Dr. Michael Youssef and a famous disobedient prophet named Jonah. Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with Dr. Youssef and Leading the Way when you download and use the Leading the Way app.
Learn more ways to connect at ltw.org. You know, the life of Jonah is one of those fun and exciting Bible teachings. It's also a look at how God dealt with disobedience and rebellion. Now, if you disobey God, a big fish is probably not on the way to swallow you up. But God may use a life circumstance to point a finger in your face, challenging you to change something in your life.
Here now is Dr. Michael Youssef continuing his series called Biblical Compassion on Leading the Way. Have you ever been in a situation where you've tried to ignore the voice of God and the Word of God? You see, most Christians do not deliberately, openly, defiantly disobey God. There are some who do, but there are very few. There are very few who would say, God, I know what you want me to do and I'm not going to do it.
There are very few of those. I think most Christians basically turn a deaf ear to what God is saying to them if they don't like what God is saying. Most Christians pretend they're not hearing God even though he'll be talking to them. Most Christians, they try to pretend that they do not understand the Scripture when they know it is applying specifically to the situation they're in.
You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about being in a situation when you knew clearly what the Word of God is saying, but because you don't like it, you pretend you're not hearing. You pretend that you're not listening. Only those of us who have been there know the consequences of turning a deaf ear to the voice of God and the Word of God.
To some, of course, these consequences may not surface for a long, long time, but make no mistake about it, surfacing it will. Only those of us who have been there know the overwhelming grace of God when we repent and turn to him and walk on the road to obedience and make good on our vows to the Lord. Maybe there's somebody who's listening to me who is adamant about doing his thing or doing her thing and not listening to the voice of God. And God has been sending you one signal after another, one prodding after another, one voice after another, one warning after another, including this one.
And God is patiently waiting for your response. Now we saw in the last message that there are only two types of Christians. There are those who are traveling with the will of God and there are those who are traveling against the will of God.
We saw that in the last message. We saw that Jonah decided to travel against the will of God. We saw that when you travel against the will of God, several things happen. Number one, you pay the fare in full. Number two, you never complete the journey.
Number three, you never get a refund. But when you travel with the will of God, the Lord pays the full fare and you always complete your journey. Jonah, instead of going east as God told him to go to Assyria, he went down and got a ticket on a boat that was traveling to Spain, which is the end of the world back then as they knew it. As far away west from east where God has sent him, but all the hound of heaven was watching him. The hound of heaven was not giving up on him. Look at verse four of chapter one in the book of Jonah. And the Lord hurled the great wind on the sea that there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.
Let me stop here and ask you a question. Do you know why God does not give up the pursuit of his children? I mean, do you understand that God just does not give up? Do you know why God doesn't just sit in heaven and say, oh my, he wandered away from my will, can't do anything about it, I'm sorry about that? Well, he went against my word, she went against my word, I'm dumping them, I'm gonna get somebody else. Do you know why God doesn't, let me give you a hint.
Before you answer the question to yourself, I'll give you some hints. I can tell you on the authority of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation that God never dumps his own. God never lets a true Christian loses his or her salvation, never. God never lets one of his own sheep fall into the abyss, never. In fact, in John chapter 6 verse 39, Jesus said, those whom the Father has given me, of them I will lose none. None, not one of the Lord's inheritance will ever be lost.
Now back to the question, since I've given you the hint. Why does God pursue his children? Let me tell you something, if God is not pursuing you and you're living for self and living for yourself, chances are you're not a child of God. And you need to become a child of God today.
Because God loves you so, because he loves you so much, because his love is indescribable, because his love has no end, because God's love is wide and deep, because of that he will not let one of his own fall. There's no clearer explanation of that love of God that will not let go like it is here in the book of Jonah. Listen, the pagan sailors were terrified of the storm. They were terrified. Well, obviously this was unlike any storm they've ever experienced in all the years of crossing the Mediterranean. I mean they've been going back and forth and back and forth. These are experienced sailors.
They know the Mediterranean basin backward and forward. This was like nothing else. But let me tell you something, pagans in general are fearful of the natural phenomena. You know why?
Because to them nature is God and when the gods are angry there is no higher power, therefore they are terrified at nature. Where was Jonah during this mess? Where was Jonah during this storm? Where is Jonah when the boat is about to break in two? Well, verse five, it tells you exactly where he was. Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship and lay down and went to sleep.
Please hear me right. Jonah does not only represent the individual Christian who is asleep in the midst of spiritual turmoil, but he represents the church of Jesus Christ that has gone to sleep while the world is in wholesale departure from the faith. Let me tell you what most of you already know. That it was when the church went to sleep, that is precisely when the forces of evil began to conspire and take over across the land. When the church went to sleep, abortion on demand became the law of the land. When the church went to sleep, God and prayers were kicked out of school and they were replaced with guns and condoms. When the church of Jesus Christ went to sleep, drugs become rampant. When the church of Jesus Christ went to sleep, wake up because the time is nigh. You know, I mean what a wonderful, wonderful sight.
Jonah, down, snoring. Man, you say, isn't he peaceful? Be careful of false peace.
Be very careful of false peace. It can be very deceiving. It can be extremely deceiving.
Jonah was snoring so loud that he cannot hear the raging winds on the deck above. So many are asleep right now in the midst of a raging storm and they are being lulled by smooth talking politicians who quote the Bible and hobnob with evangelicals. Let me tell you something. So many of us are deceived with this because we think that if we see a politician going into church with black, big black Bible in his hand, you know, that means he really knows the Lord. The Bible said you know them by their fruit and you'll know them by their legislation.
Those who vote, I don't care less than the right or the left. I am telling you, those who vote for a baby to be killed just before it's born, they does not know Jesus. So many evangelicals are deceived that it breaks my heart. It really does and I know it breaks the heart of so many of you that they've been taken in and they talk about forgiveness. That's not our business. God is the one in the forgiveness business. We forgive those who are near and dear to us. But I want to tell you something. It is how a person lives, how a person votes, how a person does and how a person commits, what principles a person live by is what tell you whether the person knows Jesus or not. You've heard me say it before and you will hear me say it again and I will never get tired of it. Let me tell you something. Our problem is not corrupt politicians from the right or the left but our problem is an apathetic, indifferent, disobedient Christian. Be careful of false peace.
It could be just the sound of your snoring that is drowning the noise of the brewing storm. These pagan sailors did everything they know to do. I mean they did everything right. They dumped cargo overboard. They used logic. They used nautical science. They used common sense.
They did everything they could. But listen to me. Here the problem was not the pagan sailors. The problem was the disobedient, indifferent man of God. The problem was a man of God who is drugged with indifference. The problem was a man of God who was oblivious to the word of God.
The problem was a man of God who puts himself ahead and above the word of God. You know I want you to notice several things. Several ironies in this passage. There are three in number. Three ironies. The first irony is in verse six. The second is in verse ten. And the third verse is fourteen, fifteen and sixteen.
Mark them in your Bible. Irony number one, verse six. It says that the pagan captain walked Jonah up. Look at the verse, verse six. So the captain approached him and he said to him, How is it that you are sleeping?
Get up, call on your God. You know my beloved friends, sometimes unbelievers rebuke us Christians. And God permits that as a really terrible rebuke to us. The captain did not know who Jonah's God was.
He didn't know who he was. But even a good betting man got that in his head and realized that man, our God's all bombed out. I mean we called on every one of them and they all can help us. Let's wake up this guy over there and his God might be able to help us. Let's just see it. This is our last chance.
It's our last hope. Even the pagans recognized that this was an extraordinary storm. Even the pagans recognized that this is an unnatural storm. And verse four tells us that it was an unnatural storm. It was a storm that had direct consequence of Jonah's disobedience. Look at verses eight and nine. You know I, those of you who have been hearing me long enough, you know I read the scripture and I try to put myself in the situation and I really try to imagine, try to imagine that conversation. You know when they woke him up and he comes up you know kind of sleepy-eyed and he looks up there, whoa, you know the storm just about to toss him over and they began to yell at him. I don't think they were talking gently to him.
They were absolutely panicking. He said, who are you? Who's your God? Where do you come from?
Where are you going? I mean they were hurt. I'm fine. At that point somehow Jonah becomes spiritually sober for a minute and he wakes up. Well, my name is Jonah and I'm a Hebrew and I'm running away from God. Well, which God are you talking about? On this shipping business we carry a lot of cargo and we bring a lot of Gods in and out of this area and we just carried five bales and brought them into Lebanon and we had Ashtore and Ashtoresses and Dagon's and we carried a whole bunch of those into Gaza not so long ago. Now which God is that?
And Jonah says, now wait a minute guys, you don't understand. You don't understand the God that I worship is the God of the universe. The God that I worship is the God who made the sun and the moon and the stars. The God that I worship is the God who made the land and the sea. The God that I worship is the God who sees all things. The God I worship is the God of power and might. They looked at him and they said, well you got a battle in your hand big boy. Try to run away from such a God.
What an idiot you are. You're telling us that you worship this type of God and you're running away from Him? Oh, we can run from ours because ours we make them and we just put them together and you know. But you're God, you're running away from this type of God, that is crazy. Can you imagine the reaction? How can you run away from such a God?
How can you run away? In fact, verse 10, you're going to find the second irony. The first irony we saw that was the pagan captain waking him up from his slumber. Second irony, verse 10, the pagan sailors were terrified of Jonah's God.
The pagan sailors were fearing the God of Jonah more than Jonah. Jonah's words obviously rung true and they recognize that he's telling the truth. And these pagans, you see, knew the God of the Hebrews by reputation. Through the years and through all tradition, the stories have been transmitted from generation to generation, from nation to nation to nation and they all knew the God of the Hebrews by reputation only. They heard the story of how the God of the Hebrews sinned plagues on Egypt. They have heard the stories of how the God of the Hebrews opened up this Red Sea. They have heard how the God of the Hebrews, once he got them out, they closed the Red Sea on Pharaoh's army. They have heard how the God of the Hebrews provided them with food in the wilderness where people cannot survive even 24 hours.
They lived for 40 years. They have known the God of the Hebrews only by reputation that he is the one who made the walls of Jericho crumble. They knew that he was the God who's known to be a loving God, to be a faithful God. They knew Yahweh, Jehovah God, by reputation. And now, now they come face to face with one of his apathetic, indifferent followers.
My beloved friends, let me tell you something. Sometimes in some situations, in some occasions, you're the only Jesus that people will know or meet. You can imagine these sailors' reaction as if to say, who would want to run away from such a loving God? Who would want to run away from such a caring God? Who would want to run away and disobey such a caring God? Who would want to ignore such a God?
But you know what? I think Jonah's counsel to the pagan sailors is far more apathetic than even running away, if that can be possible. I want you to look at verse 12. It is pathetic, the response that Jonah and the counsel that he gave them. He could have said, I know the answer, turn the boat around 180 degrees, head back, take me to Nineveh, and the storm will be over. He could have said, I'm going to repent, I'm running away. He already told them he's running away from God. He said, I'm going to stop running away.
Would you help me by taking me to Nineveh? But he didn't say any of this. He could have said, I repent, Lord God, please stop the storm, I'm going to Nineveh, but he didn't. You know what verse 12 is saying? Verse 12 is saying that here's what Jonah's saying. He's saying, I would rather die than do the will of God. I would rather die than obey.
That's what he's saying. Do you know that some Christians are so stubborn, so hard-hearted, that they actually would rather die than do what God wants them to do? Some of you might be asking right now, is that really possible? Is it really possible for a Christian to become so deaf and so hardened of heart that he prefers, or she prefers, death than obeying and doing the will of God in the word of God?
I wish, I wish I could say to you the answer is no. But unfortunately the answer is yes. Sin can deceive to the point of death. And what I want to ask you today, have you deceived yourself so stubbornly, even to the point of death, because you don't want to do what God wants you to do? The third and the final irony is this, verses 14, 15 and 16, that these pagan sailors cried to God and believed in God.
Isn't that amazing? Here's Jonah running away from the face of God because he did not want to see the heathen converted and God converts the heathen on his runaway boat. Someone said that non-Christians never looked better than when they are compared with some Christians.
Certainly this is true in this case. I mean just think with me, the Jewish people, God's people, Jesus' own people, cried out for his blood. Pagan Pontius Pilate says no, this is a righteous man.
Jonah said throw me overboard and they said no we don't want to sin against God. Can you imagine the spiritual sensitivity of the pagans compared with the man of God who's called by God to be a prophet of God. Every one of us in the New Testament is a prophet. We are kingdom of priests and prophets because we have the prophetic word of God with us. And throughout history we see God's people to be more blinded, be more blinded than unbelievers.
It would take me time to tell you some examples in history. Here's Jonah running to the end of the earth because he doesn't want to see converted people and God gives them to him right there on the boat. My beloved friends I want to tell you God loves his own. And because he loves you he's not going to let go. And if you're turning a deaf ear to him right now listen very carefully.
He will always love you no matter what and he will always call you again and again. In fact Paul told the Corinthians there were some among them in that church who were so disobedient who consistently lived in disobedience and refused to repent that Paul said to them he said because God loves you so much and because he eternally saved you he's going to take your life in order to save your soul. Don't get to that point.
Don't get to that point. And that is why God welcomes the repentant sinners. He welcomes them with open arms. He loves you.
He wants you to come back. And that is why he longs to see you make a difference in the world. And that is why God said that I stand on the door of your heart and knock and knock and knock until you open and when you open I'm going to come in. I bring you joy, forgiveness and peace. Shall we pray? Father protect us from deception.
The worst of all is self-deception. That oh God we may travel with your will and in your will. For I pray that in Jesus name. Thank you for taking time to listen to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. If you make it a point to visit ltw.org or call a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. Join Dr. Michael Youssef as a Frontline Mission Partner and passionately proclaim the uncompromising truth of Christ in your community and in closed countries through Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. As a partner, you're at the heart of this mission. Our Frontline Mission Partners will receive special ministry benefits including the On the Frontline photo booklet as well as exclusive ministry updates and a 20% discount on all resources at ltw.org. I want to specially speak to our Frontline Mission Partners. You have been standing with me for so many years in partnership in the gospel of Jesus Christ taking it 195 countries. I thank God for you and I pray that you continue to stand together as we take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Don't delay, become a monthly Frontline Mission Partner today and stand with Dr. Youssef on the frontlines of faith. Sign up at ltw.org slash frontline, ltw.org slash frontline. If you would like to join Dr. Michael Youssef in passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world, reaching millions with the gospel, please call 866-626-4356 or ltw.org, ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.
