LORD SEND SOMEONE ELSE

Jonah 1:1-3

God calls PEOPLE to different places to do different things for Him. We find God calling Jonah to Nineveh to PREACH AGAINST IT'S SIN. But when God called Him, He replied, "Lord Send Someone Else".

What a big contrast that RESPONSE was to the PROPHET ISAIAH. When God asked, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Isaiah's RESPONSE was, "HERE AM I. SEND ME!

Many CHRISTIANS today are like JONAH. Our NINEVEH may be {REPENTANCE}, {RECONCILIATION}, or {RESTITUTION} for us.

A LOT of US are on BOATS that are SAILING for TARSHISH while GOD IS SAYING, ..... "GO TO NINEVEH."

Jesus talked about TWO ROADS, TWO WAYS, TWO GATES ..... where are you headed? {There are only TWO ROADS in the CHRISTIAN LIFE. ...... One ROAD LEADS to NINEVEH, the other to TARSHISH. One ROAD is the WILL of GOD; the other is DISOBEDIENCE to his WILL.}

Somewhere there is a JOB for YOU that NO ONE ELSE can DO the way you can do it. Each one of us is valuable to God and has a special part in the body of Christ.

I. THE CALL OF JONAH.

Verse #1 Now the WORD of the LORD came UNTO JONAH ..... "

(a). The Call Of The Lord Was Personal.

Verse #1 ...."Word of the Lord UNTO JONAH."

I don't know how God talked to Jonah. Perhaps God spoke to him AUDIBLY, as He did to ABRAHAM. Perhaps in a VISION, as He did with PETER on the rooftop or with EZEKIEL. It may have been a DREAM, as it was with JOSEPH. It may simply have been an IMPRESSION on his heart.

Has the WORD of the LORD come to YOU this WEEK?

Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, who at SUNDRY TIMES and in divers manners SPAKE in TIME PAST unto the FATHERS by the PROPHETS, HATH in these LAST DAYS SPOKEN unto US BY HIS SON, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;"

Hebrews 3:7-8 ; Psalm 16:11 Jeremiah 1:5 Read.

(b). The Call Of The Lord Was Powerful.

Verse #2 ..."the WORD of the LORD".

I well remember 30 some years ago ... When God's Word came unto me. {II Peter 2:21 "For even hereunto were YE CALLED: because CHRIST also SUFFERED for US, LEAVING us an EXAMPLE, that YE SHOULD FOLLOW HIS STEPS:"}....... (Romans 11:29 God's Calling Is Without Repentance)

II Tim 4:16 "All SCRIPTURE is GIVEN by INSPIRATION of GOD, and is PROFITABLE for DOCTRINE, for REPROOF, for CORRECTION, for INSTRUCTION in RIGHTEOUSNESS:

II. THE CRY OF JONAH.

Verse #2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and CRY AGAINST IT; for their WICKEDNESS is come up before me.

(a) Jonah's Cry Was To Be Pointed.

Verse#2 "Go to Nineveh."

1. Nineveh, was founded by NIMROD shortly after the CONFUSION of tongues at Babel.

2. Nineveh today is modern day IRAQ.

3. The Streets were 20 miles long and its WALLS 100 feet high.

4. Historians believe that the population exceeded HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS.

{The Bible tells us that ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY THOUSAND did not know their right hand from there left}

5. A City Of WICKED SIN - the CAPITAL of Assyria.

Matt 5:44 "Love Your ENEMIES and PRAY for those who PERSECUTE you."

John 3:16 "For God so LOVED the WORLD that he gave his only begotten Son."

(b). Jonah's Cry Was To Be Purposeful.

Verse #2 ....."cry against it; ... for THEIR WICKEDNESS is come UP BEFORE ME".

1. Preach against THE WICKEDNESS. (The Command = "to Nineveh .. cry against it")

2. We cannot cry out against SIN, .... if SIN is in OUR OWN HEARTS.

III. THE COLLAPSE OF JONAH.

Verse #3 "But JONAH ROSE up to FLEE unto TARSHISH from the PRESENCE of the LORD, and went DOWN to JOPPA; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the FARE thereof, and went DOWN INTO IT, to go with them unto Tarshish FROM THE PRESENCE of the LORD."

(a). Our Disobedience Separates Us From God.

Verse#3 ..."Jonah rose up to FLEE .... from the PRESENCE of the LORD."

1. We CANNOT leave the OMNIPRESENCE of God; but we can leave {THE PLACE OF WORSHIP, the PLACE of HEARING, the Word, the PLACE of PRAYER, and the PLACE of SERVICE for God}.

2. Sin SEPARATES Us from God's Presence. = ILL: Adam and Eve Gen 3:8; "they hid them selves from the PRESENCE of the LORD God" {John 6:66 ...They "went back, and walked NO MORE with Him"}

(b). Our Downward Spiral Away From God. (winding, circling,)

Verse#3 "..... and he found a ship GOING to Tarshish: so HE PAID THE FARE thereof, and WENT DOWN into it, TO GO WITH THEM unto Tarshish FROM THE PRESENCE of the Lord."

1. He went DOWN to JOPPA.

2. He went DOWN into the SHIP.

3. He went DOWN into the FISH'S BELLY.

6. He went DOWN into the DEEP. (a picture of a LIFE FLEEING from God)

{People Never FALL UP it is ALWAYS DOWN}