Greg Laurie - Here Am I... Send Him! (07/29/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie preaches from the book of Jonah on how the prophet ran from God's call to Nineveh, yet God pursued him with a storm, a great fish, and mercy. The message shows it's impossible to flee God's presence, He gives second chances to the disobedient, and believers are commanded to "go" with the gospel—never running the wrong way like Wrong Way Roy or Jonah.
Wrong Way Roy – A Lesson in Running the Wrong Direction
Let's grab our Bibles now and turn to the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah. The series title is Go. And the title of my message today is "Here Am I... Send Him". I wonder if you have ever heard the story of Wrong Way Roy. Actually his name was Roy Regals. And if you are a sports fan you might appreciate this story. Roy was the All-American center for the University of California Berkeley with his team the Golden Bears. They were facing the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Roy was playing both offense and defense. Now it is toward the end of the game and one of the Georgia Tech players fumbles the ball. Roy gets it and starts to run to the goal some sixty five yards away. The problem is it was the wrong goal. So if he succeeded he would score a touchdown for the team he was playing. The opposing team's coach Georgia Tech head coach Bill Alexander watching this and was quoted to say he is running the wrong way. Let's see how far he will go.
Well fortunately one of Roy's own teammates Benny Long tackled him right before he got across the wrong goal line. Well halftime came and the team is off the field. They are back in the locker room. And Roy is just humiliated. Everybody saw this and he knows the coach is not going to put him in for the second half of the game. And everybody is waiting to see what Coach Nibs Price is going to do with his team. And as they are sitting around the coach announces that the same team, the same formation will go back in the second half of the game. And Roy Regals is shocked. He says, Coach I have ruined you. I have ruined the University of Southern California. I have ruined myself. I couldn't face that crowd again if my life depended on it. And the coach reached out his hand and he said, Now Roy you get up and go back in. The game is only half over. And Roy went in and had one of the most aspiring efforts in Rose Bowl history.
Now I wonder if you have ever felt like Roy Regals. Also known as Wrong Way Roy. Maybe the Lord told you to go one direction and you went in the other direction. There might be some of you here present today, and most of you are. Who is running from God? You say, Well how could I be running from God if I am in church? You know the story of the prodigal son? It would better be described as a story of the prodigal sons. Plural. There are two prodigal. in the story. First there is the prodigal that demanded his portion of the inheritance and went to a distant country and came to his senses and returned home. But the other prodigal never left home. The other prodigal stayed there. In fact the other prodigal, the older brother of the younger son said when his brother returned to his father, Why are you doing this for him? I have never displeased you. I have never shamed you. You have never thrown a party for me. And the father said, Son, this your brother who is dead is alive again. And he who was lost is found. See that older brother, he was a prodigal too. He just never left the house. And you can be in church every Sunday and still be effectively running from God in His plan and His purpose for your life.
Jonah – The Original Chicken of the Sea
So here before us now is the story of wrong way Jonah, if you will. He was called to go one direction and he went the opposite way. As I have said before, Jonah was the original chicken of the sea. Now we are going to find out in this story that it is impossible to run from God. We are also going to discover that God gives second chances even when we fail. So if you have messed up in life and you feel like you need a second chance, pay careful attention because you will find that God is still giving them out.
Now it is interesting in this story that the Lord uses a storm, He uses a whale, and He uses a worm. Now most people don't think about Jonah and the worm. They think about Jonah and the whale. But really there is a worm in this story and we will get to that later. But I love the fact that God used this creature. And you know what is interesting is really the focus of the story is not on the whale. There are only three verses that deal with Jonah and the whale. The rest of the story is about Jonah running from God. It is also about a great revival that swept over the city of Nineveh. But God did use this massive beast to accomplish His purposes.
I have always loved animals myself. How many animal lovers are there out there? Well you know when I was a kid I had two aspirations in life. One was I wanted to be a professional cartoonist. And my backup plan, if that didn't work out, was I wanted to own a pet shop. Because I loved to hang around pet shops when I was a kid. I would make friends with the people who owned them. And I would pick the animals up and I would handle them. And I thought how cool it would be to have my own pet shop. And I went through phases in my life. As I recall I started with reptiles. I don't know how I got into reptiles. But I started with some small snakes. And I had every kind of snake you can imagine. I had gopher snakes. And king snakes. And milk snakes. And I had boas. And I had pythons. And then I moved over to lizards. And I had iguanas. And I had chameleons. And all kinds of crazy lizards.
In fact I was so into it I actually thought I might become a herpetologist. That is Latin for nerd. No not really. But it really means a person who studies reptiles. I was so into reptiles. Well after a while I pretty much had every reptile you could have. So I started getting into the amphibian world. So I had a terrarium. And a terrarium is basically an aquarium without water. I had sand in it and rocks and all my reptiles. So then I started getting into the aquatic world. And I had salamanders and newts. Not newt Gingrich. Just newts in general. And then I moved to frogs. And then pretty much I filled it up. And I moved out of the amphibians. And I moved into the fish world. So I had angel fish and silver dollars and Oscars. And the rest I never made it into salt water. Though I wanted to.
And then I moved into basically the rodent family. You know. Small mice and rats and Guinea pigs and hamsters. And then I got into the bird world for a while. So I had finches and parakeets and lovebirds and cockatiels and parrots. And then of course I had dogs over the years. And every kind of dog you can imagine. I had two poodles. I am kind of embarrassed to admit that. I was very young. I had no choice in the matter. I had a collie which was one of the stupidest dogs I have ever seen. That is not a diss on collies. It is just a diss on this collie in particular. I had a couple of German Shepherds which were both great dogs. A couple of mutts as well. And then I was bitten by many of my animals.
You know, I was bitten by Guinea pigs and rabbits. I don't know if I mentioned rabbits. I was bitten by hamsters and rats. And bitten by many snakes. Bitten by lizards. Not livers. I don't know if a liver could bite you. But the worst thing I was ever bit by was a monkey. I had a friend who owned a spider monkey. You know what those are? And I reached down to pet it on the head. Not a good idea. It bit me by the finger. And I pulled my hand away and it was hanging onto my finger as blood is spurting out. Kind of terrifying. So I break out in a cold sweat whenever I see a monkey. No. Not really. So I have gone through all these animals. But I love animals.
And one of the things I am looking forward to in the millennium when Christ is ruling on the earth is the animal kingdom will be subdued and tamed. Isaiah 11. 9 says, The wolf will romp with the lamb. The leopard will sleep with the kid. Calf and lion will eat from the same trough. And a little child will lead them. And the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. That is going to be great. Going out and take a walk with your pet lion. But God is interested in the animal kingdom. He created them. He cares about them. When the disobedient prophet Balaam was beating his donkey he was rebuked by an angel. And the angel effectively said, I was at the point of killing you because of the way you were treating that animal. Jesus said that your Father in heaven knows about every sparrow that falls to the ground. And sometimes God will use animals to accomplish his purposes. A preselected donkey had the privilege of carrying Christ into Jerusalem for their triumphal entry. Another donkey that I mentioned actually spoke and rebuked the prophet Balaam. Ravens hand delivered food to the prophet Elijah. And bears came out and attacked teenagers who mocked the baldness of the prophet Elisha. So be careful. Never mock a bald preacher. Right Jeff? Because we might have bears in the wings.
The Call of God – Go to Nineveh
Now I am amazed at how animals will save people's lives. I have read articles over the years about dogs that save lives. Never a cat. A cat has never saved a person's life. You could be dying of a heart attack and a cat would crawl up on your chest and lick his fur. That is what a cat would do. Your dog would be frantic. Your dog would be concerned. I read about one dog that dialed 9-1-1 when his owner fell ill. Apparently the owner taught his dog Bill to bite his cell phone if he had a diabetic seizure. The dog did it. They came and his life was saved. I read about another man whose SUV plunged forty feet because he backed you... Wow. Am I going to make it through the sermon? A man whose SUV plunged forty feet when he was packing his car out and he told his dog, Honey, to get help. Honey ran half a mile to a friend's house and brought help back. Sounds like an episode of Lassie. And maybe that is why they are giving dogs their own TV network now. I am not making this up. I just read about it. The other day a new TV network is launching. It is called Dog TV. And what it is is it is a channel you leave on for your dog if you keep him in the house and you are gone during the day.
I was really interested. What would they play for dogs? What is the programming for dogs? Like you know a whole sitcom about a fire hydrant or a toilet bowl. Like great toilet bowls of America. Or cats running in terror. I mean I don't know what a dog would want to watch. And by the way there is no TV network for cats. They wouldn't watch it anyway. How many cat lovers do we have here? Get out now. I am kidding. But then there are porpoises. That is a really cool creature. Years ago we had an opportunity to go into one of these things where you get to swim with the porpoises. And at one point we had these little boogie boards and we laid down on them. And the porpoise would come up from behind. Put his little snout on the inner part of our heel and pushed us to the water so fast we were coming out of the water. Such a cool animal. And I read an article about a man who fell off a boat. He was adrift at sea. A school of porpoises showed up. Started circling around him. Guided him over to a buoy. He grabbed it and they circled around until help arrived. You might say that those porpoises drove that man to that boy. By the way he wrote a book about it. It is called The Porpoise Driven Life. It is very good. Rick Warren doesn't like it. Just a joke.
So here now is the story of Jonah. Now when we think of this story again as I said we think immediately of Jonah and the whale. It is funny. It is sort of like Sushi eating in reverse. Instead of man eating fish, fish eats man. But as I pointed out only three verses deal with the fish itself or the whale. We don't know which. We will talk about that next time. But G. Campbell Morgan said quote, Men have been looking for so long at the great fish they have failed to see the great God. End quote. That is the message of the book. And some people struggle with this. They find it hard to believe that a man could be swallowed by a great fish or a whale and live to tell the story. Really? I mean if you believe Genesis 1.1. Is this really all that hard? Genesis 1.1 says, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. If you believe that then you can believe this story as well. But here is the most important reason for believing it. It was validated by Jesus Christ Himself. The Pharisees came to Jesus demanding a sign. And He said in Matthew 12.29, An evil and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And no sign will be given to them but that of the prophet Jonah. And as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So not only did Christ validate the story but He used it to illustrate His own death and resurrection. So it is a totally legit story.
The prophet Jonah. What a prophet he was. The place from which he prophesied was the bottom of the sea. The pulpit from which he preached was the stomach of a fish. This is a story of a man with a mission and a job to do and he flat out refused. It is also a story of God's long suffering and Patience and willingness to forgive those who would stop running from Him and instead would run toward Him. But this is why I have called this story, or this message, Here Am I. Send Him. Because Jonah did not want to go. You see the book of Jonah could be summed up this way. God said go. Jonah said no. God said oh. Know this. God will always have the last word.
Here is an interesting thing. It took God longer to prepare His servant to get him to obey His call than it did for the entire godless city of Nineveh to repent. And you know things haven't changed much. As we go into our crusades in various communities most of our effort is spent in mobilizing churches. Our first challenge is to get pastors to talk to each other. You would be surprised at how many communities there is no communication between churches. We get them to talk to each other. Then we get them to pray together. And it is amazing how so often we have to convince pastors and Christians of the importance of the great commission. See we are living in a time now where the church is awash in conferences and concerts and worship times. And I am for all those things. But Jesus did not command us to go into all the world and have conferences. Nor did He command us to go into all the world and have concerts. But He did command us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So it seems like we will spend a lot of our time just reminding believers of the responsibility that God has given to them. That God has given to us.
The Command – Arise and Go to Nineveh
So let's read now on how the call of God came to Jonah. Jonah chapter 1 starting in verse 1 and we will read through to verse 3. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa. He found his ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down to it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Let's pray now. Father as we look at your word and we think about the reluctant prophet Jonah we pray that you will speak to us because a lot of times we are just like him. We are going in the opposite direction you want us to go. And if there is anybody here or anyone watching that is running from you or running from your plan for their life would you let this be a wake up call today and bring them back. We ask this all in Jesus name. Amen.
So let me ask you before you jump down the throat of Jonah. Have you ever tried to run from God and His will for your life? Like Wrong Way Roy Regals. You have been going in the wrong direction thinking that you had a better plan for your life than God did. Maybe it was certain truths in Scripture that you did not want to follow. It might have been the calling of God that was placed upon your life to do something and you simply did not want to do it. Well that was Jonah. He didn't want to go to the city of Nineveh.
Now what do we know about this city? Well I remember when I was in England a number of years ago and I went to one of their great museums and they had artifacts from the city of Nineveh. And I was super impressed by those to actually look at these representations of the city that once existed. Nineveh was once one of the greatest cities on all of the earth. The walls of Nineveh were so wide three chariots could be driven abreast over them. Nineveh had streets that were twenty miles long. That was unheard of in this time. And their walls were a hundred feet high. So it was a massive very impressive city. But it was big in another way. It was big in sin. Nineveh was renowned for their wickedness. God even comments on it in verse 2. For their wickedness has come up before me. Or literally their wickedness has reached a high degree or the highest pitch. Sort of like an overflowing septic tank. Nineveh stunk to high heaven. And this verse shows that God is acutely aware of the wickedness of man.
Now what kind of people lived in Nineveh? Very, very wicked ones. They were renowned for their cruelty as I mentioned. The prophet Nahum comments on it. He says the dead are lying in the streets. Dead bodies. Heaps of bodies. Everywhere. People stumble over them, scramble to their feet, and fall again. All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with their beauty. She taught them to worship her false gods, enchanting people everywhere. So Nahum acknowledges that Nineveh was a beautiful city. But also a very wicked city. There were literally piles of bodies in the streets. The Ninevites were well known for their savagery in plundering cities where they would burn boys and girls alive and torture adults tearing the skin from their bodies and leaving them to die in the scorching sun. Archaeologists have actually discovered in the ruins of ancient Nineveh monuments that were built by various individuals to their atrocities. One of those monuments says, I cut the limbs off the officers who rebelled. Another monument said, within the border of my own land I flayed and spread their skins upon the walls. Do you understand what that means? These people were skinned alive. And the skin of the people was hung on the walls. Another cruel Nineveh wrote, I cut off their hands and their fingers. And from others I cut out their noses and their ears and their fingers. And for many of them I put out their eyes. And so these are wicked people. These are depraved people. These people make the Nazis look tame in comparison. And these are the people God says to Jonah, go preach to them.
Now Jonah was a Jew you see. And these people were the avowed enemies of Israel. This would be like going to a Jew maybe living in the Warsaw ghetto in World War II and say, Go preach to the Nazis. Well he wouldn't want to do that. Or she wouldn't want to do that. Or it would be like going to an Israeli today and say, Go preach to the nation of Iran because I am going to judge them if you don't. Oh if I don't? Well good. Judge them. Because that nation has said they want to wipe us off the face of the earth.
So God says go. Or a literal translation is get up and go. And he got up and went in the wrong direction. Instead of going five hundred miles northeast to Nineveh Jonah attempts to go two thousand miles west to Tarshish. He pretty much went in the opposite direction. As far from Nineveh as you could get. And a lot of us are on boats going to Tarshish when God is saying go to Nineveh. Listen there are two roads in life. One road leads to Nineveh. The other road leads to Tarshish. One road is the will of God. The other is disobedience to His will. So my question to you today is what road are you on? Are you on the road of obedience or are you on the road of disobedience? Are you doing what God tells you to do or are you rebelling to what God tells you to do?
Why Jonah Ran – The Real Reason
So why did Jonah not want to go to Nineveh? What was the real reason? Maybe it was because he thought it would be unpopular. I mean he shows up a Jew and he knows that Ninevites hate Jews. He thought man I might be one of those people with my eyes gouged out. They might flay me alive. I certainly don't want to endanger my life. Or maybe another reason he didn't go is because he was just unconcerned. He didn't care about the people. He didn't care about their children. He didn't care about their plight or an impending judgment. He might have thought hey that is not my problem. I don't think that was the reason nor do I think the other one was the reason. Well maybe he didn't do it because it was difficult. You know I might meet opposition. And it would be inconvenient. No. There is a fourth possibility. And this is the real reason I believe Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. He did not want to go because he was certain his mission would succeed. Let me repeat that. He did not want to go because he was certain his mission would succeed.
See effectively he knew if he preached to those people God would forgive them and give them a second chance. And he didn't want them to have a second chance. This is evidenced by what Jonah says to God after the Lord spares Nineveh. And after a great revival breaks out in Nineveh. Jonah says in chapter 4 verse 2 to the Lord, Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this Lord? That is why I ran to Tarshish. I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God. Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. Lord I just knew you would do this. I knew you would forgive them. So much for the idea of the Old Testament versus the New Testament God. You know sometimes people will say, Well I have a problem with the God of the Old Testament. He is wrathful. He is angry. He is cruel. He is mean. I believe in the God of the New Testament who is compassionate and loving and gracious. News flash. The God of the Old Testament is gracious and loving. And the God of the New Testament is just and righteous. Listen. I believe in the God of the The Old and the New Testament because He is the same God. And He is full of mercy and full of love. That is right. Because listen to what Jonah says. He says of God, You are gracious and compassionate and you are filled with unfailing love.
See the bottom line is Jonah wanted God to take out Nineveh. He wanted these people eliminated. In fact he even kind of enjoyed the idea of them being wiped out. And sometimes even we believers might take a certain perverse pleasure in knowing that certain people who bother us are going to hell. Now where do we get off with an attitude like that? In fact we all deserve God's judgment. Don't we? And Jesus did not say, Hate your enemies and hope judgment comes upon them. Rather He said, You have heard that it has been said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you.
Is there someone that you would actually like to see go to hell? Maybe it is your boss. Maybe it is your husband. Maybe it is a neighbor that drives you crazy. Maybe it is someone that gives you a hard time. They are going to hell. Yeah they are. And that should break your heart. You know one of the real reasons Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh? Jonah was a racist. He was. He is a patriotic Israeli. And he hated Ninevites. And he did not want them to believe. And there are people today who are racist. Now I think we throw this term around way too freely. And we will call anyone a racist for just about any reason. Or a bigot. A racist is a person that would look at an entire race of people and have a hatred toward them. A bigot is a person that would look at an entire group of people and hate them. That is what Jonah was. I want them all eliminated.
The Great Commission – Our Call to Go
Is there someone that you hate right now? Are you a racist? God called Jonah to go. And he did not really want to do it. He wanted them to be destroyed. But here is what the Lord said. He says, Go and preach. Jonah listen to me. Go and preach. And by the way in the original language those verbs are in the imperative. In other words God commanded Jonah to go and preach.
So we say, Yeah. He should have done it. Ok. Guess what. Jesus has said the same thing to us. We call it the Great Commission. It is round in Matthew 28 where Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. Now there are two things to note about that in the Great Commission that remind us of the call to Jonah. Number one. This command from Jesus is just that. A command. That is why we don't call it the Great Suggestion. It is a Great Commission. But for many the Great Commission has become the Great Omission.
Jesus is saying, Look I bought you. I purchased you with my blood. And I am commanding you as my follower to go out into all the world and to make disciples and to preach the gospel. The commission of the church is not to wait for the world to show up. The commission of the church is to go to the whole world. As I have said before Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to church. But He did say the church should go to the whole world. But let's personalize it now. Because the church should do that. Yeah yeah. Guess what. You are the church. So are you going into all of your world? Are you going into your sphere of influence? Are you doing this? Or are you being like a Jonah and going in the opposite direction?
And by the way in the Great Commission given by our Lord those words are addressed to every one of His followers. Not just His so called professionals. Pastors, evangelists, missionaries, etc. No. These words are given to every follower of Jesus. To every business man. To every homemaker. To every student. To every grandfather and grandmother. To every young boy and girl. They are a commission given to us by Christ Himself. If I am a disciple I am commanded to go and make disciples of others. And if I am not making disciples of others am I really being the disciple that He wants me to be?
So here is my question. Are you doing your part? These are the words of Jesus Christ to you. And by the way He saved these words for the end of His earthly ministry. Now a lot of times we see the last words of Christ were the seven statements from the cross. And in a way they were. Those were His last words before He died. But you probably have heard this. He Rose again from the dead. And then He walked among His followers on the earth. And then prior to His ascension to heaven that is when He gave His final words. If someone knows they are leaving and they are saying these are my parting words to you I suggest you pay careful attention because those words are important. And Jesus is saying here is my parting words. Here are my closing thoughts. Here is what I want to leave you with. Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And lo I am with you even to the end of the age.
In a Mark's Gospel it says go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Listen. To not do this in my opinion could actually be a sin. You say now Greg you have gone too far. It is not a sin. Well it could be. I would call it the sin of omission. James 4.17 says to him that knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin. Chuck Swindoll in one of his books tells a true story that made its way to the courts. In this story there was a man walking along a boat deck. I believe this was around the Boston Harbor. He tripped over a rope and fell into the deep water of the harbor. And he came up sputtering and yelling for help and sank again. He was in serious trouble. Problem was this guy did not know how to swim. So he called out to his friends that were too far away to help him. And most of them did not even hear him. Well meanwhile only a few yards away there was a young man laying on his dock sunbathing. So the guy who is drowning cries out help me. I am drowning. I can't swim. As it turns out this young man sunbathing on the dock was an excellent swimmer. He only turned his head to watch this guy who went down for the last time and disappeared beneath the service. And that man died.
Well the family of the men who died were so outraged that they sued the sunbather because of his callous indifference. The court ruled that the man on the dock had no legal responsibility whatsoever to try and save the other man's life. They agreed with the words of Cain. Am I my brother's keeper? Unbelievable. So Chuck Swindoll concludes with this statement. Indifference may not be illegal but it is immoral. Indifference may not be illegal but it is immoral. And the point is when we look at people who are lost and they don't know Jesus. And we have the answer. And we are in effect sunbathing on the dock only a few yards away. And we don't reach out and say friend let me pull you out of the water. Let me tell you about Jesus. Let me invite you to Christ. We just say well it is not my problem. We are just like this man. In fact maybe even worse. Because there is eternal ramifications to not telling someone about Christ.
Go into all the world. In Mark's version of the Great Commission and preach the gospel. I want you to notice Jesus does not say go into all the world and live as good examples. Not that we should not be good examples. We certainly don't want to be bad ones. And the fact of the matter is if you are a good example you will in effect earn the right to share the gospel with someone. However the great commission is not go out and be a good example. The great commission is go into all the world and preach the gospel. Verbalize the gospel. Communicate the gospel. And I bring this up because some people will say well I am not really comfortable bringing these subjects up with people. And I don't want to confront a person. So my belief is I will just live the life. And by my good example I will win them over. Well no you won't. I mean hopefully that will build a bridge so you can share Jesus with them. But a good example is not enough. It is good news and it is something you will have to announce.
Can you imagine if a news commentator started their program and the anchors just sat there and just thought well we are just going to live it. We will just be a good example. No. Your job is to tell us what the news is. Tell us what is going on in the world. And in the same way we are called to deliver the good news. Not just sit there. Not just say well watch my life. No. We are to go and engage people. How does God choose to primarily reach nonbelievers? Answer. Through the preaching of the gospel. First Corinthians 1.21 says, Since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those that believe. The message preached. Not through foolish preaching. But the foolishness of preaching. In other words God has chosen verbal communication.
Now listen. If I were God I would never use people at all to reach people. And I would never use me. If you knew me as well as I know me you would not sit there and listen to me today. But if I knew you as well as you know you I wouldn't even want to talk to you. So the bottom line is we are very flawed right? Are we in agreement on that? But yet God says I want to use people to reach people. I would say Lord forget people. Go with angels. Angels are awesome. Shining and radiant light. Pull out a sword for effect. I am Michael. Believe or it is over. I think that would be very effective. God says no I am not going to use angels. I am going to use people to reach people. Romans 10 verse 14 says how can they call on him unless they believe in him. How can they believe in him unless they have heard about him. How can they hear about him unless someone tells them.
So God says get up and go. And Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction. Verse 3. Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. News flash. You cannot escape God's presence. The Bible tells us that God is present everywhere. We call this the omnipresence of God. By the way when this book was written the Psalms had already been written. I wonder if Jonah had ever read Psalm 139 where David said where can I go from your spirit. Where can I flee from your presence. If I go to the heavens you are there. If I make my bed in the depths you are there. If I go to the wings of the dawn. If I settle on the far side of the sea even there your hand will guide me and your right hand will hold me fast. You can't escape from God. You can't get away from God's presence.
Adam tried this. After he ate of the forbidden fruit. He went and hid himself. Him and leaves sewed some little fig leaves together. Cover their nakedness. And then the Lord comes walking in the garden in the cool of the day calling out, Adam where are you? Do you think God did that because he didn't know where Adam was? No. I guarantee God knew exactly where Adam was. And he knew exactly what Adam did because he called him out on it saying, Did you eat of that fruit I told you not to eat of? See God was looking for Adam to admit his sin. Sort of like when I play peek-a-boo with my grandchildren. Or play hide and seek. They hide. I go, Go hide. And I always know where they are. Because they are not good at deception yet. They will hide behind the curtains but I see their feet. Or they are giggling and I follow the giggle. Or sometimes I will find them and they will go back to the same hiding place the second time. But I will act like I don't know where they are. Where are you? I can't find you. And then they jump out and yell like oh and I get all scared. And this tragic thing is I really am scared. No. I play along. In effect God was playing along. Adam where are you? You can't flee from the presence of the Lord.
But Jonah was determined to try. Verse 3. Jonah found a ship. I love that phrase. Jonah found a ship. I guarantee Jonah was looking for a ship. And the devil opened all the doors for Jonah's disobedience. Know this. God is not the only one who opens doors. Sometimes things will work out. And we will say oh the doors opened. Really? Maybe they did. Question. Who opened them? The Lord? The Lord? Listen. If you are struggling in your marriage, Christian girl, there is always going to be a compassionate, understanding man to give you counsel about how to deal with your non-believing husband. Get it? It is a trap. Hey. Single person looking for someone. There is always going to be a non-believer that wants to go out with you. Hey. You that want to make money quick. There will always be the get rich quick scheme. Cut a corner here. Tell a lie there. Don't disclose something over here. And you will get there. See the devil will always open the doors for you to go in the wrong direction. So you may find your ship. And it may sail right on time. But if you are en route to Tarshish when God has called you to Nineveh, I want you to know something. A storm is brewing. And you are going to go overboard. And I will tell you why. Because God loves you. And God loves you so much that He is not going to let you as a child go astray. He is going to go after you.
Running from God – Always a Step Down
Verse 3, So Jonah paid the fare and went down into it. He went down. It is very expensive to sin. You see. If you run away from God you are always going to pay your own fare. And you are never going to get what you thought you were going to get when you put your foot on that boat. It is not going to work out the way you were hoping. And know this. Every step away from God is a step down. First Jonah went down to Joppa. Then he went down into the ship. Then he went down into the Then he went down into the fish's belly. Then he went down into the deep. That is a life of running from God. Down, down, down. Running from God is a downer. Don't do it.
David discovered this. He started going down when he laid lustful eyes on the beautiful Bathsheba bathing herself. Then he went a little further down when he summoned her to his palace. Then he went down even further when he committed the sin of adultery with her. And he went down even further when he murdered her husband Uriah. Then he went down even further when he tried to cover his sin. He went down, down, down until he repented. But know this. God will always have the last word.
So let's stop. Let me ask this question. Are you running from God? Maybe some of you are just flat out running from God. Oh, I'm a church. Yeah. But you are like that older prodigal brother. You really are disconnected from God. You are doing things you know you should not be doing as a follower of Jesus Christ. In effect you are going to Tarshish when you ought to be going to Nineveh. There might be others here that are running from God's call on your life. The Lord has told you to preach the gospel and you are saying, yeah, you know, I am kind of busy. I don't really know if that is what I ought to do. You are just not doing what you are supposed to do. To him that knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin. It is a sin of omission. You are like Jonah. He told you to go preach to your family. Go preach to your neighborhood. Go preach to your workplace people there. Go preach to others that you know. Your friends. I don't want to do that. I would seem really fanatical if I did that. This is what God is telling you to do. But then there might be some of you here that are just running from the Lord altogether. You have not been in a church in a long time. Or maybe this is your first time in a church ever. But I want you to know something. God is love. He loves you and He is calling you to Himself. And He will forgive you and He will give you a second chance. If you need that second chance I want you to respond as we pray together.
Let us all bow our heads. Let us everyone pray. Father, I pray for any here now that do not yet know Jesus Christ. They have not believed in You yet. They do not have the hope of the forgiveness of sin. They have been running from You. Lord would You help them to come to You now. To believe in You now. Or if they are a prodigal son or daughter to return to You now and find Your forgiveness. While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we are praying. If you need Jesus Christ in your life. If you need your sin forgiven. If you need that guilt removed. If you have fallen away from the Lord and you need to come back to Him. Would you raise your hand up right now and let me pray for you. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else lift your hand up or I can see it please. God bless you up in the balcony. God bless you. God bless you. You guys watching the video screen right now. Raise your hand up. I know I can't see you but that doesn't really matter does it. This is between you and God. You need to make the commitment or recommitment to Jesus. Just lift your hand up wherever you are. Wherever you are seeing this right now. God bless each one of you.
All right now I am going to ask all of you that have raised your hand if you would please stand to your feet and I am going to lead you in a prayer of commitment or recommitment. Just stand up. If you raise your hand saying you need Christ in your life or you need You need to come back to Jesus. Stand up. Stand up. God bless you that are standing. God bless you. Stand to your feet. God bless all of you. You are watching the screen. Stand to your feet. Wherever you are stand up. I am going to lead you in this prayer. I will wait another moment. You need to make this commitment. A recommitment to Jesus. You have been running the wrong way away from God. You want to run back to Him. You want to come to Him now. One final moment. Lord, stand to your feet. God bless all of you standing.
Now you that are standing pray this prayer out loud after me. Again as I pray, pray this out loud after me. Pray this now.
Lord Jesus I have been running from You. I have sinned against You. But You died on the cross and shed Your blood for every sin I have ever committed. I turn from that sin now. I repent. I choose to follow You from this moment forward. In Jesus name. And Father for the rest of us I pray that You will give to us a burning desire to go. To go with the message of the Gospel. Without fear. Without embarrassment. Without shame. With a holy boldness that we would engage people. With the only message that can change their eternal destiny. We commit ourselves to You again. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.