1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,480 Something massive happened that went down in history as one of 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:08,360 the biggest volcanic eruptions. That town of Pompeii in Italy 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:13,320 was covered in volcanic ash and people to this day can be found 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,040 frozen in time before the volcano hit them. 5 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,000 So how were people found? Some were found underneath their 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,600 Cellars, hiding. Others were found at the top of 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,520 their buildings, as if they were trying to escape from all of 8 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:31,240 this volcanic heat. But one man, a guard, was found 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,360 doing something very interesting. 10 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,440 There he was found holding on to his weapon, stood by the city 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,280 gate. So as all of this volcanic 12 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,560 eruption had come towards him, that man stood there clutching 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,360 his weapon, refusing to move. Why didn't he move? 14 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,680 Because his captain had told him to stand guard. 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,400 And here he is frozen in time, thousands of years later, and 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:03,000 everyone remembers that man as a faithful man to his captain. 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,360 And the question I want to ask you today is when the Lord Jesus 18 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:12,960 Christ returns, will he find you faithful to him, the captain? 19 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,920 So today I've got sort of five signs I'd like to share with 20 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,240 you, 5 signs that you might just be backsliding, that you might 21 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,920 just be lukewarm, or you might be drifting away from God. 22 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:25,840 The first sign is this. And we're going to look at the 23 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,760 prophet Jonah as we do this. But the first sign is that 24 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,160 you're running from God. Jonah, chapter one, verse 3, 25 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,720 says, But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of 26 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:39,480 the Lord. You know the story well. 27 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,160 Jonah was a prophet of the Lord God and God. 28 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,160 God told him, I want you to go to that place, Nineveh, and I 29 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,080 want you to preach repentance. Tell them to to flee from their 30 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,120 wickedness. Tell them to turn to me. 31 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,960 Tell them that there is a wickedness that they are doing 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,560 and they must repent of this sin. 33 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,800 But what did Jonah do? Instead of obeying the Lord 34 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,360 gods, he ran in the opposite direction. 35 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,440 Now, we're very good at giving Jonah a hard time, aren't we? 36 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:10,600 Why? Because we think, well, if God, 37 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,680 the Lord God, had given you this task, why didn't you just do it? 38 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,120 It was a privilege to preach the Lord's message, was it not? 39 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,520 And yet history tells us that this people who lived in 40 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,560 Nineveh, the Assyrians, were the most terrible people that has 41 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,480 ever lived. Do you know what they used to do 42 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,360 to their their captors? You can see this in museums if 43 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,200 you don't believe me on on paintings, in archaeology, we 44 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:35,400 can see. Do you know what they did? 45 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:39,400 They used to skin them alive, so it's no wonder that Jonah was 46 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,080 terrified. It's like us going to one of 47 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,440 these dangerous countries and being told to preach repentance. 48 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,200 Many of us would be fearful to do that. 49 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,480 And so Jonah also was scared, and he ran in the opposite 50 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,480 direction. Now the question needs to be 51 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,280 asked, why did he run to Tarshish? 52 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,440 What was special about Tarshish? Well, Tarshish is known in 53 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,880 history for being traders of tin. 54 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,200 It's also known for being a place where there was lots of 55 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,000 gold, there was lots of wealth. To some people, Bible 56 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,080 commentators believe, well, maybe Jonah went there because, 57 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,440 you know, he wanted to get rich, he wanted to make a bit of 58 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:14,360 money. You know, like the the typical 59 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,400 Tele evangelist we see on TV, it was all about money. 60 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,240 But it's very likely the main reason he chose Tarshish is 61 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,320 because he was Nineveh and Tarshish was in the complete 62 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,040 opposite direction. In other words, he wanted to get 63 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,280 as far away from where God had told him to go and to run in the 64 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,880 opposite direction. Can I ask you a a personal 65 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,640 question right now? I wonder, are you running from 66 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,520 God? There was a Brazilian woman who 67 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,080 grew up in a Christian home. Her parents smothered her with 68 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,120 love. They loved her to pieces. 69 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,920 But as this girl grew up into her teens, she got in with the 70 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,560 wrong crowd, and she started following that crowd into the 71 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,160 wrong scene, taking the wrong things. 72 00:03:58,200 --> 00:03:59,680 And what happened to this young girl? 73 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,040 Well, eventually, because she had a habit that she needed to 74 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:08,480 somehow finance, she became a woman of the streets. 75 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,440 And one night, after a very hard night on the streets, she came 76 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,720 back to a dingy flat and she sort of just sat slumped on the 77 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,640 floor. As she sat there, she noticed 78 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,000 that someone had posted a picture through her letterbox, 79 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,440 and she looked at it. It was a picture of her mother. 80 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,360 As tears filled her eyes, she turned it over and read on the 81 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,440 other side these words. We don't care what you've done, 82 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:43,080 we just want you to come home. And perhaps that's a message for 83 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:44,760 someone listening to me right now. 84 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,040 God is saying to you right now. I don't care what you've done, I 85 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,520 just want you to come home. OK? 86 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,720 The second sign that you might be backsliding is that you are 87 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,680 justifying your sin. Just look at verse. 88 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,560 The second part of verse three with me. 89 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,920 He went down to Joppa, that's Jonah and found a ship going to 90 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,200 Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went 91 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,480 down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of 92 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,520 the Lord. Do you notice this? 93 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,240 It almost feels like, OK, Jonah's being disobedient, but 94 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,680 now all of his circumstances are aligned. 95 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,840 Everything's sort of weaving together perfectly. 96 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,160 It's almost as if God is smiling upon his situation. 97 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,360 So Jonah needs to get away. He needs to get away as fast as 98 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,280 possible. He goes down to a port in Joppa. 99 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:37,520 I don't know if you've been at a seaport, but there's not always 100 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,600 ships around. And here we have a ship that 101 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,360 very conveniently is going in the opposite direction to 102 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,160 Nineveh. So Tarshish. 103 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,760 So Jonah reaches into his pocket, and again, rather 104 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,800 conveniently, he's got just the right amount of money to pay the 105 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,720 fare to get onto the ship. He then gets onto the ship, he 106 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,440 goes right down to the bottom deck, and what does he find? 107 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:03,640 A nice cosy bed. So he gets into the bed. 108 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:05,720 And what do boats do when you're on them? 109 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,400 They Rock You back and forth. So here he is, being cradled 110 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,040 like a little baby to sleep. When Jonah looks at the 111 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,400 situation, it's not as if God's pouring down his wrath, his 112 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,880 anger on him. It's it seems like, oh, maybe 113 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,880 God's OK with me doing this. Maybe God really didn't care 114 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:23,880 that much about me going to Nineveh. 115 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:25,880 Maybe everything's going to be OK. 116 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,200 And if you've ever backslidden, or if you're about to go to a 117 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:35,320 sin, you can often find yourself justifying the sin in your mind. 118 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:40,240 I remember years ago when I found myself in a a certain sin 119 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,880 and I'd read online, you know about health benefits to doing 120 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,680 this sin if you like. And I started to justify in my 121 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,240 mind, no, I need to do this. It's so easy, isn't it, for us 122 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,440 to deceive ourselves? The Bible says that the heart is 123 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,400 deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 124 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,800 Here's another example of this. I had a friend and he was a 125 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,600 pastor and my friend. One night his family were away 126 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,440 from home. Now his family never went away, 127 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,640 but his his wife and children had gone to visit their their 128 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,560 parents on the other side of the country. 129 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:16,880 So here he is, This man is home alone. 130 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,600 And because he wasn't the greatest cook, he thought, do 131 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,040 you know what I'll I'll just walk to McDonald's and I'll get 132 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,400 myself a a fast food, a burger or something to eat. 133 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,280 As he's walking down the street for the first time in his life, 134 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:35,000 a beautiful woman stops him in the street and wants to get to 135 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,400 know him. This woman, we don't know 136 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,920 exactly, but he believes she could have been, yes, a woman of 137 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,680 the night and she wanted money from him, but this woman just 138 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,800 wouldn't leave him alone. He was very attracted to this 139 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:49,680 woman. And he's never had this 140 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,120 situation happen before. And he's all he had to do is 141 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,600 say, come back to my house. I've got an empty house. 142 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,080 There was no accountability. He was OK. 143 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,440 He was safe. He could get away with the sin. 144 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,160 And he might think in his mind, well, maybe God's OK with this 145 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,840 happening. Why, out of all the nights in 146 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,160 the in the year, why did this woman approach me on this night? 147 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,720 That's how the mind could work. Now, in the Lord's grace, that 148 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,680 man, as you know, he's a pastor and the Lord gave him the 149 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,640 strength not to walk into this temptation and to be strong. 150 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:23,960 But you can see what I'm trying to say here. 151 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,960 Just be careful, because the devil is very crafty and he 152 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,600 knows how to get into our minds and how to deceive us. 153 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,600 OK, The third sign that you might be drifting away from God 154 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,440 is this. God will send a storm to get 155 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,200 your attention. Just look at verse four with me. 156 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:46,400 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a 157 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,960 mighty Tempest on the sea. So the ship was about to be 158 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,440 broken up. OK, now if you are living in 159 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,880 willful sin and if you are truly a child of God, if you have been 160 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,040 adopted into God's family, I want you to know something. 161 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:04,880 God will not allow you to stay comfortable in your sin. 162 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,440 God will send a storm. Something big, something 163 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,200 powerful will come into your life to wake you up. 164 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:16,640 Hebrews 12 verse five says this My son, do not despise the 165 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,600 chastisement of the Lord. You see, God disciplines every 166 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,920 son or daughter that he loves. And sometimes God will send 167 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:25,680 these things that will really hurt. 168 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:29,680 They'll really sting. But it's a way of us coming away 169 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:33,360 from the sin and drawing back to the Lord Jesus Christ in 170 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,280 sacrifice, in repentance and obedience. 171 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:42,040 In my own life, very recently, I had a a horrible situation that 172 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,000 hit me really hard. Now, you know, sometimes I 173 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,360 struggle to say these things on the Internet in front of 174 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,320 everyone because I think, wow, it was OK when there was just a 175 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,320 few thousand people watching. But now it's getting very 176 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,600 public. So there's been a lot of sin. 177 00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:58,720 There's been an idol of YouTube. I've changed. 178 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:02,280 There's no two ways about it. In the last year I have changed. 179 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,760 I've fallen from that closeness, that intimacy we've got. 180 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,560 And so God sent something massive and as honest as I want 181 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,400 to be with you, this is too embarrassing to share on the 182 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,160 Internet. But he sent this thing, and for 183 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,360 basically 9 days straight, I was crying. 184 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,840 I was weeping, I was spending long hours just walking miles 185 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:25,960 and miles, pleading with the Lord God. 186 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,360 In the end, I made two vows to the Lord. 187 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,560 Again, I won't share those with you, but I made these vows 188 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:37,720 because I needed God so badly, and I believe that in the Lord's 189 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,280 grace. Now this situation, I've come 190 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,440 out on the other side. It seems that things are 191 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,080 positive. I believe God used that to 192 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,720 chastise me, to discipline me. And I'll be honest, I can now 193 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,200 see clearly. I can see what life is about and 194 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,720 what the Lord wants me to do. OK, the the 4th sign that you 195 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,080 might be drifting away from God is that you are self preserving 196 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,560 yourself. You're trying to look after 197 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:03,520 yourself. You're just caring about your 198 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,480 needs above everyone else's. Look at verse five of me of 199 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,480 Jonah chapter one. Then the marinas were afraid and 200 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,400 every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in 201 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,360 the ship into the sea to lighten the load. 202 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:21,560 But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and had 203 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:26,560 lain down and was asleep. You know, in the Bible it says 204 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:30,800 in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. 205 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,520 And one of the signs that we just truly don't care about God 206 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,120 in the same way is when we just become so obsessed with 207 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,320 ourselves that we don't care about other people. 208 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,080 We're just self preserving. A bit like my OC DS where I'm so 209 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,320 obsessed with trying to look after myself and that I'm OK and 210 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,640 I'm safe, but I don't care about other people. 211 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,680 That's a dangerous sign when you're like that. 212 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,680 It's a dangerous sign when you forget that acronym, which goes 213 00:11:57,680 --> 00:11:59,960 like this. The real way to have joy is 214 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,760 Jesus, others, and then yourself last. 215 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,640 So it's others before you and then Jesus is at the top. 216 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:09,960 And I believe 20/20 was a very strong demonstration of this. 217 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:12,360 So let's go back to the story of Jonah here. 218 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,960 This storm has hit the ship. It's there because of Jonah and 219 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:17,400 the sailors. They're terrified. 220 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,960 They're getting their belongings and they're throwing them 221 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,280 overboard to make the ship lighter. 222 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,800 They're calling out to their their false gods. 223 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,080 Gods save us. And what is Jonah the Believer, 224 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,400 the man who has the word of God inside of him? 225 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,480 What is this man doing? He couldn't care less. 226 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:39,640 He's fast asleep in the lowest deck as if nothing is going on. 227 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,320 And friends, I believe that is a picture of the church. 228 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,680 In 2020 and even 2021, this big thing hit the world, as you 229 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:51,080 know. And all these unbelievers around 230 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,880 us were were feeling the storm. They were feeling the stress. 231 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,120 They were crying out to their false gods. 232 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,240 They were crying out to the scientists to save us. 233 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:01,560 They were crying out to the experts to save us. 234 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,040 But the only one who could save us, or at least give us hope in 235 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:08,880 this situation was the Lord God. He was the one we should have 236 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,160 been looking at. And yet what was the church 237 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,040 doing? The ones who had the answers, 238 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,400 the ones who should have been a light, a beacon on the hill, 239 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,280 What was the church doing? For the most part they were just 240 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,320 self preserving, self preservation, caring for 241 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:26,120 themselves, terrified of sharing the truth during that time. 242 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,880 Friends, right now as I film this message, there is a 243 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,800 terrible war going on in Israel, Gaza. 244 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,560 There are babies, children, mothers, men. 245 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,400 They're dying. It's a terrible, terrible 246 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,800 situation. And I want to ask you, do you 247 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:52,120 truly care or are you just so concerned about your own 248 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:57,360 problems in the Ukraine and Russia, Afghanistan, when they 249 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,720 were all those Christians were, were left there. 250 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,120 Have we just forgotten Armenia, all these people who are 251 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:07,400 suffering in the world is all we care about is do I have food in 252 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,600 my house or am I OK? Is my family OK? 253 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,600 But yeah, the Lord God, Jesus Christ, told us to love thy 254 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,280 neighbour as thyself, to help those who are in need, to care 255 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,640 for them, to support them. So if your heart has grown cold, 256 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,600 I pray that you would call out to the Lord God and ask him to 257 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,520 set it on fire again. The 5th sign that you might be 258 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:36,480 drifting away from God is that unbelievers start to notice that 259 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,000 you've backslidden. Just look at verse six with me. 260 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:43,520 So the captain came to him and said to him, what do you mean, 261 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,720 sleeper? Arise, call on your God. 262 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,880 Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. 263 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,560 If I asked you right now in the comment box, write down who is 264 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,360 your favorite Bible character. Just do that now so I know that 265 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,840 you're still watching because you know some people will have 266 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:03,680 clicked off a long time ago. Here are the faithful ones who 267 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:05,200 are really listening to the message. 268 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,640 Just write down who is your favorite Bible character apart 269 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,720 from Jesus Christ. So maybe you're writing now, the 270 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,000 apostle Paul. Maybe you're writing Moses, King 271 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,200 David, Jeremiah. Who are you writing right now? 272 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,800 Can I tell you who one of my favorite, I might even say my 273 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,560 very favorite Bible character is? 274 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,480 It's Jonas Sea Captain. This man that we see right now. 275 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,560 Now that's a bit of a strange thing to say. 276 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,160 Why do I like him so much? Because here he is, This man is 277 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,720 an unbeliever, and this man knocks on the door. 278 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:43,080 He sees the prophet of God. He sees the believer is fast 279 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,080 asleep. And what does this unbeliever 280 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:49,200 man do? He rebukes the man of God and 281 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:53,240 says you should be praying you aren't doing what you should be. 282 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:55,840 You need to wake up and call out to your God. 283 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,440 And let me tell you, my dear friends, the world as blind as 284 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:04,320 it is, the world as is, as a moral as it is, they still hold 285 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:09,280 a standard for us as Christians. And one of the signs that we 286 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,840 have unbelieving hearts, one of the sides that were drifting 287 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:16,520 away from God, is when the unbeliever starts to call us out 288 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,400 in our sins. I used to work at a supermarket, 289 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,880 a grocery store called Sainsbury's, and I used to pour 290 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,520 coffee there, and I used to serve and wash dishes, those 291 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,520 kind of things. And I remember one of my 292 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:33,040 colleagues who I worked with, and one day he was telling me a 293 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,600 story, and it was a serious story about a man who was ill, 294 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,040 And this is many years ago. But as he told the story, 295 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,560 because I was so immature, I burst out laughing. 296 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:47,800 There was another time when a very similar example happened 297 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,120 and they were sharing a rude joke in the kitchen. 298 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,880 And again I laughed. I found it funny. 299 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,880 And what did those unbelievers do on those two occasions? 300 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,280 Joe. Joe, why are you laughing? 301 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:04,680 You're supposed to be a Christian. 302 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:09,040 You should know better. So just remember that the world 303 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,720 is watching and although we might think our our sin only 304 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,880 affects us, no, you're ruining your witness for the Lord Jesus 305 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,160 Christ because you're showing the world that this one, the 306 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,319 Lord Jesus who has risen from the dead, doesn't really matter 307 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:25,920 to you. OK, later we're going to come 308 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:30,080 back to the solution, to the hope, the only hope that the 309 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,520 backslider has. But first I'd like to speak to 310 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:36,800 the non Christian right now. Now if you're a non Christian, 311 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:39,200 you can't slide down the mountain. 312 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:42,800 You can't slide, you can't backslide because you're already 313 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,800 at the very bottom. So what do you need to do? 314 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,120 Well, you need to start the climb and you don't climb in 315 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:52,040 your own strength. You climb in the Lord Jesus 316 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,760 Christ strength. Look at verse 15 with me. 317 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:59,280 Now it says. So they picked up Jonah, threw 318 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:04,440 him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging again. 319 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:06,320 You probably know the story very well. 320 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:08,440 So here we are. The storm starts to hit. 321 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,760 They wake up Jonah and the sailors say, well, why is this 322 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,080 happening? And Jonah says I'm a Hebrew. 323 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:18,480 I serve the almighty God. And this storm has fallen on you 324 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,560 because I am in this ship, I am in this boat. 325 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,640 And I'm telling you guys, if you throw me into the sea, suddenly 326 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,240 the sea will be calm. Suddenly this storm will stop 327 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,800 because God's anger will be appeased. 328 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,960 But what did the sailors do? They did everything in their 329 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,200 power to not have to do that. They were good moral men. 330 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,920 They did not want to, and they started to row as hard as they 331 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,480 could. But eventually they realized it 332 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,560 was futile. There was no hope for them. 333 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,960 And there is a lesson in this. If the Lord sets his will, the 334 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,920 Lord had his mind on something. No human effort can stop the 335 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,280 hand of God. And you might take lots of 336 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,200 pills. You might eat organically. 337 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:00,040 You might be the healthiest person on earth. 338 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,000 But I'll tell you this, your death day is on God's calendar, 339 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,080 and there's nothing you can do to stop it. 340 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,600 If God sets his mind to something, if God wills 341 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:13,160 something, we as humans have no hope, if that makes sense. 342 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,320 Now, I'm not saying this, that we have this robotic theology. 343 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,240 No, the Lord has given us free will and choices. 344 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,360 But I am saying don't think that you can overpower the Almighty 345 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:26,280 one of Israel. So how is this a picture of the 346 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,000 Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ on 347 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,880 the cross took the wrath of God. The Bible actually says that he 348 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,320 is the propitiation for our sins. 349 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:40,600 I know I say this a lot in my videos, but that is a big word. 350 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,680 Propitiation means basically here is the wrath of God, OK? 351 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:48,600 And and here we are, all of our sins, all of our rejection of 352 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,760 God, all of the wrong things we've done and that wrath, it's 353 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,880 coming for us. We deserve to take that wrath. 354 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,520 But the Lord Jesus Christ's, he stands in the gap. 355 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,600 He intercedes for us and on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, he 356 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:06,960 turned that wrath away like a mirror reflects the sunlight. 357 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,520 So he reflected the wrath of God away from us. 358 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,800 And he absorbed himself when he was nailed to that cross, when 359 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,400 he suffered and died there. The Bible says it pleased the 360 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:23,160 Lord to crush him, not because he hated his Son, but because he 361 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:27,640 hates our sin. And our sin was laid on Christ 362 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,800 Jesus, and their Christ suffered. 363 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:35,440 Their Christ was in a storm on the cross for your sins and my 364 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,080 sins. And as soon as Christ took the 365 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,440 punishment for that sin, if you put your trust in him, if you 366 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,480 come to him and cry out for forgiveness and say, Lord God 367 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:49,120 have mercy on me, wash away my sins, suddenly that storm which 368 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,640 is coming for you will be stilled. 369 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:56,280 Just like as soon as Jonah was cast into the water, the ocean 370 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,400 went still because God's wrath was satisfied. 371 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,720 When Christ died on the cross, God's wrath was also satisfied. 372 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,000 It was met in fullness with the Son of God. 373 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,400 A friend of mine, Roger Carswell, actually saw this in 374 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,920 reality. A really helpful illustration. 375 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:16,240 One day he was visiting the Concorde. 376 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,000 You know, that plane that that went really, really fast. 377 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,680 It was it was like a lightning bolt. 378 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,960 You remember it, don't you? Well, when Roger went around the 379 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,760 the tour guide said on the end of the Concorde, on its nose 380 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,800 it's got a an engineering design called the propitiator. 381 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:36,000 And what the propitiator does is it absorbs the heat that is 382 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,600 picked up on the plane. As that plane is going really, 383 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,320 really fast, it picks up a lot of friction, a lot of heat. 384 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:47,560 And the propitiator, it absorbs all of that heat to protect the 385 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:50,920 rest of the plane. And friends, as I've just said, 386 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,520 that is what Jesus Christ did on the cross. 387 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,720 He absorbed the heat to protect us, his church, if we will 388 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,440 become part of it and bow the knee and put our trust in the 389 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,440 Lord Jesus Christ. Now very sadly, because of 390 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:09,400 science and secular thinking creeping into the church, people 391 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,520 now change their theology and they say are we really to take 392 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,040 the Bible literally? I mean, did God really send a 393 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,320 fish to swallow Jonah, how could that be possible? 394 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,080 Well, if you believe that, what did Jesus say in Matthew 12, 395 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,000 verse 40? When the Pharisees, when people 396 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,720 are asking for a sign, what did Jesus say? 397 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:33,160 No other sign will be given of me of who I am other than the 398 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,440 sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah was in the belly 399 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:40,280 of the fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man 400 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,280 will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three 401 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,600 nights. So just like Jonah, there was a 402 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,400 fish that swallowed him, as you know. 403 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:54,160 It was a picture of the most important thing, Jesus Christ's 404 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,640 bodily resurrection. And if this was a load of 405 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,640 nonsense, if we're not to take this seriously, why was Jesus 406 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,640 pointing to the most serious thing that he would ever do, 407 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,680 that he would rise from the dead and give eternal life to men and 408 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,640 women? Why would he point to an A 409 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,040 fictional story, to a character who isn't even real? 410 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,720 So if we're to take the Lord Jesus Christ, death and 411 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,480 resurrection seriously, I think Jesus is saying very clearly. 412 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:24,200 Now you take my word seriously. Jonah really was swallowed by 413 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,680 that fish and spat out after three days. 414 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,400 OK, back to the backslider. Now just look at Jonah chapter 415 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,040 3, verse one. Now the word of the Lord came to 416 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:39,640 Jonah the second time saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great 417 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,760 city and preach to it the message that I tell you. 418 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,760 So what is the hope there, my dear friends? 419 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,520 Well, God gives Jonah a second chance. 420 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,720 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. 421 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,600 Our God is the God of second chances. 422 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,960 Third chances, fourth chances, fifth chances. 423 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,520 As many times as we come to him and we're truly meaning it, we 424 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,200 truly come to him in repentance and asking for forgiveness. 425 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,120 The wonderful message is God will forgive us. 426 00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:12,560 God will give us a second chance. 427 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,720 And that's the hope I need because I've fallen many times 428 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,320 and it's probably the hope that you need. 429 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,680 Also, let me leave you with one final thought. 430 00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:26,760 There was a a young man and this young man, he was a Christian 431 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,680 for just one year and he was sort of told by different 432 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,760 Christians, can you go in a nightclub or not? 433 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,440 Some people say, oh, you can be a wonderful witness in the 434 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,280 nightclubs for Jesus. And some people said, no, stay 435 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,480 1,000,000 miles from nightclubs. And this was going back and 436 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,040 forth, this conflict in his mind. 437 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:43,720 Should I? Should I? 438 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,160 Not until eventually this young man thought, I'll just try it 439 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,000 for myself. So at university he went in a 440 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:56,440 nightclub that one night that young man met a woman, a very 441 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,920 beautiful woman, and he fell in love with that woman. 442 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:04,600 The woman was not a Christian, and that man ended up in a 443 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,080 relationship that was very sinful, where he lived with her 444 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:12,160 and as you can imagine, did the things that couples do outside 445 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,160 of marriage in that relationship. 446 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,080 But because this man was a believer, he became miserable in 447 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,560 his sin. He was so depressed for one 448 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,600 year, he did not leave his flat. He looked outside and he could 449 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,680 see the seasons, the snow, the leaves changing in the fall, in 450 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,640 autumn, all that beauty, the sunshine in the summer. 451 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,880 But he was just depressed because he was just living in 452 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,040 sin. Until eventually that young man 453 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,160 went and spoke to a dear friend of his, a wiser Christian. 454 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,440 And he said to that young man, this is my situation. 455 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:49,520 I've really messed up. I love this woman and yet she's 456 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,200 not a believer and I'm running from God. 457 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,320 This is what his friend said. What you need to do right now is 458 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,600 come back to the Lord Jesus Christ in total obedience. 459 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,960 So you can't be sleeping with this girl anymore. 460 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:06,920 You can't be not going to church. 461 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,360 You can't be not reading your Bible. 462 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,400 You need to be on fire for God and what will happen? 463 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,360 It will either go one of two ways. 464 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,960 Either the girl will say I don't want anything to do with this 465 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,760 guy, he's a a God botherer. He's boring now. 466 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,560 I I don't want him anymore. Or the Lord might just use this 467 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,280 situation in His grace and might just save this woman. 468 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,160 Now, before I tell you the outcome of this, I want you to 469 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,720 know I have told this story before and there was a young 470 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,760 girl who heard this story. And because of that she thought, 471 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,080 well, that's basically a message for me, that I can go out, and I 472 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,760 can go out of unbelievers and I might be able to win them for 473 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:44,800 Christ. I can flirt to convert. 474 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:49,480 That young girl is now a woman, and she's nowhere with the Lord 475 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,160 right now. In fact, she's in the worst kind 476 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:53,960 of situation you could ever imagine. 477 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,960 So just hear this story. Remember, the Lord worked in 478 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:57,920 grace. OK? 479 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,520 That doesn't give us permission to go out and date unbelievers. 480 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:03,640 So what happened to this young man? 481 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,640 He did. He set his heart the Lord, and 482 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,440 he started bringing his unbelieving girlfriend to 483 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,360 church. And one day that woman read 484 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:19,840 Psalm 51 and she saw the words wash me, and I shall be whiter 485 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,400 than snow. The blood of Jesus Christ, she 486 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,840 realized, could wash away all of her sins, and she got saved. 487 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:33,760 And the other man was restored. So why do I believe that the 488 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,920 backslider can be restored? I'll tell you why. 489 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,080 Because that young man was me.