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Once again, it is a pleasure
to be here, a privilege to get to be amongst you this morning.
I do bring greetings from my wife and our family back in Nashville,
Tennessee. I wish Barbara was here with
us and she could enjoy the opportunities that I enjoy. I just get to come
back home and tell her stories and such. First, when you have a missionary
come to speak, you expect a missionary sermon. And I am concerned about
missions. I am concerned about the gospel.
I'm concerned about evangelism. And one of the burdens of my
heart is that nothing would hinder the gospel. Over and over we
read in scripture of prayers and exhortations that the word
of God would not be hindered, but that it would flow freely.
And that's my desire, that it would not be hindered. And I
know I'm in Canada, so I don't know all that goes on here. I
don't know what the issues are in this country. But I know in
America there are issues. There are, even now with an election
coming up, there are issues that are raised. Among those, illegal
immigration is one of the issues that weighs heavy on a lot of
Americans' minds. They don't like the idea of people
coming across the border getting benefits, educational or medical
benefits. They don't like the idea of people
mooching off of the government and then not paying taxes, and
that offends many people. I've also heard there are other
controversies, a controversy related to abortion. That's a
topic that is still hot, and it'll always be hot, I think,
as long as it exists. It's a topic that has caused
a lot of God's people to be stirred in many ways. I met a couple
not too long ago, who came to me and said that they were among
those who protest abortion clinics. And I asked them the question,
what would you do if the abortion doctor moved in and became your
next door neighbor? Then what would you do? Would
you go and protest against your neighbor? Would you wish that
your neighbor's house would burn down and that they would just
go away? But there are other issues out
there. One of them is Islamic extremism. I think when you think
about Muslims, or when some people think about Muslims, all they
can think about is terrorists. All they can think about is people
who just want to blow up other people and want to rule the world. And that is something that affects
people. Brethren, the thing that I'm
concerned about is that these issues don't affect our compassion
for the gospel to those various groups and people. One of the things I think can
be a problem is an attitude. An attitude against those groups,
those individuals, those people, those untouchables that are out
there. in our minds that would keep us from wanting to reach
them, keep us from wanting to even pray for them, and have
a burden for them. I don't know what it's like here. Maybe, in a sense, it's good
to be a visiting preacher because I don't know who's who, I don't
know the believers, I don't know the unbelievers, I don't know
who's a visitor. I don't know. So I'm just going
to preach as the Spirit of God enables me to preach today. What
I'd like to ask you to do is join me in looking at Jonah. As I thought of this topic, this
man Jonah came to my mind because I believe Jonah had an attitude
problem. Now, the Book of Jonah, of course,
it's just about three pages, not even three pages in my Bible. I'm reading from the ESV version,
by the way. We could read it all right through
if we wanted to, but we won't. We'll look at various parts of
Jonah. But one of the things about Jonah
that interests me is the fact that it's not a prophecy against
a nation or condemning this group or that group against one of
the kings. It's a prophecy that was addressed to the prophet. It was the prophet's prophecy. And by extension, I would say,
it's a prophecy for God's people. Jonah represented the people
of God and the attitude that could be possible in the minds
and the hearts of God's people. Before I go on, I'd like to ask
you to join me one more time and pray. Our God and our Father, we are
privileged to be able to gather together in relative peace and
quiet. We can take time to think about
the things of God. We can take time to consider
our ways. We aren't being threatened and
attacked day by day. We do have that liberty. And
yet, our Father, we also know that there are some things can
perhaps even consume our thoughts and make us to be prejudicial
even against others. We pray that you would help us
if that's the case, that you would show us that you're a God
of great compassion, a God of mercy, a God who delights and
showing mercy slow to anger. And we pray that you would make
us more and more like you. We ask that you would bless us
now as we look at your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, what I'd like us to do
first this morning is begin to look at this man, Jonah, and
first of all, I'd like to point out that we see here in Jonah
in the very beginning, in the first two verses, a command rejected. A command rejected. And we'll
read that God commanded Jonah to pronounce judgment against
Nineveh, verses 1 and 2. Now the word of the Lord came
to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and call out against it for their evil has
come up before me." God had given Jonah a specific command. He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. Nineveh. It's called a great
city. We're told in chapter 3 that
it took three days to go across the city and Jonah at one point
when he actually obeyed God's command, he had gone a whole
day and then he began to preach in the city. So it was a great
city and it was a large city, exceedingly great, we're told.
It was politically a great city. It was the capital of the Assyrian
Empire. That's where all the attacks
came from against the northern tribes of Israel. It was a great
empire ruled the whole Middle East for a time. In that sense,
it was a geographically large place. But the population, we
are also told in Chapter 4, in the very last verse, The population
was also great. It was a great city because it
had a lot of people in it. It says there that there were
120,000 persons who didn't know their right hand from their left.
We understand that to be children. We consider how many people that
is, including the parents and the rest of the families that
are there. That's a large city. Hundreds of thousands of people
in this city. So Nineveh was a great city.
But Nineveh also was a wicked city. So it was great, but it
was a very wicked city that deserved the wrath of God. We're told
here, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.
For what? For their evil has come up before me. It was an
evil city. The Assyrians were known for
brutality, for their bloodletting, for the horrible treatment of
those that they captured. Nahum, we read that they were
known for their brutality. They're called vile. They're
said to have fed people to lions. They're called a bloody city,
unceasing evil. Eventually, and within 100 years,
they actually destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. You can imagine
how the Israelites felt about Nineveh, how they felt about
the Assyrians. They hated them. They despised
them. But they were a wicked people. They deserved God's wrath, His
judgment. When God pronounced His judgment,
it wasn't because they didn't deserve it. They weren't innocent.
There are no innocents. They weren't innocent. They were
deserving of God's anger and His wrath. What God had commanded
Jonah to do was perfectly legitimate. And Jonah ought to have done
what God commanded, because this was something God had full authority
to do. God had given Jonah a command,
but Jonah ran away. He simply ran away. We read in verse 3, But Jonah
rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He
went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So
he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish,
away from the presence of the Lord. Jonah left. He went away. Now, someone might
think, well, Jonah was just afraid. He was just a scaredy cat. He
didn't want to go because he was afraid of suffering, or he
was afraid of the people. I don't believe that's true.
I believe Jonah was a courageous man. He wasn't afraid to die. Later on we read where Jonah
says, throw me into the sea. What's going to happen when he's
thrown into the sea? He's going to drown. He knew
that he could die. He wasn't afraid to die. Jonah
was a prophet of God. He wasn't afraid to die. He was
a courageous man. Jonah was a man who had known
God's blessing on his ministry. He had preached about victory
for the people of God. He had preached about expansion
of the territory. He was a man who was probably
a very popular, a loved prophet. He loved Israel. He loved his
people. He loved God's people. But he
wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid. But though God gave him a command
to go to this foreign country, He got up and he left. Something made Jonah reject God's
command. And I say reject because he didn't
simply stay home. To disobey, you just stay where
you are and don't do what you're told to do. That's just disobedience. But he didn't stay home. He left. He ran away. He rejected outright
what God had commanded him to do. He knew the place of duty,
but he left the place of duty. He forsook the call that God
had given him. If you were in the military,
you'd be called a deserter. You deserve punishment. And actually,
Jonah was a man who needed to repent. He himself was sinning
against God. He forsook God's command. But
the thing is, Jonah was God's man. God had called this man
and commanded him to do something, and he was going to do it. He
was going to do it. That was God's intent. There
wasn't another man out there God wanted to send. It was Jonah. Jonah had a specific obligation.
This was his mission. This was his calling. He attempted
to nullify God's command by denying God's call on his life and going
in the opposite direction. And what did he do first? He
left. He physically departed the scene. Perhaps he was thinking, well,
if I get out of the way, if I get out of here, maybe God will overlook
it. Maybe he'll forget. Out of sight,
out of mind. Maybe he won't expect me to do
anything. I'll be so far away from here, he won't bother with
me anymore. He'll just give up on me. But Jonah knew he couldn't flee
from God's presence, because we're told that's what he attempted
to do, flee the presence of God. He knew he couldn't leave the
presence of God. Psalm 139 is very clear and says,
how can you leave the presence of God? Where shall I flee from
your presence? Where shall I go from your spirit?
There's no way you can go anywhere. If you go up into the heavens,
if you go down into the pits of hell, you can't flee. from
the presence of God, and Jonah knew he couldn't flee from the
presence of God. But you know, a lot of times
when we have a command, we run away from it by doing other things. I don't know. Maybe Jonah thought,
I'll go to Tarshish. I'll be amongst strangers there.
Maybe I can serve God in another place. I have no idea. But I
think sometimes we can do the same thing. Maybe we find other
things to do, to be busy. Maybe in our homes, we have a
responsibility to do something in our homes, to care for our
wives, to care for our families. Maybe we find other things to
do in neglecting those responsibilities. Maybe churches do this. Maybe
churches, instead of going out to the world and fulfilling the
Great Commission, Maybe churches focus so much attention on themselves
and upon their ministry, upon their worship, upon their theological
needs. They focus so much on themselves.
It's possible that we do other things in an attempt to avoid
some of the things that we are called to do. But Jonah did that. Jonah. left. Whatever his intent
was, he showed he was unwilling to do the thing God commanded.
I also think Jonah, in a sense, he even left mentally. When he
got into this boat, we are told later on that he got into this
boat and he went down into the bottom of the boat and what did
he do? He fell asleep. You know, the kids, I think you
all have probably heard stories about Jonah. So that's why I
don't think I need to explain too much. But you probably know
the story of Jonah. But he was down in the ship,
and he's asleep. He's asleep, unmoved by his condition,
unmoved by the situation. There's a lot we can say about
Jonah and about how we could, as believers even, sin and deny
even the efforts that God makes to awaken us. But he did that. But though he attempted to nullify
God's command, as I said, he was God's man. God hindered his
escape. God hindered him. How did God
hinder him? He sent a great storm upon the
sea. God showed he is sovereign. He's omnipotent. He's the God
of the sea. He's the God of the storm. He's
the God of creation. You remember the story of the
Lord Jesus being on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples? The
storm is raging. He's asleep in the boat. And
the disciples, they're terrified. Lord, don't you know that we're
going to perish? And he gets up. And he says,
oh, you of little faith. And he says, peace, be still.
And the storm is gone. The power of our God. He is powerful. There's nothing too great for
God. Nothing too great. And God is showing Jonah, I am
the God who rules all things. I am the God who made heaven
and earth. In fact, Jonah speaks of him
that way later on with these sailors. He is the God who made
heaven and earth. He's not the God of this region
or that region. He's the God of all the universe. And this is the God that commanded
Jonah. This is the God who gave him
a calling. But God hindered him by causing
the storm. Not only that, but he sent this
fish, big fish, came and swallowed Jonah. God's not limited. He's not limited in any way. He could send a fish. He could
cause a donkey to speak. He can do all sorts of things.
and we need to understand that you know I was thinking about
this this chapter this first chapter the rest of the chapter
speaks about all that these sailors go through to protect All that
they do to show compassion on Jonah. They don't know Jonah.
He's just a troublemaker for them. But all that they do to
try to protect him, to preserve his life, they were willing to
throw everything overboard for Jonah. They tried doing everything
to get back to shore for Jonah. What compassion they showed on
this man who had no compassion on them. a testimony of how God
worked even through a rebellious prophet. Jonah wasn't trying
to evangelize sailors, and yet we find the sailors falling down,
calling upon the Lord, calling upon God. An amazing thing. But here's the question. Why
did Jonah escape? Why did he attempt to escape?
And I think you know the answer. But there's a couple of things,
I think, come to play here. The first thing I think is that
he hated the Assyrians. Plain and simple. He hated them. He had a prejudice against the
Assyrians. Not for, without reason. They
were wicked. They were brutal. They murdered
babies and killed pregnant women. They did all sorts of horrible,
brutal things to people. No wonder they were hated. He hated them. But another thing we see in chapter
4, verses 1 and 2, we see that he knew the character
of God. He knew that God is a God of
compassion and mercy. He knew that. Chapter 4 says, but it displeased
Jonah exceedingly, and I'll look at that a little bit later. But
it displeased Jonah because eventually these people repented and were
saved. But he was angry, and he prayed to the Lord and said,
oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that
you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding
in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." He knew God was
kind. He knew God would bless these
people. He knew if he preached to them,
they'd be saved. Can you imagine that? Someone
is upset about people being saved. He didn't want them saved. He
didn't want them blessed. Oh no, they deserve to go over
the pit. That's where they should go.
They deserved God's wrath, and Jonah was determined that that's
what would happen. He didn't want their blessing.
He didn't want God's goodness on them. Oh, Jonah knew about
God. He knew God. He knew God was
a God of compassion. He knew that God was a God who
when he warned, he warned to show mercy. When he gave his
warnings, it was to show mercy. If God wants to wipe out a people,
what does he do? He wipes them out. He comes to
Sodom and Gomorrah and wipes them out with fire and brimstone.
That's what he does. He doesn't give them warnings.
He gives warnings so they repent. That's what it's all about. That's
why you hear the gospel. It's a warning. Today is the
day of salvation. Why do we say that? Because if
you hear, if you harden not your hearts, And you hear, this is
your opportunity, this is your warning. If you continue in disobedience,
if you continue in being unrepentant, if you continue to go the way
you're going, you're in trouble. And God is a God who is ready
to receive you. If you are lost, he is ready
to save. He is very full of mercy and
compassion. He is slow to wrath and slow
to anger. But he's ready to receive all
who will come to him. Come unto me, the Lord Jesus
said. All you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn
from me. Come to me, God says. Come to me. Come now, let us
reason together, we are told in Isaiah chapter 1. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. God wants
to call sinners to faith and to obedience, to follow him.
I'm reminded of that parable of the fig tree. This man planted a tree, and
it didn't bear any fruit. And he says, three years I'm
coming, and there's no fruit. Cut it down. Just by saying cut
it down, stirs up his keeper to say, Lord, just give it one
more year. You know, folks, God has been
giving us time. You're hearing the gospel preached
in your church. You're hearing over and over
and over. Some of the children have grown
up hearing the Bible being read in your homes, prayed over, your
parents praying. You've heard these things over
and over. It's not new to you. But you
get hard, and you get cold, and you get distant, and you don't
want to deal with it. And you put it all off. Well,
God has been warning you all this time. Why? So you would
believe. So that you would embrace the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's what the warnings are
for. And Jonah knew that. And he didn't
like it. Because he hated the Assyrians.
Jonah didn't understand God's absolute sovereignty. God is
sovereign. He's sovereign in His dispensation
of wrath. He's sovereign in His dispensation
of mercy. God saves whom he wills to save. Romans 9 says, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it depends not on human
will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. Jonah needed to
understand this was God's call, not his. Jonah's responsibility
was obedience, faithfulness, submission to God's call. But
Jonah can't save and he can't condemn anyone. I can't save
or condemn anyone. Jonah had the privilege of being
a mouthpiece of God. He had a calling to be God's
mouthpiece and his servant. And that's where it stops. He has to fulfill his calling.
If anyone is to be saved, it's God's work to save them. God
uses his gospel call to save people. 1 Peter 3 says, For Christ also
suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
made alive in the Spirit. Christ came to save the unrighteous. And our call is to proclaim that. It's God's prerogative to save. It's his prerogative to extend
his mercy to whomever he wills to extend it. When Jonah was
swallowed up by that fish, that was the lesson he needed to learn.
He was brought down into the depths. He was brought to a position
where he was lost. And he said, I understand. that salvation is of the Lord.
It's God's prerogative to save who he wills to save. It's his
call. Now, there are many people who
have thought that if you're not worthy, then you
should be left alone. The Pharisees were very well
known for this. They saw some people as worthy
and some people as unworthy. Samaritans were unworthy. Samaritans. Why would you talk to Samaritans?
Even the disciples of the Lord Jesus, when He was compelled
to go to Samaria and He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the
well, you remember the story? This woman heard the Gospel from
the Savior's lips. The disciples come back and they
see Him talking to the woman. The woman herself was surprised
that he would talk to her. She says, the Jews have no dealings
with Samaritans. They have no dealings with them.
They stay away from them. They keep them at a distance.
They keep apart from them. It wasn't new. It wasn't a new
thing. Jonah was doing that thing. Jonah
was keeping apart from these people. He hated the Syrians.
The Jews hated the Samaritans. And anyone else who was unclean
in some way? What did they say when they saw
the Lord Jesus eating with prostitutes, with tax collectors, with sinners
and immoral people? What did they think? What? When this woman, a prostitute,
touches him, doesn't he know what kind of woman this is? These
are the kind of people that we don't want to touch. We keep
them off in the distance. Lepers! They're like lepers.
You don't touch lepers. You don't touch these people. I think that's this attitude,
this spirit was what was motivating Jonah. These Assyrians, they're
dirty, they're outside, they're not God's people, they don't
deserve God's goodness. I know we wouldn't say that.
I know none of us would say that about anyone. You wouldn't say
about a homosexual they don't deserve God's mercy. We know
they don't. We don't either. No one deserves
it. But you may not say anything
outwardly against anybody, but you may feel it. You may wish
that something would happen to all those people. I wish they
would just go away. I wish something would just happen
to them. What would you do if something did happen to them?
Well, we find Jonah eventually comes around and he obeys God's
command in Jonah chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. Then the word of
the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and call out against it the message that I
tell you. So Jonah rose. and went to Nineveh according
to the word of the Lord." Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great
city. Three days journey in breadth.
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he
called out, "'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!'
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast,
and they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least
of them." Well, we find Jonah obeys God's command, and then
they repented, at the preaching of Jonah. They repented. And I think our Lord Jesus even
brings this up, doesn't he? The people repented at the preaching
of Jonah. We need to repent at the preaching of Christ. The
preaching of the gospel. But he obeyed. He went. He preached. The people in verses 5 through
10 They repent, all the way from the king, all the way down to
even the animals. It was sackcloth and ashes. Unbelievable
repentance. It was a revival that was going
on. Wonderful thing happened there.
I can't imagine being in Jonah's shoes. I would say, hallelujah,
praise God. There's an awakening amongst
the Assyrians. Something's happened in there.
But Jonah, we are told, was very displeased about this. He didn't
like that they repented. And he didn't like that God blessed
them. Because it says in verse 10,
when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way,
God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do
to them. And he did not do it. And you can imagine Jonah saying,
I knew it. I knew it. You were going to
be good to them. No matter what I said, no matter
what I did, you were going to bless these people. Jonah was
angry, we read. He did not like what had happened
there. Though Jonah learned a lesson
about sovereignty. He knew. Intellectually, we know
a lot of things up here. He knew about the sovereignty
of God and saving. But he had an attitude that hindered
him. It still hindered him. Prejudice
hindered the free flow of the gospel, of the message. Yes,
he obeyed. But there was an attitude issue
within Jonah. And I wonder if that might not
be a similar attitude that some of God's people have. As I mentioned,
it wasn't that he had a problem with fear. He was a courageous
man. It was that he hated these perceived
enemies. And you know the Lord Jesus commands
us to love our enemies, doesn't He? He commands us to love those
sorts of people. He wants us to hate sin. God
loves righteousness. He hates wickedness. He wants
us to love righteousness and hate wickedness just like Him.
He wants us to be pursuing holiness and despising wickedness. We
must hate wickedness. But God also doesn't want us
to hate sinners. He doesn't want us to hate sinners. We are called to love our enemies,
to love them. The many things, the many examples
of our Lord Jesus Christ and how he reached out to the lost
around him, how he was compassionate, he was merciful to those around
him. That is an example that we should
follow. God wants us to commit ourselves
to his mission, to his sovereignty, Not our will, not our ideas,
not our ministries and our ways, but His, His calling. In fact,
it's interesting because He says, go and preach to them the message
that I tell you. That's what we're called to do.
Preach the message we are told to tell. The messenger is a critical part
of the Gospel presentation, brother. It's a critical part. Your attitude
is critical. It'll affect how you pray. It'll
keep you from praying for some when you want to pray for them.
It'll affect you in the way you interact with people who are
really strange and really weird, who are different. They deserve
God's wrath. Yes, they are sinners. Maybe
they're homosexuals, lesbians, or otherwise. Maybe they are
immoral in some other way. Maybe they're some sort of perverts.
Maybe they're into pornography. Maybe they're into some other
things. Maybe they're drug users, and they're high on drugs. Maybe
they're drunk on liquor. Maybe they're adulterers or adulteresses. They're immoral. We aren't immoral, are we? We're
clean. We've been washed. We've been
changed. But such were some of you, the
Lord Jesus said. Such were some of you, the scriptures
teach us. We were like that. I don't know
what your testimonies are, but I can remember back in those
days. We used to call it the BC days, the before Christ days. I can remember the immorality.
If it weren't for the goodness of God to send someone to speak
a word to me, put a tract in my hand, to be a testimony, an
example, I wouldn't be here today. If it weren't for God's goodness
to me, where would I be today? Where would you be? But for God's
grace and kindness. But we get saved, and then our
lives change. We get cleaned up. We look nice. We act nice. We have a different
community of people. And then suddenly, there are
people out there that are dirty. And sometimes, we want to just
keep them out there, away from us. There are co-workers. There are next door neighbors.
There are supervisors. They're out there. There are
students. They're there all over the place. And we may have these attitudes
against them because of what they do. Oh, I know how that
person lives. I know what they do. I know their
political views. Whatever it is, there's sometimes
things that could keep us or keep them at a distance from
us. And as I mentioned, Jonah was
God's man. God uses instruments. He uses
us. He uses people to proclaim His
Word. He doesn't just send out, He
doesn't like, you know, send out like a, some kind of a thing
in the air. I saw one of these airplanes
flying over with a big old sign. He doesn't send those up there.
Well, some of them are out there doing that too. Maybe put John
3.16 up there. He doesn't do that. He sends
us. The Lord Jesus was the Word become flesh to dwell among us,
to proclaim God to us. He declares God to us. We declare God to men. That's
what we're here for. That's what we should be doing.
Romans 10, 14 and 15 say, How then will they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him
of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless
they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of those who preach the good news." These are people that are going
out to proclaim Christ. We're not talking about evangelists
and pastors, we're talking about believers proclaiming the truth
wherever they go. When there was persecution, we
read this in the book of Acts, after Stephen's death people
just went scattered everywhere telling about Jesus, telling
the gospel. What a privilege we have. What
a wonderful privilege we have being Christians. being children
of God, having the opportunity to say something that is meaningful,
real meaningful. One of the young men was talking
about how he loves languages, and I said to him, as long as
you have something to say, right? If you could proclaim it in Swahili
and you're preaching the gospel, that's wonderful. Well, if you're
just talking about the news or sports, what is that? But we
have something to say, brethren. I know someone was telling me
once when We were talking about people who want to go into missions.
Well, one of the things he said was, well, you've got to have
something to say. You've got to have something. I mean, that
sounds trite, but you do. Do you have something to say?
Do you know Jesus? Do you know him? Is he your life? Do you have something to tell
people? That's what you're here for.
That's what your life's all about. Jesus said, you are the light
of the world. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
in heaven. You are the light of the world.
Jonah was denying that reality. Jonah was the light of the world,
and he was living as if he weren't. And even the sailors believed.
Even the sailors, like a fallout of God's mercy. That's what we are called to
do. That's what we are to be. How will these people hear? I
wonder about that. I've got next-door neighbors.
I'm just getting ready, just starting to get to meet them.
And I'm thinking, I gotta meet them. I gotta know these people.
How will they hear if they're lost? How will they hear? Maybe
I'll find some Christians among them, and somehow we'll be able
to talk about the things of God with others. Maybe we'll start
a Bible study. Maybe something will happen.
I don't know. But how will they hear, brethren, unless we are
out there doing the talking and living And then there are some
of those that are like untouchables to us. We don't want to talk
to them. I met a young man whose brother
was homosexual and he got married. Well, he got whatever you want
to call it. But he refused to go to the wedding on principle. I thought that was a good decision.
He wouldn't go to the wedding. But he wants to do whatever he
can with his brother and this person. without compromising
his faith, but in an effort to win. I don't know how you can
do that. What a challenge that would be. This is your brother
and this other person. Being with them would make me
uncomfortable. And yet this is what this person
wants to do. Brethren, that's kind of what
we need to be doing. There's a lot of uncomfortable things
out there. That's what we need to be doing. When the Lord Jesus
was telling His disciples, when you invite people to a dinner,
don't just invite your friends and your neighbors. They'll invite
you, too. Invite those people that can invite you. Invite the
unclean people. Invite these other people. Jesus
ate with these people. You don't just eat a meal. That's
all you do. You talk. You interact. Brethren,
there are people out there you can do that with. You've got
next door neighbors. You've got co-workers. You've
got people you can get to know. Bring your neighbors a, I don't
know, do you make banana nut bread around here? Bring them
some banana nut bread. Bring them some kind of a meal.
Find out if they're sick. Bring them some soup. That was
great soup we had the other night. Bring them something. Do something
to show them the compassion of God. You know, people hear of
Christians protesting all the time. We're protesting this.
We protest against that decision of the government. We protest
against abortion. We protest against homosexuality.
We protest everything. Why don't we reach those people?
Why don't we find ways to go to those people? To somehow touch
their lives. If you've ever been to a homeless
shelter, you find all kinds of smelly, dirty people. They haven't
taken a bath. They've been drinking maybe.
There's alcohol on their breath. There's all sorts of things that
are distasteful. But you can do that by the grace
of God. We can do that. We can reach those other people. Because I believe this is the
mission of God, to show compassion to the unworthies, to reach those
who didn't deserve it. Can't you just wonder at God's
plan and purpose when he said to Jonah, go to Nineveh, that
great city, and preach the message I have for you to preach to them.
What is God thinking? These are enemies. These are
bad, bad, bad people. God is teaching us something
with that. He's showing us that's just what
I'm all about. Mercy and grace. That's what
grace is. You don't deserve it. They don't
deserve it. Reach out to those people. How
important is our attitude? brethren, to other people, how
it could hinder us, how it could make for opportunities, what
our attitude really means. Well, let me just, you know,
I have a whole lot of things on my mind this morning, but
I want to give you some motives and maybe some things you can
do to cultivate reaching undesirable people. And several motives can
be brought forward to or right in Jonah. the sovereignty of
God. We are called to be lights. We are called to be witnesses,
go into all the world, make disciples of all the nations. We are commanded,
brethren, we must obey, simply, obedience. That should be a motive. Mercy should be a motive. God
says to Jonah in chapter 4, verses 10 and 11, you had mercy on this
plant. And I'm not going to go into
this plant thing, but it But to say it was a temporal thing,
it was not a living soul. But Jonah was so moved with anger
because this temporal vine was destroyed by a worm overnight. But sometimes we get unbalanced. Sometimes we're so concerned
about the whales that get stuck in the ice, and we don't get
concerned about the souls that are perishing. There's an imbalance
here. There's the environment. Yes,
we need to care for environment. Yes, we need to be stewards of
the world God has given us. We need to be that. But we also
have priorities. We have concerns that are all
much more important than those. And that's what God is saying.
Shouldn't I have compassion upon these hundreds of thousands of
souls? And he wasn't even talking about
the really bad ones. He was talking about the babies.
All the little babies, they haven't learned all this bad stuff yet.
There may be future terrorists, but they're not there yet. Well,
maybe they are. They're not there yet. Why shouldn't
I be compassionate? toward those people. Brethren,
every Muslim's not strapped with bombs. They're not all out there
killing people. They're living lives like you
are, day in and day out. They're going to work. They're
living their lives. They've been indoctrinated with false teaching
and they believe that stuff, but they're just living their
lives. They're on farms and they're in workshops. They're people. They need to hear. They need
to hear Christ. Mercy. The gospel of grace. That ought to be compelling enough.
There's no one good. Not one, we're told. Which of
you is good? Which of you can make yourselves
good? None of you. None of us. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
reconcile lost sinners to God. He came to bring us to God. He came to call us to believe
and repent. Repent. You know, if you're homosexual,
you're called to repent, and believe, and be saved. We're
all called to repent. Maybe there's 99 of them out
there that don't think they need repentance, but there may be
one, and God rejoices over one sinner who repents. The pattern
of Christ's behavior and teaching, I don't need to say any more
about that. I've mentioned it already. The Lord Jesus is a
pattern for reaching the lost. Think about the Good Samaritan
and all the stories our Savior told. The pattern of the Apostle
Paul. What did Paul do? He said, I
do all things. I become all things for all men
that by all means I might save some. You know what kind of a
man Paul was? He was a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee,
a religious man. Do you think he didn't have some
issues with unclean things? Don't you think there are some
of the things that he saw people doing would have turned his stomach? Don't you think he felt uncomfortable
as a Pharisee? And yet he was willing to put
some of that stuff aside to reach people. That's what we have to
find a way to do. And just think about their need.
How are they going to hear unless you tell them? I'm not saying
that their salvation depends on you, but how will they hear
unless you tell them? You know people that don't know
Jesus. You've got to tell them. And God's providence, he puts
you in the lives of other people. Sometimes that's very uncomfortable.
Why, Lord, did you introduce me to this person? Why me? Couldn't somebody else be the
one? But I'm the one. I don't like this person. I don't
enjoy being around them. They cuss all the time. They
do this and they do that. Why do I have to be the one?
Well, that's what God plans. He puts you into close proximity
with all kinds of different people. And that's what it's for. That
you might be a light to those people. We need to see ourselves
on mission, all of us. We're all on mission to win people
around us. I'm not saying everybody is a
pastor, everybody's an evangelist, but every one of us is commanded
to be on mission for God in this world. That's the reason why
you're here. Well, some things you can do. I've already mentioned
some of them. First of all, you need to think about what the
Lord Jesus has done to you. We always need to remind ourselves,
don't we? We forget so easily where we
came from and what Jesus has done for us. We need to remind
ourselves over and over and over where we have been and what Jesus
has done. Remember that. and remember and
be humbled by the forgiveness that you have received, the weight
of debt, indebtedness that was on your shoulder that Jesus lifted
and took away. Brethren, there are a lot of
people who don't know anything about that. There are Muslims, they
know nothing about forgiveness of sin, nothing about being free,
set free. But you have been, and you have
something you can say. Brethren, you should educate
yourselves. I didn't ask this question, but I often do ask
it. Since 9-11, since 2001, how many of you have taken the time
to find out and read any books about Islam? How many of you
actually have come to learn some things about Islam since that
time? You've got 10-11 years now. And even since then, we've
had all sorts of reasons why we should be finding out about
Islam and how to reach them. Sometimes I think about, and
I don't know how you all feel about Lord of the Rings, but
I think that the Church, in America particularly, in the United States,
is often like the hobbits in the shire. It's all happening
out there, brethren. There's all this stuff going
on out there, and many of us are oblivious to it. We don't
know. All we do is hear it on the news,
and we have opinions, but we don't know how to reach people. Do you know how to talk to a
Muslim? Do you know how to talk to a
homosexual? Have you tried to find ways to
do that? Or is it your fear or your animosity
toward them keeping you away? Educate yourselves. Read books. Study the scriptures. Follow
the news. Get involved. Subscribe to some
newsletters or prayer letters. Learn about what's going on in
other places. Get involved with things. Participate.
This is, I think, I heard that even around here there's like
an Islamic center. There may be some sort of a an
opportunity where people can actually get to meet with Muslims
just to understand each other. Maybe there'll be even opportunities
to have discussion groups. I know that there were some people
that I know of down in Virginia who actually they would put out
a topic and they'd have They'd be able to come and talk about
it. The person who talked about it could talk until they were
done without anybody interrupting them, and then they would have
discussions afterward on any given topic. Who knows? You may have opportunities like
that, where you could actually bring up things and talk to people.
You know, I found in Turkey, one of the best things was just
to be curious. Why do people do that? You believe that Mohammed
said this or did this? Or why do you think this? Or
you heard something about Jesus. Why do you believe this about
Jesus? Where did you hear that? Ask people why they do what they
do. So how do you go to heaven then?
How is a person in Islam saved? What do you do about sin? I mean,
ask people questions and find out where they're coming from.
I asked these guys once about heaven. I said, Tell me, what's
in heaven? What do you think is in heaven?
And they said, well, holy people and beautiful women and food. And I said, oh, they said prophets. I said, so what about God? Oh
no, no. You know why they said no? Because
Allah is so separate. He's not there. I said if he's
not there, why would I go there? What is there in heaven that
is so attractive if God's not part of it? You ask questions
and you find out where people are coming from and you deal
with them. Participate. Get involved. Find out about
outreach opportunities. Maybe get involved in a mission
opportunity. Maybe you can go to some other
country. I have always invited people to come to Turkey and
visit. Too bad. I came back to America. I don't
have a place for you to stay now. But if I were there, I would
have you in my home. I'd bring you to my neighbors
and other people. I'd bring you to villages. Wherever
you want to go, I'd show you. I'd show you the seven churches.
I'd show you Ephesus. I'd bring you all over. Because
I know once you meet people, once you're touching people,
you're going to get hooked. You'll get hooked. And I hope
you get hooked here. I hope that something happens
to you that you'll meet people right in your own neighborhood.
We've met some Turks since we've been back to America. We just
had dinner with a Turkish family not two weeks ago down in Nashville. And here we are. We have these
different little opportunities. They're here, brethren. You've
heard this before. The nations are here. The nations
are here. You know they are because you
know where they are out here. There are people God has brought
into your lives. We need to pray that God would
help us not to allow attitude to hinder the free flow of the
gospel, to hinder us from talking, to hinder us from living for
Christ in the world we're in. We could be more passionate,
more bold. We could be more alive for Christ
to these people. They could hear. We need to be
the ones that they hear from. We need to find ways. and pray
that God would bless our efforts. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I confess that I am so weak in
being able to even communicate what ought to be communicated
about you, the greatness of your heart, the greatness of your
compassion and mercy. Father, you created everything,
and you specifically created all of humanity that it would
be a reflection of you, image bearers of God. And you ought to be honored and
exalted. As we sang in the hymn, let the
peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. Then
shall the earth yielder increase. Our God, God, our own God will
bless us. Father, we ask for your blessing.
Would you bless this church? Would you bless these brethren
here in Chilliwack? Would you bless their lives,
their witnesses, their their testimonies? Would you bless
each one here? Would you use them please in
this place? Would you make them lights? Would
you make them witnesses for you here? Would you deliver each
one of us from the attitudes that we have, the feelings we
have against or about others? Would you forgive us for wrong
attitudes? And would you help us to to pursue
the lost, to find ways to pursue them, to reach out to them, that
they might believe and might be saved. Father, you are worthy
that there would be a multitude from every tribe and tongue and
people and nation and even every various unnamed group that you
might be glorified. You are worthy. We praise you
this morning. Thank you for meeting with us.
Thank you for bringing us together. May your word be kept upon our
minds and upon our hearts. In Jesus name.
The Prophet on the Run
| Sermon ID | 10141216125010 |
| Duration | 58:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Jonah |
| Language | English |
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