The Seas of Life - The Sea of Chastisement

Temple Baptist Church - 6-8-2014

Jonah 1:1-2:10

Introduction:

A. We have been looking at some of the seas mentioned in the bible and making some biblical applications to our lives.

1. Seas are a beautiful type of problems, troubles, trials, and hardships. I, once again, want to say that life is hard! Someone once said that you are going into a valley, in a valley, or just coming out of a valley.

2. We hear such phrases as, “When it rains, it pours!” Sometimes troubles come few and far between and, at other times, they seem to come in bunches. When you realize that life is hard, you can make it. As long as we think that life is a “bed of roses,” we are “steam rolled” when hard times come. You have to brace yourself.

3. It is like going to the dentist or doctor, knowing that the needle is coming and you brace yourself. If I know that I am going to get stuck, I am ready for it but if someone walks up behind me and jabs me in the seat with a hatpin … Oh well, I guess you know the answer to that.

B. Some problems are out of our control while others are of our making and, to some degree, in our control. The latter is the case with Jonah.

1. The problem was one of his making.

2. The problem was one that he could have fixed at any time.

3. The problem was one that escalated as Jonah continued in his rebellion.

C. Now, a short summation of this little, four chapter book:

1. Jonah was a prophet of the Lord. (1:1)

2. Jonah was disobedient and ran from the Lord. (1:2-3)

3. Jonah’s life started an immediate downward trend. (1:3-5) The word “down” is found three times in these verses along with “so he paid the fare thereof.”

4. The Lord prepared a great storm. (1:4) “The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.”

5. Jonah’s rebellion touched the lives of others. (1:5-16) The mariners were caught up in the storm at sea along with Jonah.

6. The Lord prepared a great fish. (1:17) Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

7. Jonah repented to some degree, was vomited up, and preached. (2:1-3:4)

8. The Lord honored Jonah’s preaching but not Jonah’s attitude. (3:5-10)

9. The Lord continued His work in the life of Jonah to restore him. (4:1-11) God never gives us!

10. The last word the Lord ever said to His prophet was “cattle!” (4:11) We do not know the end of Jonah’s life because the bible falls silent at this point in order to make a point: getting right was Jonah’s choice!

D. Now, I want to give us three things concerning the “Sea of Chastisement.”

1. The Reason for the Sea.

a. Rebellion and disobedience. Jonah had prophesied before so I do not believe that the disobedience was that Jonah was not willing to preach.

2 Kings 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

b. Jonah’s rebellion and disobedience were in relation to WHERE God told him to go preach. The people of Nineveh were Assyrian people: the arch enemies of God and a very cruel people!

c. Jonah was like most of us: he wanted to be obedient to the commands of his choosing and disobedient to the commands that he did not like!

d. So, the sea was one of chastisement.

2. The Reaction to the Sea.

a. For a while, Jonah continue in his rebellion. He told the mariners to throw him overboard instead of bowing before God and repenting.

b. Jonah was not afraid of drowning in the sea but he knew nothing about the great fish that awaited. Too often, rebellious children of God are not afraid of dying and will continue to rebel not knowing that there are some things worse than dying!

3. The Revelation of the Sea.

a. The sonship of Jonah!

Deuteronomy 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

Hebrews 12:7-9 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (8) But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (9) Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

b. The love of God for His children!

Proverbs 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. (Betimes – to dawn or early at a task.)

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

c. The resolve of God to do what is best for His children!

Hebrews 12:11-13 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (12) Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; (13) And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (The intention of the Lord is to restore, not to punish!)

Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

America And The Judgment Of God

Temple Baptist Church - 8-22-2010

Jonah 3:1-10; Nahum 1:1-3; 3:1-19

Introduction:

A. Nineveh was an exceedingly wicked city of great proportions. It was a three day journey from one side of it to the other. In the Book of Jonah, Jonah was called by God to go and cry against the wickedness of the city. He refused and later went under duress. He preached the impending destruction of the city and the city got right with the Lord from the king to the pauper. God graciously spared Nineveh though the prophet Jonah grieved.

B. Nineveh was an idolatrous city. Nineveh was known for the goddess Ishtar (goddess of war, fertility, love, and sex). Her “temple” was noted for its courtesans and “sacred prostitutes.” In Ishtar’s youth, she was noted for her relationship with Tammuz (the savior-fertility sun god who annually resurrected). In Ezekiel 8:14, the Bible says that “He brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”

C. The Book of Nahum was written some 150 years later. In the space of that 150 years, Nineveh had corrupted itself to the point of no return in chapter 3:19

D. Her numerous sins were identified to show the holiness and justice of God. Full of lies and robbery, whoredoms, witchcrafts, her people were like women.” In 150 years, they went from great revival to total apostasy. God said that there was no longer a remedy for their sin and that judgment was imminent.

E. Sounds like America does it not? A nation founded under “In God We Trust” to a nation that our president said was no longer a “Christian nation!” From great revivals (The Great Awakening, the Westley Brothers, George Whitfield, Dwight Moody, Billy Sunday, and etc.) to almost total apostasy. Sinfulness permeates our nation, apostasy permeates “Christendom,” and apathy has filled our churches. Good is evil spoken of and evil is called good. Our nation is in a mess and if she does not repent and turn to God, God will turn her into Hell! He has so promised!

F. I am not saying that it is too late for America but I am saying that God will judge America for her sins!

WHY GOD WILL JUDGE AMERICA!

1. God Will Judge America For Her Rejection Of Biblical Law. (Our courts have ruled against the God of Heaven time and time again with their wicked decisions!)

2. God Will Judge America For Their Ungodly Life Style. (A Hollywood style of lasciviousness and plural marriages has permeated and destroyed our moral structure.)

3. God Will Judge America For Her Slaughter Of The Innocents. (Reprobate doctors have ruthlessly slaughtered Millions of innocents with both the sanction of our judicial system and pro-choice proponents!)

4. God Will Judge America For Her Acceptance Of Sodomy. (Sodomites have not only become socially acceptable but, also God has been blamed for their debauchery and reprobate lifestyle!)

5. God Will Judge America For Her Conspiracy To Give Away Israel’s Homeland. (America has tried to use their economic influence to bring about an unbiblical peace in Israel by giving away the land that God gave to them in Genesis 13:15! Nations will be judged according to their relationship with Israel and agreement with God’s will regarding the Jew.)

6. God Will Judge America For Her Squandering Of His National Blessings. (The Lord raised up America and has made it the most wonderful land on earth, truly a land flowing with mild and honey, and has been rewarded with unthankfulness and ungodliness!)

7. God Will Judge America For Her Spiritual Lukewarmness. (God’s people are worldly and Laodicean to the hilt! They have no love for either the Lord or the lost!)

8. God Will Judge America For Her Liberal Compromised Churches. (The local church has become more like the world than the world more like the church! Compromised pulpits and dead, ritualistic liturgies! GOD IS NOT THE LEAST BIT IMPRESSED!)

What Meanest Thou, O Sleeper? Arise!

Temple Baptist Church - 1-11-2009

Jonah 1:6

Introduction:

1. Jonah Is Called Of God - 1

2. Jonah Failed To Obey The Lord’s Command - 2

3. Jonah Fled From The Presence Of The Lord - 3

4. Jonah Fell Downward Continually - 3

5. Jonah Found Fast Asleep In A Time Of Storm - 4-5

A. There has been much preaching from the little Book of Jonah and much can be said tonight about his disobedience to God and injustice to the people of Nineveh.

B. Though Jonah eventually got right with the Lord and went to Nineveh, I wonder how many people perished during his time of disobedience. It was an exceedingly great city of three days’ journey. It took three days to get across it and Jonah went a days’ journey into it before he began to preach. I believe that New York City is over 200 miles across. Several days’ journey if you went on foot.

C. The Bible says that there were over 60,000 children not old enough to discern between their right and left hands. This tells us that there were a lot of people there. I know that in the city we live in, which has under 20,000, there are funeral home tents up at the cemeteries almost every day.

D. Jonah was disobedient for many days before his preaching turned Nineveh to God. Let’s look at Jonah for a few minutes and get some help from his life.

E. The Key word here - Fast - to be asleep, be unconscious, be in heavy sleep, fall into heavy sleep, be fast asleep

F. In light of the times and the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we find both the world and the Church spiritually sleeping.

1 Thessalonians 5:6-7 Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Matthew 13:24-26 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

1. Sleepers are out of touch with reality

2. Sleepers spend most of their time dreaming

3. Sleepers are very comfortable

4. Sleepers do not like to be disturbed

5. Sleepers do not hear and respond well

6. Sleepers are not aware of the needs of others

7. Sleepers get nothing done

Effects of Spiritual Sleep

1. Spiritual Sleep Causes Us To Fall Into Satan’s Snare - Proverbs 6:4-5 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. 5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

2. Spiritual Sleep Brings Poverty - Proverbs 6:6-11 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (progression)

Proverbs 20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, [and] thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

3. Spiritual Sleep Causes The Harvest To Perish - Proverbs 10:5 He that gathereth in summer [is] a wise son: [but] he that sleepeth in harvest [is] a son that causeth shame.

John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

4. Spiritual Sleep Causes You To Give Into Temptation - Luke 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

5. Spiritual Sleep Causes You To Fall Out Of Church - Acts 20:9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

a. Become unfaithful

b. Become undependable

6. Spiritual Sleep Causes You To Stumble - Ephesians 5:14-15 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,