flesh wants to get away from those things. Our flesh doesn't want to go soul winning, it doesn't want to preach, it doesn't want to give to missions, it doesn't want to give to the church, it doesn't want to come to church. You want to take a nap. You don't want to come to church on a Sunday night or a Wednesday night. That's what your flesh wants. Do not be reluctant. Do not give up. Do not quit. We're on the winning side. God is more powerful than all that's happening right now in our country, and he knows all of it. None of this took him by surprise. He didn't wake up one day. In fact, he never wakes up. He didn't go. How did this happen? We do that. We throw up our hands. How did this happen? but not with God. He knew everything. He knows everything. Let's not give up. Let's keep going. Let's be fervent. Let's not be Jonah the first time. Let's be Jonah the second time through and just obey and go with boldness. Boy, we have been made to be afraid, have we not, by the world? Every institution of power in America is opposed to the word of God. Everything that teaches marriage, creation, gender, raising children, all of those things, finances, everything in the world is opposed to the Word of God. And so we are made to feel afraid. Do not feel afraid, do not give up, do not quit, do not be reluctant, keep going, keep striving, keep going, keep giving, because in the end, Let's see God do a great thing. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the lesson from the book of Jonah. Lord, help us to be obedient to your calling. And I pray, Lord, for this dear congregation that you would help them to be fervent in their soul winning, in their giving, in their praying. Lord, may you bless this congregation with new converts, souls being saved and converts being discipled and baptized, Lord. And add to your church as you see fit. Lord, build your church as you promised you would do. And we do pray that all of it would be for your honor and glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.