When God calls you to perform a duty, do you find yourself running toward him or running from him?
Well, the prophet Jonah ran away. and his epic failure became one of the Bible's most unforgettable stories. This isn't your typical Sunday school tale about a man and a big fish. The book of Jonah contains an honest look at what happens when we fight against God's will. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl reveals how Jonah's rebellion reflects our own.
Through his mistakes, we'll discover four powerful truths that could transform our relationship with God forever. We've been spending our time. Through these several messages through These 48 verses And we have carefully allowed the scriptures to speak for themselves. That we might learn from them. I see these lessons as being backdoor deliveries.
in the book of Jonah. Chapter 1 seems to teach us this. Any attempt to escape from the Lord is an act of futility. Jonah's attempt was uh Amazing.
Soon as he heard, go to Nineveh. He made plans to go to Tarshish, opposite direction. His escape was immediate. Not delete. It was brash.
Not subtle. It was deliberate, not uncertain. He knew exactly what he was doing. I'm out of here. Any attempt to escape from the Lord is an act of futility.
So Jonah ran, wound up in the belly of the fish, and. Of all places It is the one spot where Jonah at least for a few moments did something right. He called on God. Of all places out of the innards of this fish.
So here's the lesson I get from chapter two: any time and any place. We call on the Lord. is an acceptable time and place. It was in the fish. He finally.
at least for a brief period, surrendered. And then we get to the third chapter, and it's It's an amazing chapter. Jonah finally given a second chance. He walks into the city of Nineveh. He announces God's message.
And even though in his heart He's hoping they won't believe it because he wants them all killed. His racial prejudice is so severe. He hates these Gentiles he's talking to. But he's delivering the message God gave him to give. to the people.
Forty days and you'll be destroyed. Forty days and you'll be destroyed. Perhaps he amplified it here and there in places, but that's the core of his message. That was the message God would have him give. And God used the message even though he was out of sorts.
in his own life. Even though he preached with the wrong motive. God uses message, which gives us this lesson. Lesson number three. Any person who is willing to deliver God's message.
is a messenger God is willing to use. Frankly, I think I'm safe in saying God isn't that particular with who his voice box would be. He has used some amazing voice boxes. Over time. Jonah is a classic example.
The man is prejudiced, the man is angry, the man delivers the message with the wrong motive. The man is looking at these people not with love but with hatred. He's hoping for the worst, and God has planned for them the best. And he's faithful to deliver what God gave him to say. And the people Amazingly, took it to heart.
Change the direction of their lives. and went through a process rather quickly of repenting. They had been moving in one direction, they're now moving in the other, thanks to the message. that Jonah delivered to them. God's willing to use Even a soiled prejudiced Hateful messenger.
If he will deliver his message. May I testify personally? There have been times in my life when I've been physically ill. But it's been my responsibility to stand and deliver. And even though physically sick I've delivered a message, sometime with a fever.
sometime not knowing it, but fighting a disease. That I was in the process of coming down with. And God blessed the message. though the messenger was weak and Really should it should have not even been here. But Here I was.
weak and ill But delivering what needed to be said.
Sometimes I've been out of sorts and struggling. And yet I was required to deliver his message. And I delivered it.
Sometimes I wasn't at peace. And of all things, the message may have been about peace.
So I spoke of peace, which may not have been at that time true in my own life. struggling over issues that I was working through or trying to get on top of But I'm not the center of the message. He is. The only thing he needs from me is a voice. And if I deliver it, he says.
He will bless it. And I'll say the same for any one of you. You will be in places I will never be. You will have opportunities I will never have.
So let me say to you. Speak. Tell the truth. Say it graciously. Say it lovingly as best you can, but deliver.
the truth to those who need to hear it. And I've just described the great majority of our world. that is at odds with itself. as all of us know. When you get to the fourth chapter of Jonah, you uh come to a convoluted man.
He finds himself in the midst of a revived people. Who are in the process of repenting, changing their wicked ways because of what he told them. though he didn't want them to change. And he of all things is now witnessing That God has changed his plan from destroying them to blessing them. He can't stand it.
You remember our time in this last chapter. Builds a little shelter to get alone to Uh Sort of Pitcher fit. And uh he he does that and The Lord's plan is unfolding and he can't stop it. And the sun's beating down on him, and a gourd grows quickly and covers him with its shade. And he gets all grateful for that now that he's a little more comfortable.
And then the Lord sends a worm. It almost makes you smile when you read the story. Kills the plant and takes away the shade, and Jonah is left with a hot sun, and then there's a Hot wind that blows on him. He's really out of sorts. And by now, he's just saying to the Lord, just kill me, just take my life.
I can't stand where I am or what's happening all around me. And uh but the Lord doesn't. Oh, he could have. He could have at any moment taken him, but he chose not to. He let him live.
And the lesson we learn from all of this. Here it Any desire we have that is in conflict. With the plan God desires. requires that we change our Desire.
Sounds like a tongue twister.
So I'll give it to you again. Any desire we have that is in conflict with the plan God desires. requires a change in our desire. Which again, Jonah Missed. You know what he didn't realize?
Let me just level with you. It's pretty basic to life. He forgot who the potter was. and who the clay was. There's a great little chapter in Jeremiah, as I'll recall it as chapter 18, where the Lord describes to the Prophet Jeremiah.
The scene. In fact, he took him to the scene where there was a Potter sitting in a wheel. working on a vase. Or some object out of clay And then he tells Jeremiah as he looks at it. to remember The Lord is the potter We are the clay.
The Lord is the Master. We are the servants. How easy to forget that. You don't learn that out of school. You don't learn it even in higher learning.
You don't learn it in the corporate world. You don't learn it in the medical field. You don't learn it if you're pursuing law. You won't learn it. From the courtroom You won't even.
learned in many seminaries. Because it works against our human nature. We like being in charge. That really is Jonah's Number one problem. He couldn't call the shots.
And he wouldn't yield to the one who had the right to call him. And you know what? That's why the man lived a life that was so unhappy. discontented and ungrateful. That's the main message of the book of Jonah.
Not until we accept the fact that God is God and we are not. Will we ever be obedient? contented Joyful and grateful. People.
Now, um I have something I want to read for you. or to you. Because I believe this kind of information hits some people totally out of the blue. I feel I need to go back a little bit and explain something. God is on a pursuit.
to bring us all. In submission to him. I finally got that. After all these years. I finally got it.
He wants us to live lives that are in submission to him. He wants us to learn what we learned to say in the military. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He wants us to go where he tells us to go and He wants us to do what he is leading us to do.
It's pretty simple. And when we don't do that, God has ways of Shall we say, turning up the heat? intensifying his efforts.
Some of us have lived long enough to tell our own stories about such. experiences where we learn the hard way. That he means business. This is not just sermon material. This is truth to live by.
Could it be that your life is unhappy and filled with discontent? And ingratitude because you simply. Will not submit. to the one who made you. And want you to walk with him.
So, the piece I'm going to read to you is a piece. Written by A. W. Tozer, titled The hammer The file And the furnace. I want every one of you to listen very carefully.
And with this reading I Close my message. with a final thought. It was the enraptured Rutherford. Who could shout in the midst of serious and painful trials? Praise God for the hammer.
The file And the furnace. The hammer is a useful tool. But the nail If it had. feeling and intelligence could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only.
As an opponent, A brutal Merciless enemy who lives to Tound it into submission. To beat it down out of sight. to clench it into place. That is the nail's view of the hammer. And it's accurate.
Except for one thing. The nail tends to forget That both it and the hammer are servants of the same workmen. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held. By the workman, and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose head shall be beaten next, and what hammer shall be used in the beating.
That is the sovereign right of the carpenter. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman, And has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future. It will yield to the hammer without complaint. The file is more painful still. For its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges until it has shaped.
the metal to its will. Yet the file has, in truth, no real will in the matter. But serves another master as the metal also does. It is the master and not the file. That decides how much shall be eaten away, what shape the metal shall take.
and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the metal accept the will of the master. And it will not try to dictate. When or how It shall be filed. As for the furnace, it is the worst of all.
Ruthless and savage. It leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury. Until it has reduced it all to shapeless masses. and ashes. All that refuses to be burned is melted.
to a mass of helpless matter. without will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted that will melt, And all is burned that will burn. Then and not until then. The furnace calms down and rests.
from its destructive Fury. Rutherford realized With divine wisdom. That there was a reason to give God praise. for his work in his life. In bringing the hammer The file.
and when necessary the furnace. I speak with compassion when I say. to all of us. None of this is pleasant. Learning to submit as adults.
is a painful procedure. It's hard enough when we're younger growing up. But when adults who have gone our own way. called our own shots. demanded Our own will.
Forged our own plan. And then come to realize It has all led to a stubborn, independent individual. Who not only can hardly get along with others, we can hardly get along with ourselves. And if we want to live lives that are Joyful and contented and obedient. And satisfying.
We will acknowledge that the God is God. And we are not. I plead with you. Especially you who are among the most stubborn. In this audience, whoever you may be.
wherever you may be in life. Stop now. And yield to the one. who is going to have his way. In your life.
One way. or the other. He will. I'd like you to bow your heads, please. Our time is up.
Just very quietly sit right there. It is one thing to go through the book of Jonah. It's another thing to allow it to go through us. It is one thing to see the lessons Jonah did not learn. It's another thing to learn them.
For ourselves. If you have never in your life Trusted In the Lord Jesus Christ. As your Savior, your Master, Now is the time. It all begins at the cross. For you believe in him.
whom to know is life everlasting. By doing so, you will not have an instant. Overnight Success story. But you'll begin a journey. That will start with your being forgiven.
Placed in the family of God. and graciously accepted as one of his own sons and daughters. And in that position, you will know the joy of. Answered prayer. The pleasure of Seeing the work of your hands fulfilling.
His plan for your life. And watching a whole direction take place. That's never been true before. But it begins with your coming to Christ. Just a simple prayer.
I now trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. as my Saviour. I take him. I turn away from myself. I leave behind a life marked by Stubborn independence.
And I repent from that as I turn toward. Him Thank you for the hammer, the file, the furnace, that has brought me to this place.
Now help me to grow. As I learned to walk with you. If we can help you in that journey, that's the reason we are. We are here as a church. We are here as a ministry.
Nothing would thrill us more than to Help you on your way. Toward a walk with Christ.
Now, our Father, we commit to you. As these words linger, And the sermon ends. We commit to you our thoughts. our lives. Enable those who have never trusted in you.
Your son Jesus to do so.
Now. That you might begin a work in their lives. It's truly remarkable. turn them in the direction they've wanted to be going didn't know how to get there. and help us to be.
open accepting and willing to assist. in their walk with you. Thank you in advance. for the things you will do. Through the things we have heard, and hopefully the things we have learned this day.
Through Christ. I pray this. Never one said, Amen. Amen. And with his closing prayer, Chuck Swindahl concludes an in-depth study on the life and times of Jonah, the reluctant prophet.
You're listening to Insight for Living. And as we wrap up this nine-part teaching series that started just over a month ago, We'd like to give you one more opportunity to request the study tools that go along with Chuck's presentation. Insight for Living has prepared a Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook for this nine-part series. It uses the same methodology that Chuck uses to prepare his sermons. This resource comes in our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study format.
It allows you to dig deeper into Jonah's story on your own time. It's also the perfect choice for your church's small group study or in a classroom setting. Plus, Insight for Living offers all of Chuck's messages for this study on Jonah on CD or MP3.
So feel free to reach out and request any of these resources today at insight.org/slash offer. Or call us at 800-772-8888. On tomorrow's broadcast, Chuck will introduce our next study together. It's a verse-by-verse exploration of Paul's epic letter to the Romans. The New Testament book of Romans defines the theological tenets of our Christian faith.
and Chuck's series will help you grasp these essential doctrines as perhaps never before. For a limited time, Insight for Living is providing the first chapter of Chuck's commentary on Romans to all of our monthly companions as a thank you gift for your support. The PDF is also available to anyone who signs up to become a monthly companion today. You can read the PDF on your mobile device or computer or feel free to print it out and share the chapter with friends. A monthly companion is someone who agrees to give an automated monthly donation in the amount of your choosing.
To become a monthly companion today, call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/slash monthly companion. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chucksmindahl introduces our next study in the book of Romans, Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Lessons Learned from a Stubborn Preacher, was copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated.
All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
