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A Low Place at a High Price
Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
In this passage of scripture, God proclaimed to Jonah that He had a plan for Jonah to carry out…
The will of God is a mysterious thing…
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
There are 3 aspects to the Will of God for your life! (That includes everyone in this service today.)
1) Rejoice always
2) Pray without ceasing
3) Give thanks in everything
This is the will of God for everyone of this, but it is only the foundation.
Ø If you have ever noticed that the foundation on most every building or house looks the same. It’s what is built on top of the foundation that sets apart, and distinguishes one house from the next.
Ø It is the same in our walk with God. I have just read to you the foundation of the will of God for your life. (It’s the same for everyone in here.) But what sets us apart as individual Christians, with individual lives, and individual ministries, is what we build upon that common foundation.
There is a common will of God for all of us, but there is also a perfect will of God for your life as an individual…
Acts 18:26 (NKJV)
26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more perfectly.
There is a difference between God’s Perfect Will and His Permissive Will…
Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Ø You reasonable service is that common will of God that we just read about.
Ø But then Paul begins to move into a deeper understanding of the will of God.
Ø Do not be conformed… (put into the same mold as the world)
Ø But be transformed… (changed, made to be different from everyone else)
Ø How? By the renewing of your mind. – This takes place by faithful church attendance, consistent prayer, and consistent Bible reading
Ø So that you can prove God’s PERFECT will in your life…
God has a perfect will for your life!
I have felt in my spirit this week that some of you are struggling with this, so I have come with a Word directly from God for you this morning, and please take heed.
God wants to raise up some of you to be great tools in His hands. God is on your side.
But you also have two things working against you. 1) your flesh 2) and the enemy of your soul
Is there anybody here today, that will say Pastor, I want to get real. I want to get honest.
Will you let me minister to you today?
What I’m about to preach to you is like medicine… It’s going to be hard to swallow, but it will sure make you better.
Somebody say out loud right now, preach to me Pastor.
Let us return back to the book of Jonah chapter one…
Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
God revealed to Jonah what His perfect will for him was. It was to preach repentance to the city of Ninevah.
But Jonah refused.
Verse 3 makes this statement, “But Jonah arose to flee from the presence of the Lord.”
That is exactly what some of you in this service this morning have been doing. (Some consciously, some subconsciously) It is because of Fear…
Because of fear of inadequacy
Fear of being unworthy
Fear of having to separate yourself from people or things going on in your life right now.
It is my responsibility. It is my obligation, to tell you where that behavior is going to lead you.
4 times in chapter 1 the Bible makes the statement, “Jonah went down.”
Ø Down to Joppa
Ø Down to the ship
Ø Down to the lowest parts of the ship
Ø Down into the belly of the whale
Joppa: The place where God rebuked Peter for his racism and revealed to him his perfect will for his life
The ship: A ship is nothing more than a way to cross unstable circumstances.
The whale: The whale was the lowest point in Jonah’s life. The whale was used by God to close in on Jonah enough to get his attention. It was Jonah’s circumstantial imprisonment.
Jonah had been bound by his circumstances…
Verse 3 tells us so much more than meets the eye when it makes the statement, “Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare.”
That was the understatement of the century.
Jonah was now paying the price for his decision to run from the will of God and the calling of God.
You will pay a price for running from the call of God on your life…
But here is the, rest of the story.
Jonah 1:4 (NKJV)
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
God sent terrible circumstances into Jonah’s life, not to punish Jonah, but to show him mercy…
You may realize in your mind today that you have been running from the call of God in your life, but I want to let you know that God has shown enough mercy to you to let you hear this story of Jonah so that you don’t have to hit rock bottom.
You don’t have to hit the low place in your life, and pay the high price of running from God.
Matthew 12:40-41 (NKJV)
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
You can listen to the voice of God this morning as He is calling you close to Him.
Don’t run. Don’t write this off. Don’t pay the price that is higher than you want to pay!
Will you come and meet me at this altar, and let’s cry out to God together before things get way out of hand.
Let’s commit ourselves to obeying the Perfect will of God for our lives.
