THE SECOND CHANCE CAN BE REJECTED
Jonah 4:1-11
Intro:
1. In Greek mythology Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. He loves the image so deeply he cannot leave the side of the pool. Thus we have Narcissism, speaking of one who is self-absorbed.
Joseph Stowell writes:
Narcissism is the notion that life should revolve around me and claims that I am the greatest entity in my personal universe. All that really matters are my rights, my privileges, my happiness and my prosperity. Other people are always secondary. Loving myself and looking out for “number one” are all that matters…The result of self-dominated thinking is the destruction and alienation from others and God as we lock out everyone else and barricade ourselves within a ghetto of one!”
In Woody Allen’s movie Scoop, a character who used to believe in Judaism but now has converted to another religion describes his shift in belief. Sid Waterman says, “I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but when I got older I converted to narcissism.”
2. Jonah was a prophet of God but somewhere along the way, he was converted to narcissism and became a prophet of self. The sad truth, we are never told whether he converted back to a prophet of God or not. If not, he let his Second Chance slip through his fingers.
3. The Second Chance can be Rejected.
Trans: Perhaps Jonah, and for sure a future generation of Ninevehites who refuse God’s offer of a second chance. Jonah 4:1-11
I. FIRST, THE SECOND CHANCE IS REQUIRED. 1:1-16
II. FURTHERMORE, THE SECOND CHANCE RECEIVED. 1:17-3:10
III. FINALLY, THE SECOND CHANCE CAN BE REJECTED. 4:1-11
A. First, Jonah’s Languished. 4:1-15
1. Due to selfish Pride. 4:1
1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry – the verb anger comes from a root which means “to glow hot.”
In his mind his reputation was now damaged, he went from Hero to Heel. He is self-absorbed. As John Butler put it:
“Jonah’s displeasure was rooted and grounded in selfishness. To be displeased with God is one of the hallmarks of selfishness. When you find a person who is unhappy with the way God is doing things or wants things done, you have just found a selfish person. It is either self or God.” See Luke 9:23
Step back and take note of the personal pronouns:
1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Jonah 4:1-3 (NIV)
Jonah did not care what was best for the people of Nineveh or God or anybody else – it is all about what is best for me!
Selfishness is in reality seeking a restraining order against God! We do not want Him or His plans or His ways.
In May 2016 an Israeli man petitioned for a restraining order against God. The plaintiff, identified as Mr. David Shoshan, represented himself at a court hearing in Haifa, a port city in the north of Israel.
The report noted that God was not present to defend himself. (Of course, God was present but didn't feel a need to defend himself).
David told the court that God had been treating him "harshly and not nicely." David also explained that he had made several attempts to contact police to report God's alleged crimes, and that patrol cars had been sent to his house on 10 occasions. Police advised David to try taking out a restraining order. The request for a restraining order was denied by the presiding Judge Ahsan Canaan, who said the request was "delusional" and that the petitioner required help from sources outside of the court.
We have a lot of delusional Christians who think they can keep God out of their lives and run it their way.
2. His selfish Prayers. 2-3
a. His lapse back into Carnality.
2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? – in other words he admits his sinful attitude that he had when he left for Joppa.
But I thought Jonah repented in the raging sea? Was that not real repentance? Yes! But we can lapse back into sin! We cannot confess sin, repent, and get back to walking with God and think that is the end of it. We still have an old sin nature, we have to maintain our obedience (Mt. 26:41/Gal. 5:16/Eph. 6:12/2 Cor. 10:4-5).
This life is a warfare and we are never done fighting the self monster! Barry Merritt of Ohio shared this:
When we lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, we would go to the beach. It was always hard to relax and have a good time with our children, though, because there were too many threats: jellyfish, stingrays, sharks, undertow.
One time we had some relatives that came to St. Petersburg and brought their boat with them. We decided to go out to an island a couple of miles offshore called Egmont Key. We had a great time because we didn't think we had to worry about the normal threats. The water was blue, the sand was white. We swam with our children carefree in the Gulf of Mexico. A few days later we were telling some friends about our wonderful day. Being more familiar with the area, they informed us we had been swimming in one of the most shark-infested areas around! We were in danger, but completely oblivious to it.
We need to be aware that we live among many threats – the world-system; self; and Satan are all wanting to take over.
b. He even had a selfish Philosophy.
Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.- It is amazing how we want God to be gracious to us but then begrudge Him showing grace to those we do not like.
Many of us have no problem receiving grace, but have a problem with showing grace to others. He had good theology, he knew God was patient, gracious, and loving, but he had reshaped it into a selfish philosophy. Good theology is God loves everybody and is gracious to all, not giving them what they deserve in this life; but a bad philosophy takes that and twists it to mean, God’s grace can only go so far, it must have limits, especially toward those who have done me wrong!
We must not let those illegal aliens stay in our country – they have broken the law! They do not deserve to stay and I will vote against anybody who offers them amnesty!
But many of them are criminals! I know but for a reason known only to God, He is patient with them. Keep in mind within about 40 years from Jonah’s time, the Assyrians would take Israel into captivity. As one put it:
It isn’t hard to relate to Jonah’s problem. If God had wiped out Hitler, or Stalin or Osama Bin Laden when they were young, the world would have been spared unspeakable evil and suffering. But God let them live! Why? Because He is “gracious and compassionate … slow to anger and abounding in love.” That was Jonah’s complaint…. Grace means that God may bless people who have wronged you, people from whose sins you have suffered. When that happens, you may find yourself asking, “Why doesn’t God give them what they deserve?” Sometimes God seems to bless the wrong people. His grace seems misdirected.
The truth is there is a Jonah in all of us, dare I say a Hitler as well? It is called the old sin nature whose righteous deeds are like a filthy rag (Isa. 64:6/Rom. 3:10-18).
c. He had a quitters Mentality.
3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life." – It’s amazing that the book doesn’t end with verse three! I love to watch Westerns, one of
the things I noticed that if it’s an old western it always has two big words at the end of it –THE END. I often wonder why they did that, did they think we are so stupid we did not know that the movie ended? I can see my wife walking into the room finding me staring at a blank screen. Hey, what are you doing? Oh, I am just waiting for the movie to end!
If I was God, I would have answered Jonah’s prayer and just put up a grave marker with two words on it – THE END! The amazing grace
of it all is that it is never the end in our relationship with God. Jonah is acting like a spoiled brat but notice how God doesn’t zap him but patiently endures. Martin Luther notes:
“We must note first of all how wondrous God is in His saints, lest we be tempted to judge and condemn them thoughtlessly because of any of their actions. This work here may be evil— as indeed it is. But for all of that, I must not despise and reject the person. For if we regard Jonah in this act, we must agree that his actions are surely wrong; for God Himself punishes him. And yet he is God’s dear child. He chats so uninhibitedly with God as though he were not in the least afraid of Him— as indeed he is not; he confides in Him as in a father” (AE 19: 92).
His threat is, it is my way or the high way! Lord if you do not do it my way I will just quit! How many just quit when things don’t go their way. I do not like the way this marriage is going so I will just quit; I do not like the way things are going on my job, I will get another; I do not like the way they do things in my church so I will find another one.
Of course, some of God’s finest servants wanted to just end it all and quit:
• Moses—Numbers 11:15
• Elijah—1 Kings 19:4
• Job and Jeremiah were weary of life and lamented the day of their births.
We may quit on God, but the amazing thing is that God never quits on us (Heb. 13:5-6).
3. His selfish Pouting. 4-5, 9
a. A Searching question.
4 The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" – is assumes a negative answer. He is asking Jonah to think about his response. If you search your heart you will know that your anger is totally unjustified.
As one put it:
Like a physician probing a wound before he medicates it to bring about its healing, so God probes the heart of Jonah with a soul searching question. What condescension it was for God to deal so patiently with Jonah. God could have squashed Jonah to a damp spot on the desert sands outside of Nineveh with one justified stomp of His holy foot…But God is exactly what Jonah knew God to be “slow to anger, and of great kindness (v. 3).
Billy Graham said, “I’ll never forget when she announced what she wanted on her gravestone, and those who have so graciously visited her gravesite at the Billy Graham Library have seen that she got her way. Long before Ruth became bedridden, she was driving along a highway through a construction site. Carefully following the detours and mile-by-mile cautionary signs, she came to the last one that said, “End of Construction. Thank You for Your Patience.” She arrived home that day chuckling and told the family about the postings. “When I die,” she said, “I want that engraved on my stone.”
I have heard over and over again about the patience of Job, that cannot even compare with the patience of God!
b. A Sitting down to see if God would destroy the city.
5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. - Jonah just ignores God’s question and continues in his stubborn rebellion!
Another thing to be noted is that those in Nineveh needed follow-up and discipleship. They are just spiritual babies and need guidance and teaching but Jonah is too self-focused to care about their spiritual well-being.
He has dug in his heels; he is not only rebellious but stubbornly rebellious. It is not wise to persist in our rebellious ways. An epitaph on the gravestone of an army mule:
Here lies Maggie,
who in her time kicked two captains,
four lieutenants,
ten sergeants,
fifty privates,
and one bomb.
T bottom line is that God is not going to abandon His truth for Jonah’s distorted reasoning. He can sit on that hill till he grows old and dies but the city of Nineveh has been spared!
When the infidel Robert G. Ingersoll was delivering his lectures against Christ and the Bible, his oratorical ability usually assured him of a large crowd. One night after an inflammatory speech in which he severely attacked man's faith in the Savior, he dramatically took out his watch and said:
"I'll give God a chance to prove that He exists and is almighty. I challenge Him to strike me dead within 5 minutes!" First there was silence, then people became uneasy. Some left the hall, unable to take the nervous strain of the occasion, and one woman fainted. At the end of the allotted time, the atheist exclaimed derisively: "See! There is no God. I am still very much alive!"
After the lecture a young fellow said to a Christian lady, "Well, Ingersoll certainly proved something tonight!" Her reply was memorable. "Yes he did, He proved God isn't taking orders from atheists tonight."
God is not taking orders from Jonah or anybody else for that matter, whether it be a believer or an atheist.
c. Making a little Shelter to give him shade from the sun.
There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. – this would be made of twigs and whatever could be found. These shelters were built for Cattle (Gen. 33:170, travelers (Lev. 23:43), religious pilgrims (Neh. 8:15-17), or for those guarding crops (Job 27:18)
B. Second, God’s Lesson. 4:6-11
1. A Demonstration. 6-8
a. Jonah’s plant Withered
6 And when the leaves of the shelter withered in the heat… Jonah 4:6 (TLB)
b. The Lord prepared a Wee little plant. 6
(1) It was Sent by God Himself.
6 So the LORD God appointed – again we see God’s providence in every page of this little book. God is not just responsible for this Wee little plant, but also the Worm that took it away, as well as the scorching Wind.
I read the story of a couple who endured the tragic loss of their teenage son through a road accident. In their sorrow, they reached out to a pastor who told them, “Sometimes even God makes mistakes.” That pastor is doing more harm than, if he just told the truth, that God was behind the death of their son, even though we cannot not understand why, He in His wisdom does what He does.
Alan Redpath, who was the pastor of Moody church in Chicago, suffered a stroke which caused much suffering. He writes:
There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to panic, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as a coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.
(2) The plant started out Small.
6 So the LORD God appointed a plant – The NET note observes:
The noun ??????????? (qiqayon, “plant”) has the suffixed ending ?????- which denotes a diminutive (see IBHS 92 e5.7b), so it can be nuanced “little plant.” For the probable reason that the narrator used the diminutive form here, see the note on “little” in v. 10.
(3) It grew Supernaturally.
and it grew up over Jonah – this is not a normal growth! As one put it:
‘Miracle-Gro’ never produced anything like this! It was a miracle vine. Picture a time-lapse video, showing the growth of a plant from seedling to full maturity in a matter of minutes. That’s how this vine appeared. It was a miraculous gift from the Lord.
(4) It provided Shade.
to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. – notice this was not due to any merit on Jonah’s part. Likewise, none of us deserve any blessing from God. When God blesses us it should encourage humility not pride. It reminds me of Winston Churchill, we watched the movie Darkest Hour the other day, it was a great movie about Winston Churchill. One of his political opponents was Clement Atlee, Churchill never liked the man. Once someone told him that Atlee was a wonderful humble man.” Churchill replied, “Of course, he has a lot to be humble about!” Truth is we all do.
(5) It made Jonah Slap happy!
And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. – he was sitting pretty, a slang for doing very nicely. He was back in his comfort zone.
John Ortberg writes:
Too much comfort is dangerous. Literally.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, did an experiment some time ago that involved introducing an amoeba into a perfectly stress-free environment: ideal temperature, optimal concentration of moisture, constant food supply. The amoeba had an environment to which it had to make no adjustment whatsoever.
So you would guess this was one happy little amoeba. Whatever it is that gives amoebas ulcers and high blood pressure was gone.
Yet, oddly enough, it died.
Self-centered comfort is in reality a killer – it is to focus on God’s blessings without focusing on the source of it.
Hawkins makes good application:
Each of us should ask the question, “What is my vine?” In what do I trust and find joy?...Some of us wonder why we used to be happy in the Lord Jesus and now we are angry. Some of us feel He has left us. Could it be that we started delighting more in the vine than in the Lord Jesus? Could it be that He sent a worm to show us that it is not the temporal but the eternal that is really important?
c. The Lord prepared a Worm. 7
7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. – let’s never forget that every blessing we experience is due to God’s gracious hand. He owes us nothing and our attitude should be like that of Job.
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." 22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. Job 1:20-22
I like the way J. Vernon McGee comments on that verse:
Here is a viewpoint of life and a philosophy of life that Christians need today toward material things. You and I came into this world with nothing. We were naked as jaybirds when we came into this world. And we are going to leave the world the same way. Remember the old bromide, "There are no pockets in a shroud"? My friend, you can't take anything with you. The story is told that years ago all the relatives were standing outside the bedroom door of the patriarch of a very wealthy family. They were waiting for the old man to die and for the family lawyer to come out. When he came, he announced to them all that the father had died. Immediately one of the more greedy ones asked, "How much did he leave?" And the lawyer replied, "He left it all. He didn't take anything with him."
That is the way it will be with all of us. It makes no difference how many deeds you have or how strong your safety deposit box may be, what you accumulate or how much insurance you have. When you go and when I go, we're going just like we came into this world. It is very important for us to get this into our philosophy of life. You may be living today in an expensive home, or you may be living in a hovel. You may have a big bank account, or you may not have anything to count at all. You may have a safety deposit box filled with stocks and bonds, or you may not even have a safety deposit box. It makes no difference who you are. We're all going to leave the same way we came into this world. Whatever you have, you are simply a steward of it. Really, in the final analysis, it does not belong to you, does it?
Jonah did not deserve that plant, it was an unearned and undeserved gift from God, and thus he had no right to complain about its removal.
d. Then God-prepared a scorching east Wind. 8
8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life." – Jonah could star in a movie Death Wish – I, II, & II!
These winds are brutal; one feels like he is suffocating with particles of sand blinding one’s vision, it could cause a deadly sunstroke.
All of this reminds me of something John Newton wrote:
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, his face…
I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once he’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining power,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.
Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Yea more, with his own hand he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.
“Lord, why is this?” I trembling cried,
“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.
“These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st seek thy all in Me.”
2. A Declaration. 9-11
a. God’s Challenge.
9 Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" – how ridiculous to be grieved over the destruction of a plant but not about the destruction of an entire city. He actually preferred that the city be destroyed and the plant be spared! Talk about mixed up priorities. God was trying get Jonah to see the truth, but he seems to have missed the point of the plant, worm, and scorching wind. It was designed to explain to him how much God loves people but all Jonah could focus on his was losses. Reminds me of a man who was demonstrating the effectiveness of a certain window cleaner. He smeared some butter on a window and then used the cleaner to wipe it off. He then asked if anyone had any questions. On lady raised her hand and asked, “Yes, how much butter are we supposed to use?” She like, Jonah missed the point of the demonstration.
b. Jonah’s continual Contempt.
And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."
Jonah reminds me of the boy whose mother made him say five hundred times ‘I’m a disobedient boy.’ But he got even with her. When he got to his room he said five hundred times ‘No I ain’t’”
c. Jonah’s shallow Compassion.
Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. – we have a lot of people with shallow compassion. You can see a 5 minute commercial about the cruelty to animals, but that same person could care less about those little babies being slaughtered in abortion.
Some time ago, I shot a deer during hunting season and had to follow that deer for a long way before I found him. I went down hills, up hills, stumbled over rocks, branches, and things I did not know what it was. When I found it, it was still standing but eventually fell over dead. I had to drag that deer a long way to get it home, uphill, tall grass, and stopping every few minutes gasping for air! I shared that with my mother and she winced, “Oh that poor deer!” I thought, mom this is your own son, I about had a heart attack out there and you are concerned about the deer! It is ok to be concerned about animals and, I suppose, even plants, but they are not in the same category with people created in the image of God. Of course, Jonah’s compassion was not for that plant but for his own creature comforts.
d. God’s Compassion for His creation.
(1) He cares about the Lost.
11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand – God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rejoice when just one person is saved. All of the angels in heaven rejoice when just one sinner is saved. How much more when 120,000 respond!
PS: Some take the 120,000 people who could not tell their right hand from their left is a reference to young children, but it is likely a description of people who have lost their ability to discern right from wrong.
We also should have enough compassion to care about whether people in our own city are saved.
Jonah built a little booth,
A shelter from the heat.
A gourd-vine grew, protection from
The wind, that on him beat
Jonah rejoiced, exceedingly glad
For tis convient gourd –
Especially since this comfort was
Provided by the Lord!
“I thank Thee, Lord; Thou has been good,
To my dear wife and me;
We’re glad were in a peaceful land
Of great prosperity.
It makes us feel so good
This little bungalow
The kitchenette, the living room
The rug, so soft, you know.
And fundamentalists are we,
My children, wife and I
So thankful that we’re saved by grace,
Secure until we die.
What did you say? Oh, Nineveh!
Well, that’s another thing.
Right now we want to Praise our God.
Were sheltered ‘neath His wings!”
Thus fundamental Jonah’s too
The Lord their praises tell.
While Nineveh goes to hell!”
Of course, this is not designed to be a guilt trip or teach that we are the author of anyone’s faith. We can only plant and water, but God alone causes the increase.
(2) He cares about the Livestock.
as well as many animals? – I think my mother probably appreciates this verse! And yet, it is certainly not putting animals in the same class as people created in the image of God.
Trans: God is using Jonah’s shallow compassion and lack of concern about the people of Nineveh to show Jonah the absurdity of being angry with God’s compassion for the people of Nineveh.
One of the things that this points out is the foolishness of thinking we know better than God. We don’t! Jonah sin was that of playing God and criticizing God for being God. Jonah is not the hero of this book, God is, the one we want to be like is Jehovah not Jonah!
Con:
1. So we have a Second Chance Required because of our failures; and a Second Chance can be Received only because of God’s mercy and grace; and a Second Chance can be Rejected.
2. The God of the Second Chance.
3. One thing for sure when we become narcissistic, focused only on getting our way we are effectively blocking God from doing anything in our lives.
An example of a narcissistic life is known in the life of Don Juan. In Spanish it is Don Juan, also known in Italian, as Don Giovanni.
Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni tells the story of this self-centered nobleman who seduces whomever he pleases, treating men and women as mere playthings. He cares only about his own pleasure and entertainment. He cares nothing about the impact of his actions on other people.
In the opening scene of the opera, he is attempting to seduce Donna Anna, the daughter of the Commendatore. Donna Anna cries for help, and the Commendatore comes to his daughter’s aid. He fights a duel with Don Giovanni, who kills him. The Commendatore’s death does not trouble Don Giovanni at all. He continues to seduce and scheme. Later in the opera Don Giovanni taunts a statue of the Commendatore in the cemetery and afterwards he orders his servant to invite the statue to join him for dinner. That evening Don Giovanni hears a knock on his door. The statue of the Commendatore enters and offers Don Giovanni a last opportunity to repent of his narcissistic sins. Don Giovanni refuses. The Commendatore grabs hold of Don Giovanni and drags him down into hell.
For the future Ninevites who, unlike the generation in Jonah’s day, would reject God’s second chance they would indeed be thrust into hell. For Jonah, if he remained self-absorbed, thus rejecting God’s second chance, he would not end up in hell, but the remainder of his earthly life would be a sort of hell on earth – separated from God’s will for his life.
Gaebelein comments:
“Jonah is silenced; he could not reply. The last words belong to Jehovah, who thus demonstrated in His infinite compassion He embraces not Israel alone, but all His creation, the Gentile world and even animal creation.”
Was Jonah persuaded? We are not told but it doesn’t really matter because one “greater than Jonah” is our example.
Gospel Presentation:
Let me ask you one of the most important questions you will ever ponder.
Have you come to a place in your life where you know for certain that if you died you would go to heaven?
The only answer to that question is, yes, no, or I don’t know. Take a moment and think about it. A follow up question would be:’
If you were standing before God right now and He were to ask, “Why should I let you into my perfect heaven?”
What do you think you would say? You might say, “I go to church. I try to live a good life. I try to keep God’s law.” Such responses are sincere, and I appreciate your honesty. Most would probably say, “I don’t know what I would say.” Well, would you like to know? Then read the following carefully.
God Really Does Love You
“For God so loved the world, (put your name here), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
It is natural to question this claim; we tend to wonder how God could love us with all of our problems and hang-ups, yes, you can say it – with all of our sins. My wife and I have had two children. When they were born they did nothing for us! And after they were born, for the first several months they kept us up all hours of the night; we had to change their diapers and feed them. I think most of you know what I’m talking about. However, we did love them. Why? I suppose it was because we had something to do with them being in this world. They are our children; they even looked a little like us – poor kids! You need to realize that God is the one who had everything to do with your coming into this world. Without God you would not even exist! He is the Creator and Sustainer of life. He, in fact, created you in His image and loves you even though you have done nothing to deserve it.
So What’s a Fella to Do?
Have you ever felt that your life lacked purpose and meaning? Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind:
• Where did I come from?
• Why am I here?
• Where am I going?
God knows the answer to these questions. He created you with a definite purpose in mind.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
An abundant life is a life of purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. That is what God offers you. This brings up an unavoidable question—what happened! If He loves us and has this great purpose for our life, then why are both concepts so foreign to us? The answer is both profound and very simple.
Sin Separates!
We are all sinners, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22). We are a sinner by birth. God created Adam and Eve and put them in a garden with only one commandment; they were not to eat of a certain tree. They disobeyed God by taking a bite, and thus they sinned. Now what kind of babies are two sinful people capable of having? It is the law of biogenesis—like produces like. This is why there is no need to teach children how to tell a lie, but only to teach them positive things like telling the truth. They know how to lie naturally!
The reason for that is that we are all born with a sin nature inherited from Adam.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).
We are also sinners by behavior. Have you not sinned? The Bible commands us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. Have you always done that? Have you ever done that? Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever wanted to? God not only looks at our deeds but at our desires. The Bible clearly declares we have all sinned.
So What?
Here is the answer to the so-what question.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
What we have earned from our sin is death. Death means separation.
• There is spiritual death—the separation of the spirit/soul from God. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen. 2:16–17). The day they ate of it they did not physically die; that took place many years later. But God said in the day you eat of it you will die. They died spiritually that very day.
• There is also physical death—the separation of the spirit/soul from the body. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). The fact that everybody dies physically is proof positive that everyone is spiritually dead. If we were not sinners, we would not die. The statistics are rather impressive; one out of every one person dies!
• If you die physically while you are spiritually dead, you will die eternally. Eternal death is the eternal separation of the spirit/soul/body from God’s goodness, grace, mercy, and blessings. It is to be fully conscious and live in a place the Bible calls the lake of fire. “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14–15).
Question: How can you say one moment that God loves me and then in the next that He condemns me?
Well let us imagine putting on a judge’s robe and sitting on the bench. Then the unthinkable happens. Your son, whom you love very much, is brought before you, guilty of a capital offense! The penalty for his crime is death, and the evidence is clear as to his guilt. Would you sentence him to death? If you were a just judge, you would, not because you no longer love him, but in spite of your great love for him. God is holy, righteous, and just, as well as a God of love. This looks like bad news! However, the very word gospel means good news, so where is this good news?
Jesus Christ Is God
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
This is a great mystery, but the Bible teaches that God became God/man. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Jesus Christ the Substitute
The Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and then died in your place. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8 NKJV).
Let us put our judge robe back on for a minute. Imagine after sentencing your boy to be executed, taking off your robe and then voluntarily offering to die in his place. That would make you just and loving at the same time. That is what Jesus Christ actually did for us. We do not understand all of this but must accept it by faith. I do not understand electricity, but I still do not live in the dark. I do not understand how the digestive system works, but I still eat. I do not understand how a brown cow eats green grass and produces white milk. You do not have to understand everything to be saved—just that you are a sinner and that Jesus Christ died for your sin.
He Is Not Here, He Has Risen
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:3–6).
By rising from the dead, He proved that He paid for all of our sins. If He had not, death would have held Him. It also proved that He had no sin of His own. If He had, He would have stayed dead like everybody else.
One Way Only
We have all seen One Way Only signs, and so it is with the way of salvation. There is only one person who can save. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).
You can line up every one of us on the West Coast with plans to swim to Hawaii, and no doubt, some would swim a lot farther than others. Nevertheless, we would all have one thing in common: nobody would make it! It is impossible for anybody to swim from the West Coast to Hawaii. And it is just as impossible for sinful man to make his way to a Holy God on his own without experiencing God’s wrath. What one needs is a boat to get them from the West Coast to Hawaii. Moreover, the only salvation boat is the Lord Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the only way to be saved is as true as 2 + 2 = 4. There is only one answer to that equation, and there is only one way to be saved.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Facts
These are only facts. Giving mental assent to these facts is not enough to save anyone. It is not enough to give intellectual assent to these facts. We must believe and thus receive Christ.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
Faith
Facts must be wedded to faith. So, what do we mean when we say believe or place your faith in Christ?
Faith involves mind, emotion, and will.
Years ago, a tightrope walker named Charles Blondin, went across Niagara Falls, walking on a wire. He went back and forth. He even filled a wheelbarrow with bricks and took that across. A crowd gathered, and he asked one of them, “Do you believe I could do that with you?” The man agreed that he could. Then Blondin said, “Hop on in, and I’ll carry you across.” The man said, “No way!” You see, he did not really believe. He believed in his mind that Blondin could take him across; he wanted him to in his emotions, but he would not commit himself to Blondin and trust him to take him across. Saving faith involves our mind, emotion, and will.
Amazing Grace
You likely have heard the song, “Amazing Grace.” We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Now faith is not a work—faith is to believe in the work of another. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).
Dr. Gerstner: “Christ has done everything necessary for his salvation. Nothing now stands between the sinner and God but the sinner’s good works. Nothing can keep him from Christ but his delusion that he does not need Him—that he has good works of his own that can satisfy God. If men will only be convinced that all their righteousness is as filthy rags; if men will see that there is none that does good, no, not one; if men will see that all are shut up under sin—then there will be nothing to prevent their everlasting salvation. All they need is need. All they must have is nothing. All that is required is acknowledged guilt. But alas, sinners cannot part from their virtues. They are imaginary, but they are real to them. So grace becomes unreal. The real grace of God they spurn in order to hold on to the illusory virtues of their own. Their eyes fixed on a mirage; they will not drink real water. They die of thirst in the midst of an ocean of grace.”
Repentance is a synonym for faith; it is like heads and tails of one coin. Repentance is not making a vow you will stop sinning, nor is it a change of life. You cannot stop sinning or change your life until God saves you! I have fished most of my life and I have never cleaned a fish before I caught it. Repentance is a change of mind, about who you are, a sinner; and about the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can save you based on His death, burial, and resurrection.
Good Enough Is Not Good Enough
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day prayed three times a week, fasted twice a week, never missed going to the house of worship, and memorized the Old Testament (Luke 18:9–12). Yet, Jesus said that if you are not more righteous then they, you are not going to make it!
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20).
Then he says something rather startling:
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
Did you know Jesus said it takes perfect righteousness to get to heaven? We all know that nobody is perfect! How then can we be perfectly righteous before a perfectly righteous God?
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The truth is, there is only one person who lived a perfect life, and that was Jesus Christ. You see, the good news is that not only did Jesus die on the cross in our place, to offer us forgiveness of all our sins, He also offers us His perfect righteousness, placed on our account! The only sin Jesus ever knew was ours; the only righteousness we will ever know is His.
Never the Same!
Salvation is not an external thing. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, He makes you a new creature within!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
And the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence within you.
“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal. 4:6).
Thus, you now have the desire (new nature) and the power (indwelling Holy Spirit) to live for God. You are positionally changed from being in Adam to now being in Christ, and experientially changed because the inner transformation of regeneration and salvation begins the process of progressive sanctification, which ultimately leads to glorification.
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
While we still have an old sin nature though Satan is opposing us every step of the way, we must grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It is also true that our entire life is different! If we are what we’ve always been, we are not saved. I know that I am saved because on the seventh of May, 1974, I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and also because I have never gotten over it! And it is not that we are trying to be saved. If I asked you, “Are you an elephant?” You would not say, “Well, I’m trying to be!” You either are an elephant or you’re not. No one who is trying to be saved understands salvation. You are either saved or you’re not! You are saved because you have had a personal, life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ at a point in time. It is a matter of trusting not trying.
So Are You Ready to Be Saved?
If this is something you want to do, then here is a suggested prayer; the words are not what’s important but what’s in your heart. If God is dealing with you, then cry out to Him:
Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I cannot save myself. I cannot even help you save me. But the best I know how, I confess that I am a sinner and believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I open the door of my life and receive you right now as my Savior. Come in and make me the kind of person you want me to be.
If you just received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are saved! This promise is based on the authority of God’s Word.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
A list of my other books: Go to Amazon.com and type in Johnny A Palmer Jr.
Genesis: Roots of the Nation Vol. 1
Genesis: Roots of the Nation Vol. 2
Genesis: Roots of the Nation Vol. 3
Exodus: Redemption of the Nation. Vol. 1
Exodus: Redemption of the Nation. Vol. 2
Book of Leviticus
Book of Judges
First Samuel
Second Samuel
Book of Job
The Gospel of Mark: the servant.
The Gospel of Luke Vol. 1
The Gospel of Luke Vol. 2
The Gospel of Luke Vol. 3
The Gospel of Luke Vol. 4
The Book of Acts
Ephesians: A Manual for Survival
Jude: Hey Jude
Revelation: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
A Manual for Revival
Practical Principles for Studying the Bible
Read Limit 30 mph
Proclamations from a Politically Incorrect Prophet
Elvis Wellness
Awake for the Dawn is About to Break
Rewards of Rejecting Christ
Which Messiah will you Meet?
GPS-23
Spiritual Survivor Man
A Father's Day Message
A Mother's Day Message
I'm For Life
Double Solitaire with the Trinity
Fuel – The Lord’s Prayer
Practical Principles for Bible Study
The God of the Second Chance
God who is Good and Angry
