First chapter of Jonah today. We're going to read selected verses from verse 5 and 6, verses 8 through 10 and 12 and 15. This will be the sixth message in the series on the subject of the book of Jonah, and today we look at the subject of the conduct of a backslidden believer. The conduct of a backslidden believer. Let us read the text first, beginning in verses 5 and 6. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon my God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. Now verses 8-10, Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? And what is thy country? And what people art thou? He said unto them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Verse 12, He said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Verse 15, So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. This is the sixth in the series of messages on the book of Jonah. In our last message, we looked at the conduct of the heathen sailors during the great storm. We observed that the religion of the natural man reacting to a life-threatening situation. How do lost people act when their life is threatened? We concluded that while natural revelation is sufficient to condemn men, it is not sufficient to save them. and that it takes a special revelation of God through his Word and Spirit for men to know God in a personal way and in a saving way. Now today we want to go over this same material again, only not looking at the heathen. We want to look at Jonah. And here we look at the conduct of a believer who is backslidden and running from the known revealed will of God. I do not believe Jonah was an apostate. But I do believe he was a backslider, and we will handle him in that category. I'd like to draw your attention first to the verses in verses 5 and 6 as we look at Jonah's sleep of sorrow in the ship. Very interesting. While the people up on deck are scared to death, Jonah is down asleep. Thought just comes to my mind, it's not in my notes, can you think of anybody else that ever happened to in the Bible? Our Lord Jesus Christ, wasn't it? He was asleep in the midst of the storm and everybody up on the deck was scared to death that all their lives were going to be lost. So while terror reigns on the deck above, Jonah is asleep below. I stated in an earlier message that many teachers take the position that Jonah's sleep was a display of insensitivity and apathy to the will of God. But I take the opposite position. It is not because his relation to God and the things of God and the will of God were topics of little interest to Jonah. But I believe precisely the reverse is true. By studying closely his character, it can be discerned that Jonah is a highly sensitive and nervous person who is easily irritated. Compare among other things, if you would, how easily he became upset over the loss of comfort which he received from a gourd in chapter 4, and even to the point of directing his irritability in the form of anger toward God. No, this is a highly sensitive, emotional individual. This is not someone that is always cool and calm and collected. Can we really believe that in Jonah's flight from God that his thoughts have been calm and collected and that inner peace has been possessing his soul? I believe a thousand anxieties must have been flooding his mind and making him weary both in mind and soul. But what has he had to think about? He's aware that all is wrong between him and his God. Is anybody here this morning that professes Christianity, that professes to know the Lord, and yet you know that things are not all right between you and your God? Is it bothering you? And then he's also aware of the fact that he has just resigned in honorable ministry. He's turned in his preaching credentials and going elsewhere. And that he has suffered the loss of his native land, which is Immanuel's land, if you please. And that there's nothing facing him in the future but gloom and doom, nothing but fightings without and fears within. There's no promises of God for Jonah. Jonah can't go to the book. claim the promises of God. He is out of God's will, and there are no comforts to relieve his soul. These things must have cost Jonah much, leading to mental anxiety and the draining of physical energy. This landed him in a state of total exhaustion and sleep, overtook his weary body, as we have seen in an earlier message, the way that the disciples slept for sorrow and while Jesus stayed awake and prayed. No, it's the teaching of the Bible and the testimony of a believer's conscience that the believer cannot live in a state of known disobedience and be at peace with themselves, others around them and God over them. Psalm 51, David's psalm of repentance. See what he went through during his backslidden condition. Romans chapter 7, our sin troubles us. We cannot be at peace with ourselves when we are running from God. The second thing I would look at in Jonah's sleep of sorrow is that Jonah is the last one to know that the storm is upon him. Everybody else on the ship knows that the storm is there and Jonah doesn't. So while we show charity toward Jonah in his exhausted state, we must not overlook the deplorable effects of being overtaken in a state of disobedience to God. Jonah is the last one to become aware that God's chastening hand is about to overtake him. In Isaiah chapter 42 and verses 24 and 25, we read of God who gave Judah for a spoil and Israel to the robbers, did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned. For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, and it hath set him on fire round about." That is Judah and Israel. Yet he knew not, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. The passage I just quoted reveals to us that while God was chastening Israel, Israel was not aware of what was happening, and what was about yet to happen for them as a nation in the future. I make this observation, and I think it is the truth of the backslider. It is not unusual for others to see the hand of God upon the backslider while the backslider himself sees nothing until the crisis hits and God gets his attention. Usually other people can see a backslider in action quicker than the backslider can himself. Now let's look at verses 6 and 8. Here we see Jonah being rebuked by an unbelieving world. The shipmaster comes to him and says, ìWhat is the meaning of all this, you sleepyhead? Arise, call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not.î Then the others ask him this question in verse 8, ìAnd said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us.î Jonah, as a visible representation of God's people, has now been placed in the presence of an unbelieving society. Whenever believers are among unbelievers, we should be and do what we can to acquaint them with the knowledge of the living God. When we who profess to know God do wrong, We may expect to hear from those who do not profess at all. You call yourself a Christian? What do you mean by acting this way? If you profess to know God and you live in a state of disobedience, you will have others pointed out, and especially the unbelieving world. The unbelieving world has a perverted interest in finding fault with the godly. And that is to try to show that the godly are basically hypocritical and no better than themselves. Now while the unbelieving world may harp upon the failings and the inconsistencies of Christians, they rarely ever criticize their own companions for doing the same thing. Have you observed that? It's Christians that they delight to find fault with. Now, since a godly testimony convicts the unsaved, if that testimony can be destroyed, then the unsaved may have their consciences eased in their sinning. Having said that, though, it can now be said that Jonah deserved the rebuke from the heathen sea captain for two reasons. Number one, Jonah deserved to be rebuked by an unbelieving heathen by omitting the opportunity to bear testimony to the character of his God. Omitting. Do you know that there are not only sins of commission, there are sins of what? Omission. And Jonah had a splendid opportunity to witness to his faith in God and he lost it. He blew it. In contrast, look what a rock of strength the Apostle Paul was in a very similar situation in Acts chapter 27, verses 14 through 25. I have in my notes that we ought to go there and read that, but I think that since I think most of my hearers here today are familiar with that account, you remember the storm that Paul was in, and all of the heathen were afraid they were going to die, and how strong Paul stood and said, ìBe not afraid. Be not afraid. God is going to spare everyone in the ship.î Brother Palmer and Jonah had that opportunity. He had that opportunity to bear witness unto the faith of the God of heaven and the sea, and he blew it. How calm and resigned Paul appeared to others when it looked like all hope was gone. When the sea captain asked Jonah, what do you mean by sleeping during this storm? Jonah could have replied with the words from Psalm 46, verses 1 through 3. Let me quote them. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea? Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." You see, Jonah had access to the Psalms. When the sea captain asked him, why are you sleeping? Jonah could have replied with those words, because God is our refuge and our strength. That kind of testimony would have glorified God in the eyes of the heathen sailors. It would have a testimony of the living power of the true God to support and encourage his dependent creatures in all circumstances of life. Paul was able to do that, but Jonah didn't do it because he was backslidden. When King Darius came to the mouth of the lion's den where Daniel had just been thrown, he put forth this question to Daniel. O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? You know Daniel's famous answer when the voice came forth out of the lion's den, what a thrill it was to the king. O king, live forever! God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions. Daniel's reply bore testimony to the faithfulness of God. In like manner, it could be asked this, O Jonah, servant of the living God, whom you serve continually, is your God able to give you peace in which enables you to sleep in the storm? Had Jonah been serving his God at the time, he could have replied with the words of Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. What an opportunity for Jonah to glorify his God in the midst of a bunch of heathen, but he blew it because he is backslidden. So Jonah deserved to be rebuked by the unbelieving world by omitting his duty to uphold the glory of God in all of life's circumstances. And Jonah also deserved to be rebuked, for secondly, by committing a scandalous action which dishonored the character of his God. He not only omitted his testimony, but he blew his testimony in that he committed an act which brought scandal upon the name of Jehovah God. Jonah's actions were conveying to those around about him that it was an unhappy, grievous, and undesirable thing to be called upon to serve the God of heaven and the seas. As they observed his reclusive manners down in the innermost part of the ship, probably filled with facial features of worry, care and anxiety that could only conclude that Jonah had become like the God he worshipped. Think about that. People look at you and conclude that you're just like the God you worship. Now, what are we like? Since Jonah was irritable, unsocial, uncongenial, sour, and made an unpleasant and unhappy companion, there was little about him that would make others desire us of getting to know his God." Why should the world be able to say to us as Christians, if you're like your God, you can keep him? There should not be one area of goodness in which the unbelieving world should be able to say to the people of God, we are superior to you. Now think on that. Do you believe that? Let me say it again. There ought not to be one area of goodness in which the unbelieving world can look upon the people of God and say, we are superior to you in this area. They should not be able to say, we make better fathers and we make better mothers and we have more social graces of love, kindness and compassion and mercy than you Christians have. We enjoy life, are more happy and at peace with ourselves than you Christians. And yet you Christians are trying to convert us to become like your God. We see your works and the way you approach life. And we don't like what we see. You can keep your God, for he has obviously made you worse than you were before you converted to his cause. The captain rebuking the prophet. A heathen sailor rebuking the preacher. The world rebuking the church. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Jonah ought to be in Nineveh rebuking the sinners instead of the sinners rebuking the preacher. Now look in verse 6. The next thing we consider about the matter of backsliding is that not only is Jonah omitting an opportunity to witness and he's committing a scandalous sin against his God by his behavior, but thirdly, Backsliding shuts the door to true prayer. This is something that I think is grossly neglected in current preaching by both Calvinistic and Arminian pulpits. People are led to believe today that you can live about however you want to, and there's always an open door to pray to God. That's not so, folks, not so. Sin shuts the door to prayer. Look at the words, Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. That's what the sea captain encourages Jonah to do. Jonah, it's time to pray, not sleep. Call upon your God, get busy. But Jonah cannot comply with this request, because God, now listen, this is the Bible, folks. God refuses to hear the prayer of the impenitent. Jeremiah 11, 7-11, Isaiah 115, Hosea 515. Now, while Jonah was a true prophet and servant of the Lord at the present time, he is assuming the position of a rebel before his king. A rebellious spirit closes the door to fellowship with God, for what communion does light have with darkness? In his present flight from God, Jonah has shut the door to true prayer, because to pray truly in faith is to pray in submission to the divine will of God, and on the authority granted us in the Word of God. But for Jonah to attempt to pray in his state of disobedience is to expose him to the conviction of his own conscience that he is out of God's will. His attempt to pray is strangled in the very beginning of it. Jonah has the witness in himself against himself. Thus not only will the backslider's Bible be collecting dust, But the backslider will find the door to his prayer closet shut and locked. And on the sign on that door, he will find it reading, for repentant believers only. Only repentant people have the ear of God, not impenitent ones. Listen to the Word of God, to the impenitent Jews as He spoke through Jeremiah. Let's turn now to Jeremiah chapter 11 to break our thoughts here just a moment. Jeremiah chapter 11, God is speaking to the impenitent Jews, those who continued right on sinning against His revealed will. Verse 11, For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not. And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words, and they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape." And though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them." Is that in your Bible? That's there. Listen as God speaks to the prophet of Isaiah. Isaiah 1 verse 15, And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood." Hosea also has words of that same effect. Now, the nature of true prayer involves a spirit of submission and desire for God's will to be done. That's an important statement. Understand that before I proceed. The nature of true prayer involves a spirit of submission and desire for God's will to be done. Prayer is an appeal to God to accomplish the things concerning us which he has both purposed and promised, that is, to carry out his own will In our experience in history, prayer is not trying to bring God over to our side and to do our will. Thus, the person who is not following God's will cannot truly pray. That is, not only does God refuse to hear the prayer of the impenitent, but in reality, the impenitent refuses to truly pray. The impenitent cannot pray for God's will to be done. He can only pray for his own will to be done, for God to bless his own will. So backsliding slams the door to true prayer. The first true prayer that comes from the transgressor begins with a resignation of their rebellion, our coming over to God. to ask Him to fulfill His will implies the giving up, the surrendering of our own will to His. This is true because prayer is the offering up of our desires to God for things agreeable to His will. 1 John 5.14 states, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His what? His will, He heareth us. Also 1 John 4, 21 and 22, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. It is an obedient person who is wanting God's will to be done, and prayer is bringing our will over to God's side. And the backslider cannot do that. And not only does the backslider find that heaven is brass unto him, he can't pray right. An obedient servant has fellowship with God. A disobedient one is out of fellowship with God. Jonah is not in friendly communion with God, and for him to attempt to pray as if nothing has happened would be an insult to his God. Alan, suppose your neighbor stole your lawnmower and both of you knew he did it. How would you feel if he came over and asked to borrow your car? Would that not be the supreme insult? Then what do you think God feels like when one of his disobedient servants dares to ask a favor out of him? What do you think that makes God feel like? We've insulted him with our disobedience, and then we have the nerve to ask a favor out of him without confessing what we've done in repentance. God's response to such a matter is given in Hosea 5.15. Now I quote, I will go and return to my place, says God, till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. In their affliction they'll seek me early. That is, while they're crying out, I'm not going to hear, I'm going to go home, God says. I'm not going to listen. When I send the affliction, they'll start sneaking me. Jonah, you're going to start seeking the face of God here real soon. We're going to get to you here in another week or so. You'll learn how to pray. Jonah, God's not going to hear you until you come to repentance. It appears, then, that repentance is necessarily implied in all true prayer. Jeremiah says, "...and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me." How? With all your heart, Jeremiah 29.13. That is, when we subject all of our will to God's will. Then we can delight in God. Then we shall find God, that He's sovereign. And then I will give you the desires of your heart. Because your heart's desires is going to be what I want. So I say again, true prayer is not bringing God over to our side. It's us going over to God's side. And Jonah can't go over to God's side as long as he's impenitent. Thus he can't pray and God won't hear what he says. Without repenting, Jonah's prayer cannot be heard, and just as true that without repenting, Jonah cannot truly pray. Verse 7, Jonah's hindrance to the work of God. Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. There's an interesting parallel between Jonah in the ship and Achan in the camp. How many of you know who Achan is? How many of you don't know who Achan is? It's not arthritis, Achan in your joints. Jonah's act of disobedience delayed the work of God in Nineveh. Think about that. And caused confusion, discouragement in the lives of others. One wonders what the reaction was when the word got out among the Israel of God that their prophet had quit the ministry. Ever think like that? Get your Bible and just let your mind, I mean, go wild through the white pages. If you can run your fingers through the yellow pages, let your thoughts run through the Bible. What do you think if I came in next Sunday announcing I'm quitting the ministry? See you all. What do you think the people in Israel thought when their prophet resigned and left the scene? What about the effect upon Jonah's relatives and his friends when they discover he's forsaken them and run away to some foreign country, miles and days and days and days away to Tarshish? One can only surmise because the scriptures don't give us the answers. But we do have a similar striking situation existing between Jonah and another person in Israel's history whose name was Achan. After the conquering of Jericho under Joshua, it appeared that the march of Israel into the land was well on its way. God had promised victory, but warned that all of the spoils of the battle were to come into the Lord's treasury. and that a curse would ensue if anyone even took a souvenir from the battles. Achan, a man, disobeyed the command and took certain articles and hid them from the eyes of others in the privacy of his tent. And when the armies of Israel marched out to capture the next city, a little one named Ai, they were defeated by a small group of defenders and lost thirty-six men in the battle. Now enter into that. That left some children without fathers, and some wives without husbands. Jonah's activity affected the lives of others, and Achan's activities affected the lives of others. If you read the chapter carefully, you'll find the following things occurred in the lives of God's people when Achan committed his trespass. Number one, you can find fear. Number two, lack of confidence. Number three, discouragement. Number four, despondency. Number five, murmuring. And number six, pure unbelief among the people of God because of ache and sin. Well, the search for the guilty party was first narrowed to the tribe of Judah out of the twelve. Can't you just see the others saying, man, it's not us. I'm not of Judah. The guilty one's in Judah. And then they narrow it down to a family of the Zarhites and a man named Zadbe. And then from his immediate house it was discerned that he had a grandson named Achan. And he was the guilty party. Achan was then executed along with his family. They took him along with his animals, his possessions, and burned them in a heap of fire and covered them with stones. And they named the place the Valley of Achor. And then the march of Israel continued on into the promised land that God had given unto them. There are many parallels and lessons that could be learned from this incident, but time will not permit us to discuss them. But the main lesson in the life of Achan is this, that the onward march of God's kingdom can be hindered, and that the people can be brought into a low spiritual state of distrust by the actions of one person. Nineveh is not being preached to because Jonah is out of the will of God. And the people are confused. They're in a turmoil. They're doubting God. There's no spiritual moving of God in the camp because there's an aching that has got to be dealt with. The actions of one backslider can affect a whole community. Romans chapter 14 verse 7 says, none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. God has ordained that men are constituted into a political body known as a society, and into a spiritual body known as the church. And Paul says of the spiritual body that, quote, the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or if one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular." Two bodies of men, the body politic out here in the culture, and the body spiritual. Those who are redeemed and regenerated by the Spirit of God. And as the actions of a single member can affect the life of the body, so the actions of the body can affect the life of a single member. How often has a disobedient preacher held up the ministry of a local church? preacher out of the will of God holding up the ministry and the ongoing of the kingdom of God in a local church. Turn it around. How often has a disobedient church or a disobedient member hindered the ministry of a pastor? Verse 8, Jonah not only affected others, but in verse 8, he endangered the lives of others. Then they said unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? What is thy country, and what people art thou? First thing I would note as to how Jonah the backslider affected the lives of other people and endangered them, is that God has a controversy with one individual, and in his pursuing that one individual, others may be exposed to the same danger. The storm is sent to pursue, arrest, and to punish Jonah. But it affects all that sails with him, and probably many other ships in the proximity of that body of water which we aren't told about. Isn't that interesting? If you had a dozen other ships all out there fighting for their lives, they don't have the foggiest idea that God's after one backslidden preacher. Since all have sinned, though, God can vindicate His righteousness in involving others in the chastisement of Jonah. Everybody on the ship of Jonah could deserve what was there because all have sinned and come short of the what? The glory of God. God's not unjust because He exposes the other to danger, for they're all sinners alike. But Jonah is the one that God holds responsible for this particular act. Now, while the Bible is full of examples of how the sins of one believer may bring spiritual and physical harm to others, I've chosen two from the life of David to illustrate this. David was said to be a man after what? God's own heart. What a statement. What a statement, a man after God's own heart. Yet on one occasion when he disobeyed the Lord and numbered the people, He was punished by a pestilence in the land which killed 70,000 of his own countrymen who were innocent of the particular crime involved. And when he had realized that he had been the source of suffering and death for so many, here is what David cried out. Lo, I have sinned and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house. Lord, take this out on me, but not upon my countrymen." David saw his action put all of these thousands of people in their graves. Seventy thousand, the Bible describes. That's a huge amount of people, folks. That would wipe out a good-sized city in the United States because of one man. Just numbering his army so he could have how much assurance he would have when he went into battle. One little sin. Little? Seventy thousand people suffer because of it. How many Christian wives are alive today having to live with a scarred conscience as they look at their crippled and invalid husband? and realized he was smitten by God because of their own willful disobedience. How many? On another occasion, David brought shame and grief into the life of Bathsheba, destroyed her marriage and made her a widow. by having her husband Uriah killed in battle. And when the child was born which was conceived of the adulterous relationship, and David was the daddy, we read. Now, this is not Gable's ology here. I'm quoting from the Bible, all right? Ready? 2 Samuel 12, verse 15, the Lord struck the child. that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick." I didn't make this up. The Bible says God struck the baby. Not the devil. You read and hear these preachers today, they try to get God a million miles away from any suffering or any adversity. The Bible says God smoked the baby. The baby hadn't done anything wrong. A sinner in Adam, yes. The baby hadn't sinned personally, violated some commandment David had, and the baby suffered because of what another one did. We read in verse 18, It came to pass on the seventh day that the child died. What do you think Brother Ron David thought of? when he visited the grave of his infant child, seven days old. What do you think he went to that grave site and thought about? There, there lies my little one, and my sins put it there. I say, folks, a backslidden Christian endangers the lives of other people, whether it be one relative or whether it be a whole society of people. Did you ever think that when God sends in these hurricanes off the East Coast and the West Coast and the Gulf of Mexico and that hundreds die from that, He may be after one backslidden Christian? Think of it. We're given insights into the book. Make the applications in our present situation. Hundreds may suffer. People lose houses, property, animals, pets, all washed away. And it may be one or two disobedient Christians is all that God is after in that other sufferer. Folks, I want to tell you, if I know my Bible at all, God is not mocked by the disobedience of his people. Jonah will go in the sea. He will be made an example because of his disobedience. I make this statement, I announced a couple of weeks ago I would, I make it now. A disobedient Christian is the most dangerous person on the face of the earth to be around. That's true. That's true. Jonah was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and bring harm to countless others. He was walking around. Can you get the picture? He's walking around with a storm cloud over his head. There used to be a cartoon of some little character in the newspapers, the funny papers. Always walked around with a rain cloud over him, just raining on him, but it wasn't hitting anybody else. I forget who that was. But Jonah, in reality, was walking around with a storm cloud over his head, ready to break forth with the anger of God upon him and those round about him. I think I'm correct in making this statement. It's a sober one. But I would rather be living next door to Hitler than next door to a backslidden Jonah. Why? Why? Who's more dangerous for God's hand to fall? on Hitler or Jonah. Why would I rather live next door to someone who murdered millions than next door to a backslidden preacher? Because the Bible says, Brother Brian, judgment must begin at the house of God. Now listen carefully, this is important theology. We're coming to a conclusion. God may, He may allow His enemies to be left alone until the final day of judgment. But He must, He must, He must chastise and correct His sons. in order that they can persevere into the way of glory and not be condemned with this present world. That's your theology. God may allow His enemies to go through this whole life and never touch them, but He'll get them at the end in the day of judgment. But He must correct His people in this present life. Because his people are not only preserved in Christ, they must persevere in Christ unto the end. Whom the Lord loveth, he what? He chastens and corrects who? Every son whom he receives. He says of Israel, you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities. Amos 3 verse 2. Paul in speaking to the disobedient body at the church at Corinth says, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. I think we're all too prone to read that and say, well, all those that are sick and all those that are asleep and all those that died have been the ones that did the sinning. Is that what you normally think? What about the possibility that God was touching other of their relatives and their friends and they were the ones that were sick and weak and their lives were being taken because there were some impenitent people in the Church of Christ? Both prospects may be true. I say again, a backslidden Christian is the most dangerous person on the face of the earth to be around. God's thunderbolt may be ready to fall. Now, what's the lesson in all of this today for the backslider is that God will conform His people. to the obedient image of Christ's moral character. His people will do His will. You see, folks, the modern doctrine of backsliding in the typical Baptist church is that, well, you can backslide and live all your life backslidden and die and go to heaven and just lose a few rewards. No perseverance in that. The biblical doctrine is that God will chastise and reprove and rebuke the backslider in this life in order that he not be condemned with the world. And here's the sobering thing. If you can live in sin as a professing Christian and never be chastised, it means that's all you are, a professing Christian. That's all it is. God'll get his donors. Be it a storm, be it a fish, be it a gourd or be it a worm, God'll get His donors. He'll get me and He'll get you. The sobering thing is, He may take some of my friends and relatives along with Him. as David had to go and look at that infant grave where his little seven-year-old was laid. As I mentioned, how many wives want to go or have to look at invalid husbands and say, God, smoke my husband because of my stubbornness. How many fathers may have to go to the grave of an infant, a small child, a teenager, and they're living and are alive today and say, my son is in that grave because I wouldn't follow God. The actions of your preacher can affect the spiritual progress of this church. And the actions of this church, in its spirituality or lack of it, can affect the ministry of this preacher. And one person in this church, out of the will of God, running from God like Jonah, can affect the ministry of this preacher and hinder it and affect the whole ministry of this church at the same time. It's not easy to preach a message like this. It's hard. It's hard. If I've brought something here that is not true of the Word of God, I pray God just strike it out of your minds and you never remember it again. But if these texts which I've tried to build my thoughts upon are there, then I maintain again that while God may deal in one way with the heathen on the ship, If you're in that category of a Jonah, but out of the will of God this morning, folks, it's but a matter of time until the storm catches up with you. And the sad thing of it is, is that others may already see it on the horizon, and you don't. Jonah, arise and call upon your God. Try to pray. Jonah, what in the world do you mean by this, saying that you're a Hebrew, that you worship the God of heaven and earth and the One that made the sea, and now you're running away from Him? Jonah, this doesn't make any sense. What do we do with you, Jonah? Cast me into the sea. I'm the guilty one. I've brought all this upon you. because of my activity. I've wandered far away from God. Lord, I'm coming home. You say, Pastor, how do I know whether I'm backslidden today or not? How do I know that? I use a very simple rule of thumb on that. If there's ever a time in which that you have felt you're closer to God than what you are today, you're backslidden. If there's ever a time when you felt you were closer to God, you were in His Word more, you were communing with Him, you were praying with Him, you were serving Him, you enjoyed being with God's people, more than you are today, you're backslidden. That's why you're not reading your Bible, why you're not praying, why you're not enjoying the presence of God's people, seeking them out and asking questions and advice. The storm's coming, and others see it, and you don't. Jonah, what do you mean by this? You can't outrun God. You can't get away from God. Jonah, you're going to Nineveh. You're going to go there next. What do you mean by living like this? The world rebuking you? You bringing confusion and disorder to the body of God's people? You endangering the lives of friends and relatives? Jonah, what in the world do you mean by saying that you are a Hebrew and you believe in the God of heaven and earth and yet you're acting worse than we are? Jonah, wake up. Arise and get right with God. Let's pray. Father, bless this Word, starting with the man in this pulpit. Take my being and have your own way. May your Spirit go down each aisle, each pew. And may it stop and speak to the person in that pew. And may they be made to face this question, what do you mean by running from me? Have your will here this day.