We are continuing this series entitled: “No Turning Back.” Jesus, on many occasions during His ministry invited people to become His followers. And whenever He gave an invitation to follow… He tells them that they must take up their cross and follow Him.
Today I want to talk about how in the Christian life, you can turn back, God gives you the free will to do that, but His grace and mercy are always running after us. ……you can run, but you can't hide.
Our story takes us today to a “professional runner” by the name of Jonah. He desperately attempted to run from the plan and from the presence of God. He didn't want what God had to offer, there was a bitterness within him that rejected the call of God. God's not going to twist your arm to get you to go His way, but He's going to make it very difficult for you to go your own.
Jonah 1: 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.
The phrase “flee from the presence of the Lord” appears three times in this first chapter; Jonah is attempting to do that ….is it even possible? To “flee from the presence of the Lord?”
David said in Ps.139:” where can I go to flee from Your presence?” There is the transcendent presence of God that fills the earth but then, there is the imminent presence of God that fills our hearts and our spirits. Once we have felt the presence of God, we desire it more than anything. But for some, because of the disappointments of life, they have no desire to be in the presence of God any longer.
Jonah is bitter with life’s circumstances…. these have left him incredibly bitter with God. So, he makes a choice: I'm not going God's way, I'm going my way! He experiences prodigal thinking- thoughts that are reckless and radical. “If I can just go in the opposite direction - then maybe I can escape God.”
But God doesn’t give up easily on him or you…His providence… His grace and mercy follow after us…in His Providence He provides a storm. Maybe you've got a storm in your life and you don't like it, its financial difficulty, it's a circumstance of life, maybe God has brought it to get your attention.
God provides a storm, but then provides a whale. The whale is a lifesaver …it saves Jonah’s life and also it trains him for obedience. Because none of us wants to be caught for 3 days inside the cavernous insides of a big fish covered in whale puke with seaweed wrapped around our head.
“The Hound of Heaven” is a poem written by Francis Thompson in 1890. “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him.” (You can run but you can't hide. )
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “You Can Run…But .”
Blessings,
Kevin
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