Learning The Hard Way by Chuck Smith

that fascinating story and tonight pastor skip will lead us through the Book of Jonah so we encourage you to read it this afternoon I believe that the Lord has something to say to each one of you in the Book of Jonah now it's probably something different to each one it's a wonderful thing how that we can read the Word of God and it will speak to me and one issue but it will speak to you in a another issue whenever I open the word to read I'm looking for what God has to say to me through this passage that I'm reading today and so as I read through Jonah I say Lord what do you have to say to me in this story of Jonah today speak to me Lord as I read and if you will read with an expectant I know that God will speak to you come tonight and let the Lord speak to you through this Book of Jonah as Pastor skip will be leading us in our study through the book this story of Jonah is a very interesting story and many people have a very hard time swallowing it the story is told of Ingersoll who was a very intellectual man of the last generation he was a about atheist and he was walking through the Central Park in Chicago one day with some of his business associates there was a young girl there who was sharing her witness for Jesus Christ to a small crowd who had assembled around her and he thought he would make sport of her pitting his gigantic intellect against her simple faith in the Bible so as she was sharing her testimony of Jesus Christ he interrupted and he said wait a minute young lady wait a minute are you trying to tell us that you believe that the Bible is the Word of God and she said well yes sir I do believe that the Bible is the Word of God then do you believe that the whole Bible is true well yes if it's in the Bible I do believe it's true well what about that story of Jonah do you actually believe that that story is true that he was swallowed by a whale and for three days and three nights was there in the whale until it vomited him up on the shore she said well sir that is a story in the Bible and I do believe that it actually happened yes it is true he said well what do you think he ate for those three days and three nights she said well the Bible doesn't tell us but when I get to heaven I'll ask him he said Oh what if he's not in heaven she said well then I suggest you ask him but you know people really don't have a problem with the story of Jonah their problem is with their concept of God their concept of God is much too small and it is a small concept of God that will create difficulty with the story of Jonah but if you have a true and right concept of God you should have no problem with the Book of Jonah at all if the God of the Bible was able to create our entire universe all of the life-forms within it surely he could create a whale or a great fish whatever it were to swallow Jonah and to later place him on the shore after journeying for three days and three nights do you believe that men can create a ship and that many men can enter that ship and it can leave port and submerge and go underwater for several days and then surface again and those men can disembark at another port miles away do you believe that actually can happen the man could actually build such a ship you say well of course you know we've had some reasons now for many years oh then you actually believe that man has a greater capacity than God if man can create such a vessel why should it be difficult for God to create such a vessel a little boy came home from sunny school and his mother said well what did you learn in sunny school today he said all the teacher taught us about a prophet named Jonah God called him to go to Nineveh but he'd want to so he went down and he got his ship to go away from God and to escape from God so that he wouldn't have to go to Nineveh but there was a big storm and after they had thrown everything off of the ship they found him fast asleep down in the hold of the ship and so he said fellas it's my fault throw me over and the storm will all subside so they threw him over and just at that time a submarine surfaced and the captain ordered the crew to bring him on board and they submerged again and the submarine took off for the area of Assyria and deposited Jonah on the shores near Assyria the mother said are you sure that that's the way the teacher told you the story he said well no that's not quite the way she told me but if I told you the story like she told me you wouldn't believe it it is interesting how people seem to have a difficult time believing that God can do all of the things that the Bible said that he can do but it's because they have a problem with their concept of God the story tells us that God did prepare a large fish surely that should it be something that we would have difficulty with we look at the large animals and all that God has created and surely he could create a special fish for this purpose but it's not the only miracle in the story of Jonah in chapter 1 verse 4 we read that as he was on this ship that a great storm God raised up a great wind and there was a mighty temper first verse five tells us that in the storm Jonah was fast asleep down in the hold of the ship I'd say that's sort of a miracle to be able to be in a little shame this huge storm and be sleeping down in the hole verse 7 tells us that when they were reluctant to throw Jonah overboard they cast lots to see whose fault this storm was and the lot fell on Jonah in verse 15 has said that they cast Jonah into the sea and immediately there was a great calm the storm was over verse 17 of course God prepared the great fish to swallow Jonah and then chapter 2 verse 10 the Lord spoke to the fish it vomited Jonah on dry land another miracle is the response of the people of Nineveh to the preaching of Jonah he was a bitter man he wasn't a loving prophet but he was angry he hated the job that God had called him to do and he had only one monotonous message in 40 days you're going to be destroyed and he said it was sort of a smack of the lips good riddance forty days comes destruction the miracle is that they repented at this preaching of Jonah there was no promise that if you repent God will be merciful there was no hope in the message that he gave he didn't talk about a God of love but only a God who in 40 days was going to bring judgment upon them and yet they repented at the preaching of Jonah no wonder Jesus said the men of Nineveh will rise in this generation with this generation and they will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold the greater than Jonah is here in the story we do read in chapter 4 verse 6 that God prepared a gourd grew up overnight and gave the shade to Jonah from the hot Sun in verse 7 it says that God prepared a worm that ate the gourd and his shelter was taken away and so in the story God has prepared a great fish God has prepared a gourd God has prepared a worm the problem with Jonah is that he was a true patriot Assyria of which Nineveh was the capital of Assyria were a very the Assyrians were very cruel people it is known from history that when they would capture a city they would physically mutilate the inhabitants of that city they would gouge out an eye they would cut off their ears they would cut out their tongues they would cut off their noses and they were extremely cruel and they were a threat to Israel they were a threat to invade Israel and so God saying go and preached to nineveh jonah being a true patriot loving israel and knowing the cruelty of the Assyrians decided no way am I going to go to Nineveh no way will I preach to them because I know God I know that he is loving I know that he is merciful I know that he's gracious and if I preach to them I might be successful they might believe they might repent and God won't destroy them and he wanted to see them destroyed and so that's why he decided that he would escape the call of God he would run from the presence of God rather than going to Nineveh he would go as far from Nineveh as was humanly possible and that would be Tarsus Tarsha was the other end of the world as far as the world was concerned beyond that the vast Atlantic Ocean and no one knew where that might lead and so he was going to go to the furthest place possible humanly possible at that time he would go to Tarsus and hide from the call of God upon his heart when note when Jonah was successful and the people did repent we read in chapter 3 verse 10 God saw their works they turned from their evil way and yet God did not do the evil that he had said that he would do to them and Jonah was exceedingly displeased and very angry angry at success in the ministry and he prayed him to the Lord and said oh Lord isn't this exactly what I said when I was still in my country this is the reason I tried to flee to Tarshish because I knew that you're a gracious God and merciful you're slow to anger and of great kindness and I felt you would turn from destroying them now therefore O Lord kill me for I'd rather die than live Jonah is not a happy camper he was too successful in the ministry now Jonah through a very miserable time and experience learned an important lesson a lesson that we all need to know a lesson that you as Jonah can learn the hard way or you can learn it an easy way just believe it because God said it Jonah tells us the lesson that he learned there in chapter 2 verse 8 they that observe lying vanities forsake their mercies that's an important truth that we all need to know if you are believing a lie then you're only forsaking what's best for you your own mercies what were the lies that Jonah was believing well he was believing that he could run from the call of God upon his life God said go to Nineveh that great city and he headed for Tarsus that last outpost of the known world trying to escape from the call of God upon his life it's a lie to think that you can escape the call of God on your life the Bible tells us that the callings of God are without repentance he doesn't change you can't escape it secondly he felt that he can escape from the presence God sort of thinking that God was localized this is the land of God if I can get to Tarsus I can be far away from God evidently he didn't know or didn't believe the psalm of David in Psalm 139 where David said where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence if I ascend into heaven you're there if I make my bed in hell behold you are there if I take the wings of the morning and I dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea which Jonah was attempting to do even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will hold me another lying vanity is that he felt he knew what was best for him he knew better than God what was best for him thought that he could fight against God's will and win the prophet Jonah has to be a very stubborn man he decided he was not going to obey the call of God to go to Nineveh he was seeking to get as far away from Nineveh as was humanly possible he'd rather just be there in that far outpost of the world than to obey the command of God when he was on the ship he told the fellas throw me over and things will be okay I would rather die he is saying here in the Mediterranean I'd rather drown than obey the command of God I won't go to Nineveh I'll drown before I go to Nineveh and stubbornly he allowed them to throw him overboard I'd rather be dead than to obey God but God wasn't through with him God prepared this great fish and it swallowed Jonah now the conditions must have been extremely miserable if it were indeed a whale that was a mammal the temperature would be 98.6 the humidity would be humongous he was probably very seasick the stench must have been atrocious the whale was diving into the depths and surfacing saltwater slopping over him the seaweed wrapped around his head and he sat there he actually said he thought he was in Hell probably felt like that with the heat and humidity and and just the misery but the amazing thing to me is that he sat in those miserable conditions for three days saying I'll not go I don't care I'm not going three days to break him it says and after three days Jonah prayed unto the Lord took in three days before he prayed figuring I guess I'm gonna stay in this thing forever or you know I'd better go and get out so God broke him Jona describes his own experiences there in Chapter two he said to God you've cast me into the deep into the midst of the Seas the floods compassed me about all of your bills and your waves passed over me then I said I'm cast out of thy sight yet I will look toward thy holy temple the waters compassed me about even to the soul the depth closed me round about in the sea we was wrapped around my head I went down to the bottom of the mountains and the earth with her bars was about me forever but there he learned a lesson learned it the hard way to be sure but he learned that they that observe lying vanities make it tough on themselves they forsake their own mercies the question are you observing a lying vanity today do you think that you can run from God do you think that you can hide from God do you think that your plan for your life is better than the plan that God has for your life are you resisting the voice of the Holy Spirit that speaks to your heart and seeks to guide you in God's path if you are you're only making it hard on yourself you're only headed for misery discomfort you're inviting trouble to your life because you are the one who is going to suffer the most if you seek to run from God you're running from your ultimate good you're forsaking your own mercy what God wants for you is the best thing that could ever happen to you God said to Jeremiah I know my thoughts toward you they are not evil they are good I have a great future for you and the wisest thing any of us can do is just to submit ourselves we may not understand what God is calling us to do but if we will be obedient we will discover the best that could ever happen to us doing God's will God is merciful Jonah knew that God is gracious Jonah knew that God will forgive those that repent Jonah knew that that's why he didn't want to go he wanted to see the Assyrians destroyed rather than be forgiven their iniquities God is a merciful God one of the characteristics don't we read it in the Bible over and over how did the mercies of God endure for ever and ever remember when David had committed that terrible sin and transgression he began his prayer saying have mercy upon me O God according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions and I can assure you today God is merciful and if you will call upon him he will blot out your transgressions maybe you've been trying to run from God or hide from the call of God upon your life but if you will just surrender you'll find that God will use you and God will bless you and ultimately you'll discover it's the best thing that ever happened to you is submitting to God's will and not to do is to forsake the best life you could possibly have up to you you can learn this lesson that Jonah learned by just believing it or you can learn it the hard way and you can have your own whale experience if that's what it'll take to bring you around but I always say make it easy on yourself just accept it you can't hide from God you can't escape from God sooner or later you're going to meet God and you'll meet him as an enemy or as a friend it's up to you father we thank you for this story that teaches us so many important lessons the chief of them being that if we are observing a lying vanity we are forsaking our own mercies the good that you have and desire for us and so may we Lord surrender ourselves to your will and your plan and purpose for our lives in Jesus name we pray amen shall we stand the passengers are down here at the front to minister you to you today who sort of say wow I'm a Jonah you

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Keywords: Chuck, Smith, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

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Length: 29min 7sec (1747 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2009