Episode Transcript
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There's a battle going on for thesoul of me. He's of for avery.
But I'm saying, within the armsof God, Dear Brad, She's
the keeper of muscles. Cheers toChrist. I'll not Surreylender. I'll have
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Sorreyender. I'll have Surreyender. Iknow I'll always be a godspol defender.
Ladies and gentleman, Rick bright involveof the gospel defender ministries. A message
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you are about to hear will encourageand equip those who have ears to hear
to be a Christian of a gospeldefender. I'll have Survey. I'll have
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Survey ridal Low a godspool. Ladiesand gentlemen, let us, in this
hour launch out into the deep,the deep waters of the Book of Jonah,
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or, if you prefer the alliteration, we will now join Jonah in
his journey. There is probably nobook in the volume of the sixty six
books of the Bible that is morecontroversial or that has suffered more abuse at
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the hands of men than this OldTestament book. Down through the ages,
Bible critics have scoffed at it andridiculed it has been nothing but a legendary
mythological fairy tale that is at bestan interesting allegorical piece of fiction, and
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have a sign to the looney bin. Those who believe that it is a
true account. There are those whobelieve that it should never have become part
of the Bible. But the onewhose judgment of this book matters most is
Jesus the Christ, the only begottenSon of God. Twice during his ministry,
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Jesus had an opportunity to chime inon the Book of Jonah. It
is in Matthew twelve, verses thirtyeight through forty one, in response to
his enemies, the scribes and Pharisees, who demanded that he work some sign
to prove that he was who hesaid he was that he said an evil
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and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to
it except the sign of the prophetJonah. For as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the belly ofthe great fish, so will the son
of Man be three days and threenights in the heart of the earth.
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The men of Nuneveh will rise upin the judgment with this generation and condemn
it, because they repented at thepreaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater
than Jonah is here. You wouldthink they would have gotten the message.
But the enemies of Christ, thedeniers, and the disbelievers, are never
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satisfied. This is also true inthe age in which we live. So
the scribes and Pharisees tried again inMatthew sixteen to intimidate the person they hated,
their creator and their Messiah. Inverses one through four, it is
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written, then the Pharisees and Sadduceescame and testing him, asked that he
would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them,
when it is evening, you sayit will be fair weather, for the
sky is rid, and in themorning it will be foul weather. Today,
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for the sky is rid and threatening. Hypocrites. You know how to
discern the face of the sky,but you cannot discern the signs of the
times. A wicked and adulterous generationseeks after a sign, and no signs
shall be given to it except thesign of the prophet Jonah. Religion is
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filled with people like the scribes andPharisees, who have died Jesus to see
a sign. Germans are preached andbooks are written about the signs of the
times. The more sensational the sign, the more attention they receive. It
is somewhat bewildering to those who taketheir study of God's words seriously. How
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those who claim to have the specialsupernatural ability to decipher the meaning of various
signs taking place in the world thatare the fulfillment of some prophecy do not
have the ability to tell their audienceshow to be saved from sin using the
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most basic simple words written in theNew Testament. They supposedly are able to
tell us the prophetical significance of avolcanic eruption in the Northwest, or a
tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, afamine in Africa, or an earthquake in
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Central America, but cannot tell usexactly what the Bible says about how to
be born again. Take for example, Acts two, verse thirty eight.
It is a simple statement, repentand let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ forthe remission of sin. There is nothing
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mysterious or complicated about that statement.But those who are able to interpret the
prophetical meaning of someone's knees in theMiddle East are not able to interpret the
meaning of that simple statement. Asfar as I am concerned, if you
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are not able to tell me themeaning of Acts two, verse thirty eight
and other Salvation verses, I amnot interested in your guessing the meaning of
someone burping in Palestine and then tellingme that it is a Thus saith the
Lord. On two occasions, theLord told his enemies to read the Scroll
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of Jonah. The sign for whichthey were looking was written on the parchment
of that book. The problem wasnot that there was no sign. The
problem was the enemies of Christ wereblind to the sign. The Lord said,
Jonah's experience in the belly of agreat fish and then being vomited on
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to drive land was the sign forwhich they were looking, but they ignored
it. It was the sign thatpointed the Jewish nation to their Messiah.
We could make a good case herein refuting the demands of the Pentecostal and
charismatic denomination that constantly seeks signs fromabove. The completed, in errant,
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infallible, inspired revelation of the Wordof God is not sufficient for these people
to establish and undergird their faith.They must have more than the word of
God. To believe what they saythey believe, they must constantly, over
and over again, see signs tovalidate their faith and their doctrine. Since
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we do not have the time toexpose their false doctrines, we are compelled
to back into the Book of Jonah. There are those in religion who elevate
the doctrine of love above the doctrineof obedience to God's word. The truth
is, if a person loves theLord, he will be obedient to the
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Lord's word when it comes to God'sword. As far as the connection between
love and obedience, you really donot and cannot have one without the other.
The Lord could not have been moreclear about this than what he said
in John fourteen fifteen to his apostles. He said, if you love me,
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you will keep my commandments. Butthis is also another subject for another
time. There is no other bookamong the sixty six books of the Bible
that radiates the light of the divinelove of God than does this Book of
Jonah. And no other book isthere a more compelling and brilliant illustration of
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the tender love of God than inthis thirty second book of the Old Testament.
The theme of Jonah, from itsbeginning to its end, is the
sovereignty of God and his love forpeople, all people, not just those
who are Jewish. Jonah is oneof the better known characters in God's Word.
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Jonah and the Big Fish. TheGreat Fish is one of those stories
children learn early in Sunday school.That is, they do if their mom
and dad will get out of bedto bring them to Bible school on the
Lord's Day morning. Those who havelittle, if any reverence for the things
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of God look upon Jonah as aclown who ended up in the belly of
a whale. But for those whotake their study of God's word more seriously,
he was a real man with thesame faults and the same weaknesses that
most of us have. As youconsider the faults of this man, don't
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fail to remember this. He wrotethis book guided by the inspiration of God
the Holy Spirit, and he didnot hesitate to deal honestly with his own
shortcomings. How would you fare ifyou were to write your life story as
he recorded the words that we havein our own Bible. He must have
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wept and been cut to his heartover his foolishness. Nevertheless, he wrote
it. There are four chapters inthis book, but there are five parts
to it. The first part isthat of chapter one, verses one through
five. It is the revelation ofJonah's rebellion, or to describe it another
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way, it is the revelation ofJonah running away from God. There are
valuable lessons to be learned from Jonah'sexperience in this first chapter. In this
first message, we will consider onlypart of the first verse that is included
in the first of the three sectionsthat form the first part of this first
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chapter. It is in verses oneand two that we read about Jonah's divine
commission. Now, the word ofthe Lord came to Jonah, the son
of a mid time, saying,arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before
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me. Jonah's commission came from theLord. It didn't come from any man
or group of men. Received adivine commission. He was called of God.
A call similar to this was thecall that the apostle Paul received at
the time he was struck down onthe road to Damascus. Writing to the
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churches of Galicia, he said inchapter one, in verses fifteen and sixteen
of that epistle. When it pleasedGod, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me through his graceto reveal his son in me, that
I might preach him among the gentiles. I did not immediately confer with flesh
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and blood, nor did I goup to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me. Paul did not goto the apostles in Jerusalem to get their
permission to go out to preach thegospel. He was called of God.
He didn't go to some seminary papermill to receive a worthless certificate that authorized
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him to preach the Gospel of Christ. He was called of God. After
he was converted to Christ. Actsnine, verse twenty says he immediately preached
the Christ in the synagogues that heis the son of God. His full
commission is recorded in Acts twenty six, verses sixteen through eighteen. The Lord
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commanded him to rise and stand onyour feet, For I have appeared to
you for this purpose, to makeyou a minister and a witness, both
of the things which you have seenand of the things which I will yet
reveal to you. I will deliveryou from the Jewish people, as well
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as from the gentiles, to whomI now send you to open in their
eyes in order to turn them fromdarkness to light, and from the power
of Satan to God, that theymay receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who are sanctified by faithin me. I made this statement in
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a class one time, that theperson teaching the class had been called of
God to do the work he wasdoing. Someone in the class took issue
with my statement. He obviously didn'tbelieve that God in this day and age
called anybody to any ministry in thechurch, and so he asked the teacher,
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who happened also to be a preacher, do you believe that you were
called by God? I thought tomyself, this is a great opportunity laid
in this preacher's lap to do someimportant teaching here, as well as to
impress upon the class the honor thepreacher was due for having been called of
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God to the preaching and teaching ministry. Instead, the preacher balked at the
question. He hesitated, he wasintimidated by his student's question that was obviously
objecting to what I had just said, But he finally answered no. He
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said, I don't think I wascalled. It was just something I decided
to do. I learned later thatthe student was a member of the congregation
where that teacher preached, a congregationthat did not believe that in this day
and age God called anyone to anyministry. The preacher buckled under pressure.
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Upon reflection, I think this maybe why the preacher wasn't very good at
doing what he tried to do.He wasn't really called of God to teach.
There were other important ministries he couldhave done for the Lord and for
the Lord's Church, and left thepreaching and teaching ministry to someone who had
been called. There are many menstanding behind the sacred desk and the sacred
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lectern who have never been called ofGod, either to preach or to teach,
and it is obvious to those whoknow anything about God's Word that they
haven't. It is a great blessingand honor to be called of God.
To do anything in the Church towhatever ministry you have been called, honored
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God by confessing that you are inthat ministry because by God's grace you have
been called to it by God.Every ministry in the Church that Jesus built
is a special blessing in which tolabor. But to have been called of
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God to deliver his sacred word,either by preaching a sermon or by teaching
a lesson, is a special honorto such a ministry. Jonah was called
and honored. Jonah was called ofGod. There are those who want to
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know how Jonah received his call.Was it through some vision he received?
Was it through some audible voice ofGod that he heard? Since nobody living
on this earth at this time wasthere at the time he received his call.
And since the Word of God doesnot disclose this information, we will
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never know the real answer to thisquestion. It is enough for us to
know that he was called. Godcommunicated to Jonah his call in some way,
and Jonah got it. There arethose in the church today who sit
in a pew and say to themselves, Oh, if only God would speak
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to me, if only God wouldcall me to a ministry. The fact
is He already has. It isthat ministry of Mark sixteen, verse fifteen.
The church is to go into allthe world and preach the Gospel to
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every creature. It is that callof Matthew twenty eight verses nineteen and twenty.
The Church is to go therefore andmake disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of theFather, and of the Son, and
and of the Holy Spirit, teachingthem to observe all things that I have
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commanded you. These words were spokento the apostles, but they are just
as applicable to the Church body todayas they were to the apostles. Then,
the whole corporate body of Christ andher individual members have been called the
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first century Church in Jerusalem understood bothMark sixteen, verse fifteen and Matthew twenty
eight verses nineteen and twenty as beingtheir personal commission. It is written in
Acts one and Acts eight four thatat that time of Deacon's Deacon Stephens being
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stoned to death, the church wassuffering a great persecution, and they were
all scattered throughout the region of Judeaand Samaria, except the apostles. Therefore,
those who were scattered went everywhere preachingthe word. Both Mark sixteen fifteen
and Matthew twenty eight verses nineteen andtwenty were a commission given to the apostles,
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but in Acts eight it was theChurch that went to Judea, and
Samaria to preach the Gospel of theLord Jesus Christ, while the apostles remained
in Jerusalem. Both Mark sixteen fifteenand Matthew twenty eight Verses nineteen and twenty
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are referred to by the church asthe Great Commission. Every Christian has received
a call from God to preach theGospel. The first century church understood the
commission, but for some reason thetwenty first century church. The problem is
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not that no one in the churchthat Jesus built has received the call.
The problem is only a handful inhis church respond to the call they have
received. Go into all the worldand preach the Gospel to every creature.
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Jonah was called, and he wascalled to a certain city. Arise,
go to Nineveh. The problem wasnot that he didn't know he was called.
The problem was the place to whichhe was being called. He didn't
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want to go there. He couldhardly believe what he heard. Why in
the world would God want a Jewishprophet to go to the capital city of
the heathen world, the future capitalof the Assyrian Empire. God's people had
received atrocious treatment from these Heathens.Jonah hated them, and if it were
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left up to him, they allcould go to Hell. It was the
last place Jonah wanted to take thesaving message of God. Could it be
God forbid that this is the mindsetof today's church. There is a battle
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going on for the soul of me. He's of war, theyvery But I
am the same within the arms ofGod. Dear brid the ever of the
soul jeers the Church of Christ underi'll i'll have to redender. I do
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loow a godspold. Ladies and gentlemenwriting bos speaking, you have just heard
another Gospel Defender Ministries radio broadcast broughtto you by the Church that Jesus built
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that preaches all of the Word toall of the world. Jesus said in
Mark sixteen or sixteen, he whobelieves and is baptized will be saved.
So find someone today who will immerseyou into Christ today before it is everlastingly
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too late. Our mailing address isGospel Defender Ministries, Post Office Box five
seven five JEL copy c H IL L I C O T H E
jel cofee Ohio SIB four five sixzero one. You can also contact us
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to the worldwide Web at Gospel dashDefender dot org. Or my email at
a costav H G O, SD E F A cost death at roade
letter dot com. At your request, written transcript or an audio copy of
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today's message will be sent to youfree of charge, with no obligation from
you, now or in the future. We need to hear from you as
soon as possible, so please takethe time to contact us today now until
you and I meet again at thesame time and at the same place.
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Our prayer is that you will besteadfastly set for the events of the Gospel God