Buying Your Own Ticket To Hell

BUYING YOUR OWN TICKET TO HELL

Jonah 1:3; 2:1-2

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A young boy from down south attended Sunday school for the first time with his grandparents who lived up north. He was so excited he couldn’t wait to tell grandma about the lesson.

2. "My teacher taught us all about the whales," he announced. "You mean Jonah and the whale?" grandma asked. "No," he said, "Jacob and the whales."

3. "I think it was Jonah," the grandmother gently corrected. "He was swallowed by a whale in the ocean." But this young man knew his lesson.

4. "No, it was Jacob. He moved out into the desert and when he got thirsty, he dug some whales."

B. TEXT

1:3 “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.” 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol [Hell] I cried, and You heard my voice.” NKJV

C. THESIS

1. The title of this message is “Buying Your Own Ticket to Hell.” Nobody really wants to go to Hell. Its very name conveys the ideas of “dread” and “punishment.” Only 3% of people think they might go there. It certainly wouldn’t be anyone’s vacation destination.

2. So why would a man buy a ticket to this horrible place? What kind of transportation could take him there? What kind of currency could purchase his ticket to this place of weeping and misery?

3. As strange as it sounds, one man in Scripture did buy his own ticket to Hell. It’s very possible that some of you here tonight are in the process of buying your own ticket there.

4. You say, “How could I be buying my own ticket to Hell?” Here are five ways:

I. LACK OF CONCERN TOWARD GOD

A. GOD DESERVES OUR BEST EFFORTS

1. You say, “Is lack of concern about God a sin?” Lack of concern about many things will get you in a world of trouble:

a. Your TAXES. Try not turning in your taxes!

b. Your JOB. Show lack of concern about your job and you’ll get fired!

c. When DRIVING A CAR. It’s very dangerous to not pay strict attention to how you’re driving. IT’S ALSO IMPORTANT TO PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WALK WITH GOD!

2. Jonah had been told to go speak to the Ninevites for God. Jonah didn’t want to go. So he tried to run away from God’s job for him and ended up in Hell (the belly of a fish).

3. You say, “The belly of a fish isn’t Hell.” Have you ever smelled rotting fish? Jonah thought the fish’s belly was as close to Hell as he wanted to get!

4. Is God low on our priority list? Is there little or no concern about prayer, church attendance, tithing, & reading our Bible? Many people just ‘tack-God-on’ to what they’re doing.

5. Many Christians are “mediocre,” which means of low quality, low performance, ordinary, so-so. GOD DESERVES OUR BEST! He gave His best for us, and it’s only right that we give our best to Him!

B. ILLUSTRATION

1. A young brother and sister were playing “Noah and the Ark.” An old shoe box was the ark; the bathtub was their flood. After the flood was over they decided to make an offering to God.

2. Noah (the boy) said to Mrs. Noah (the girl), “Here, take one of your toy animals as a sacrifice.” “No,” she replied, “Let’s use one of your animals instead!” When they couldn’t agree, the little girl ran up to the attic.

3. In a moment she was back with a toy lamb. It was dirty, it’s head smashed, and it’s tail missing. “Here,” she cried, “let’s give this as a sacrifice. We don’t want it anyhow.” Her brother agreed, and they made their sacrifice. The little broken lamb they didn’t want was given to God. [Ed Wood]

4. God told the Israelites through the Prophet Malachi that He didn’t want their leftovers; “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.” Mal. 1:8.

5. We need to give God our very best!

II. ACCEPTING OTHER’S OPINIONS INSTEAD OF GETTING YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE

A. THE BLIND MAN JESUS HEALED

1. In John 9, there was a blind man who was healed by Jesus. The man was questioned by the Pharisees about his healing.