Why Is This Generation Running Away from His Calling?

As I was preparing this message, I got a vivid picture in my mind of the prophet Jonah. I want to turn there for a moment. You know the story of Jonah, most of you. God said, “Go to Nineveh and preach what I tell you.”

Nineveh was east, and Jonah went the opposite direction. He went west. I think the reason why he didn’t want to preach to Nineveh was that he was afraid the people would repent. And Nineveh was the number one political enemy of his people, Israel.

So he did not want to do anything that would forward their cause. That’s my personal opinion. And the remarkable thing is, when God eventually got his way with Jonah, the greatest experience of conversion recorded in history happened through him. An entire city of, people believe at least 600,000 people, was converted.

But before that happened, Jonah had to learn a lesson. And this is very interesting, but he lived on the mountains of Galilee. And when he turned his back on God, every step he took was a step downward. He went from the mountains to the plain, from the plain to the harbor, from the harbor to the ship, and that wasn’t the end, from the ship into the sea. And let that be a warning to each and every one of us. When you turn your back on God, every step you take will be a step downward.

Well, God was on Jonah’s case, and when the ship took sail, it says,

“God hurled out a storm into the sea.”

And all these pagans began to cry out to God and ask for help. Where was Jonah, the only one who knew the true God? The only one who had the answer. Let me read.

“Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.”

You know what made him sleep? A bad conscience. He couldn’t face life.

I’ve met people who take refuge in sleep. I knew a lady who, if things went wrong, would sleep for 16 hours. That was her escape from life. The captain, who was an unbeliever, came to him and said to him,

“What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

You know, there are a lot of Jonahs in the world today. They’ve had a call from God. They know full well what God wanted them to do, but it didn’t suit them. So they’ve turned their back on God. And now, while the world is tossing in the tempest, where are they? Down in the bottom of the ship, fast asleep.

That’s a tragic situation. We have some Jonahs here this evening. You know God called you, and you deliberately turned your back on God, and who knows how you got here this evening. But I’m going to give you an opportunity later in this service to change your mind. So you can think that over.

Think of it. The only man who knew the true God, the only man who had the answer. All the pagans around him were praying earnestly, and he was down there in the sides of the ship, fast asleep. What a vivid picture of multitudes of Christians today, down in the ship, asleep, because they’re not willing to face reality.