Two Ships - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise!

The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace! This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Holy Spirit, lead us, we pray. We need thy guidance all through the day. If thou but teach us to know thy grace, We follow gladly and sing thy praise. I want to thank all of you who have been so good to help with the support of the program during these challenging summer months. We're thankful for your prayers and for your interest in keeping the program on the air. You can contact us by writing Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

Or you can go to our website and make a donation there at baptistbiblehour.org. We read in the scriptures about two ships. Both were in a great storm. The passengers on both ships were full of fear.

They were feeling hopeless as the storm raged. But the passengers were traveling under distinctly different circumstances. One passenger was in the storm because he was disobedient.

The passengers on the other ship were obedient, following the command of Jesus. But nevertheless they were in a storm. We read about the first one in Jonah chapter 1 verse 3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. And then the second one, Matthew chapter 14 verse 22. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitude away. In Mark chapter 6 verse 47 it says, And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray, and he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them. And talking about the same event in John chapter 6 verse 18 it says, And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.

So first let's think about the experience of Jonah. He was a prophet of God and God commanded him to go deliver a message in Nineveh. He didn't want to go there.

They were Gentiles. He had no concern for them, no compassion for them. They were a very wicked people and he just basically didn't want to go. And so he decided he would move in another direction, goes down to the port and find that there's a ship going to Tarshish. Now he was obviously in a confused state of mind because it says he rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord. Being a prophet down deep he knew that was an impossibility. We know that he had correct views theologically because when the storm was raging and he was asleep down in the ship, and the captain of the ship had to wake him up and say, Everybody is deeply concerned about our welfare.

What are you doing down here asleep? And they cast lots and determined that he was the problem passenger. So they asked him to identify himself and in verse 9 he said unto them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of heaven which made the sea and the dry land. He knew that the God that he reportedly was serving was the true and living God, the God who is the creator, the God who had made the very sea upon which this boat was traveling.

So to believe that, to believe that God is the creator, certainly he would understand you cannot hide from God. You cannot run away from him. But at this given moment he was so determined to go in another direction that he thought I can get by with it. Why else would he do it? Why else would he pay the fare on this ship to go in the opposite direction?

But in the state of a confused mind he thought somehow this will work out. Certainly the wicked always live under that false impression. Of course there are many that deny the very existence of God. But just because a person doesn't believe in God doesn't mean that God goes away. God is still on the throne and men are still accountable to him.

But then even those who believe in God have the mistaken idea that he doesn't observe all their actions. Psalm 94 verse 5, They break in pieces thy people, O Lord. That is the wicked attack the people of God, breaking them in pieces and afflict thine heritage.

Then verse 7, Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. We can get by with this. We can attack his people. We can break them in pieces. We can devastate the land. We can do what we please and nothing is going to befall us.

Because even the God of Jacob, the God that these people profess to worship will not regard it. He's not going to do anything about it. Now even God's children can temporarily forget that God sees everything we do. He knows our actions. He hears our words. He knows our thoughts. He knows our motives.

We all know that. But on a temporary basis, even one who is a child of God may forget it. Or somehow convince themselves that this situation is different. Somehow I'm going to be able to move in the direction I want to go.

It may not be great, it may not be the best, but under these circumstances I think I've got to go that way anyhow. And somehow the Lord will understand. I've had people sometime in conversations say, I hope the Lord will forgive me for saying this and then go on to say something anyway.

Well if you know in advance it's the wrong thing, how can you perceive the thought that somehow it's going to turn out alright? Psalm 11 verse 4. The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

Here then is a plain fact. The Lord's in his holy temple, but he's not ignoring what's going on here on earth. His throne is in the heaven, but his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

When there's a temptation to sin, at that moment the desire to do what a person wants to do is so intense that they forget about this truth that God sees. David was a man that loved God, described as a man after God's own heart. He wrote so many beautiful psalms, expressed in detail how greatly he loved the Lord. And yet when he was overcome by lust, he saw Bathsheba. He had her brought to the palace. He committed adultery with her.

He arranged to have her husband die on the battlefield when the troops withdrew from him. Do you think in that terrible ordeal that David was mindful that God is watching? That God sees what's going on? God knows about this lust that has taken over and controlled this man. God sees the details of all of his actions. Certainly there may have been something down deep inside, some still small voice speaking to him, some deep conviction that I'm on the wrong path, but he pursued it.

Think about your own experience. Your sin may not have been as great as David's, but whatever your sin, at the time you're sinning you're not thinking about the fact that God is watching, that his eyes are open. In fact there may be things that you do or have done, things that you would say, and you young people wouldn't want your parents to know about it.

Or things that you've done and if a family member or friend were to observe it, you'd be horrified, I want to keep this secret, I don't want them to know about it. And then all the while God sees, God knows. It just reveals that we don't really have the fear of God that we ought to have. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

That's a fear of awesome respect because of who God is. And so David suffered terrible consequences. He didn't forgive him, but there was a disruption in his family. All of his sons turned against him and tried to take over the kingdom.

The little baby that was born with Bathsheba died. All kinds of troubles ensued because he was overtaken with the lust of the flesh and forgot that God was observing. When Peter denied the Lord, he certainly wasn't thinking about what would follow. He'd been with Jesus throughout the years of his ministry. He had some marvelous, remarkable experiences with Jesus. He'd been with him on the Mount of Transfiguration. He had seen that tremendous sight as the glory of Jesus was displayed even in his humanity. He had heard him preach.

He had personal interaction with him on a daily basis. But obviously when he denied Jesus, he wasn't thinking. He wasn't thinking about the implication.

He wasn't thinking about what this meant. Luke chapter 22 verse 60. This makes the third person that has said to Peter, I believe you're a follower of Jesus. Jesus had been arrested. He was going to soon be crucified.

Peter was stricken with fear. If I'm identified with Jesus, I'm probably going to die also. So he says, Man, I know not what thou sayest. This third person says, I'm confident you're a follower of Jesus. Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. Denying Jesus.

Publicly declaring, I do not know this man. And immediately while he spake, the cock grew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. When Peter was so vehemently declaring, I don't know this man, he was not thinking about what it would be for Jesus to look him in the eye. He wasn't thinking about the heartbreak that he would endure as a result of this denial of this great sin. The Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

And Peter went out and wept bitterly. And there have been times in your life when you've said things, you've done things, you just were not thinking about the consequences. You weren't thinking about the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. You weren't thinking about the fact that you were grieving the Holy Spirit at the time.

But when you came to your senses and you saw what you had done, you went out and wept bitterly. How many times have you denied the Savior? Never to say to somebody, oh, I don't believe in him anymore. I don't think Jesus is who he claimed to be. He's not my Savior.

You haven't done that. But by your actions, by the way you've lived, by the way you've conducted yourself, would somebody really say that person is a follower of Jesus? I know that person is a Christian because I can see the qualities. I can see the fruit of the Spirit.

I can see the evidence in them. But you lived in such a way that you denied him. And so Jonah has convinced himself in some fashion that he can board this ship, go in the opposite direction, deny his God, refuse to do what God tells him to do, and it's going to somehow work out. It just shows you how confused a person can become in their thinking when they're not listening to what God says and doing what God says to do. At this point, Jonah wanted to quit his work. He was designated a prophet. But his attitude was, if this is what a prophet's got to do, I don't want to be a prophet anymore.

I don't want to have to undertake this task. Nineveh was a big city. It was a three-day journey to get there.

Very wicked city. He may well have been intimidated by the thought of even going there. If my assignment is to go to that city and call on those people to repent, I'm one little prophet and there are thousands of wicked people in that city. It seems useless to go. I don't want to go. He reveals that certainly by his determination not to go and to go in another direction.

He wanted to quit. What about you? You're not a prophet, but if you're a believer, if you're a professed Christian, you have a task in front of you. You have a responsibility to live a godly life. You have an obligation to be a witness and to hold forth the word of life.

You have an obligation to think about others, pray for others, minister to others. But you can reach a point that the way is so difficult you say, I give up. I'm ready to quit.

What's the use? The task is too great. Maybe you've tried to minister to somebody. You've tried to help them. You've prayed for them. You've prayed with them. You've admonished them. You've instructed them. But as time goes on, you've seen no evidence of change.

And you say, what's the use? Maybe it's all me. I'm ineffective. I don't say the right things. My prayers are just not heard.

I give up. Maybe laboring with a wayward child. Parents so often struggle with that problem. How long do we hang on? When do we reach the point that we tell a rebellious child, you've got to pack up and leave. You can't stay here if you're not going to live by the rules of the house.

How often do we reach out to support them when they have disappointed us so many times? Those struggles can bring you to the place of such great discouragement, you would say with Jonah, I'm ready to quit. Perhaps you're struggling with your own sinful nature. I've had people say in a counseling situation, I've tried over and over again to overcome this sin. I've prayed for God to take the desire away from me.

But I continued to fail. I just don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe I'm not a Christian. Maybe I'm not a true believer. Maybe I haven't had an experience of grace.

A person that's a true Christian ought to be able to do better than I am doing. And forget about the fact that this is warfare. This is a battle in which we're engaged. Satan is our adversary, a roaring lion seeking whom it may devour. That's the reason we're told in Ephesians chapter 6 to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil. Though one is born of the Holy Spirit and they have a new nature and Christ dwells in you the hope of glory, the old Adam nature is not eradicated.

It's still there. It raises its ugly head. There's still that tendency to go in the wrong direction. So it is a battle and a battle that you cannot successfully win on your own. You must turn to the Lord for grace and help and mercy and turn to his word for guidance and praying that the Spirit of God will make it live within you and apply it in your life. And then Jonah was lacking in compassion. Yes, the people of Nineveh were very wicked. They were Gentiles, which this Jewish prophet had no compassion for to start with. But he would rather see them suffer the justice of God than to enjoy his mercy. In his mind, these people deserve to die.

They deserve the wrath of God. And he wanted to see judgment meted out. Jonah chapter four, verse one. After he did arrive, after he did deliver the message, called upon them to repent, they repented.

That's a remarkable thing, that the whole city would be affected by this message. Obviously, it had to be the working of God to bring this about, but they repented. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repentance to thee of the evil.

Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. I talk about somebody who's dug his heels in and said, I knew what I was talking about. I don't like this outcome. There may have been a number of factors in it. It's obvious that he did not want to see mercy bestowed upon these guilty, notable sinners. He might have also been a little concerned about his reputation. What's going to happen if I go up here and say, judgment's coming, judgment's coming, and then it doesn't come because these people repent, I'm going to kind of look bad.

They're going to say that. God didn't know what he was talking about. For whatever reason, he is extremely upset. He is very angry. And he's talking to God about how angry he is. O Lord, before I ever came here, I told you my concern. I know that you're a gracious God, that you're merciful, you're slow in anger. Lord, the way this whole thing's turned out, I am upset.

I am angry. And it's better for me to die. Lord, just take me on.

I'm going to die. Now, when one gets in that plight, they're obviously in an extremely dark, low place. Not long ago, we brought the message about Elijah when he was in the same position, when he had run from Queen Jezebel when she had threatened to kill him. He gets out there under the juniper tree, lays down and says, O Lord, take me on.

How confused is that thinking? Running at a distance of 17 miles, running for his life because he didn't want Jezebel to kill him. And then when he gets out in the woods, Lord, kill me. Take me on. And here's Jonah saying, Lord, I want to die. Now, hopefully you've never been quite at that low place, but maybe some of you have.

Maybe some of you have been to the place and just say, what's the use? Life's just full of trouble. Nothing works out for me. I'm a big nothing. Lord, just take me on. Now in my praise, eternal King, be all my thoughts employed. While of this precious truth I sing, cast down but not destroy. Cast down but not destroy. Cast down but not destroy. While of this precious truth I sing, cast down but not destroy.

Well, we've seen that there were two prophets that reached a very low place in their life. And yet in that time of darkness, there was eventually hope to be found in the Lord. And if I speak to someone today who is struggling in a very dark place, I point you to the one who can help and invite you to call upon him that he will answer. Till we greet you at the same time next week, may the Lord richly bless you all.

In all the past through which I've passed, what mercies I've enjoyed. And this shall be my song at last, cast down but not destroy. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

That's The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. But not destroy. When I with God in heaven not fear, then shall I hear my door. Destroy shall be my sin and fear, and I cast down no more. And I cast down no more.