Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a battle going on for the soul of me.
He's the war avery.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But I'm saying, within the arms of God, dear bride,
She's the keeper of the surge of Christ.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'll not surrender. I'll have Surreyender, I'll not surrenyender.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
I know I'll always be a godspel defender, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
Rick Brydenball of the Gospel Defender ministries, God, this gospel message,
you will encourage and equip those who have ears to
hear to be a Christian hold with the armor of
a gospel defender.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
A survey alot, survey.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Ridal low, a godspel.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Ladies and gentlemen. Much to the surprise of most people,
the ministry of an evangelist it's not as glorious as
it may appear, at least not the ministry of those
evangelists who take their ministry seriously. Unfortunately, not all evangelists do.
(01:50):
This is especially true of the professional types who fleece
their television viewers for all they can. We think some
well known preachers in the world of Christian media who
have learned almost to perfection, how to fleece their flock
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without their flock even realizing they've been fleeced. They have
beautiful television studios decked out with appealing religious props that
make their broadcasts look like Hollywood productions. And to pay
for all of this, they're one eight hundred telephone operators
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stand by to receive your phone call and prayer request
while receiving your seed money, of course, to keep it
all going. The devil has been very successful in luring
people to places that are loud and theatrical rather than
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to places where the old fashioned Jerusalem Gospel is faithfully preached. Jonah,
like some preachers today, did not take his ministry as
a prophet of God seriously either. He preferred to take
a sea cruise rather than to do the work of
God assigned him to do as a prophet. He was
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told to go to the Old Testament city of Nineveh
to cry out against Nineveh, which was a great city,
that their wickedness had come up before the Lord. To
do that. His message was going to be a negative
one that required the Ninevites to repent. Jonah didn't like
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the Ninavites, and he didn't like the message, so he
departed from the presence of the Lord and took a
ship headed for a place called Tarsish, but he didn't
get there. I don't know if he was so headstrong
against going to Ninevah that he said to himself, come
(04:03):
hell or high water, I'm not going to Nineveh. But
if he did, he would not be long until he
found himself in both. He would learn the hard way
that no one, not even a prophet of God, can
turn his back on the Lord and get by with it.
(04:23):
This is true for both those who are saved and
those who are lost, whether in the Old Testament or
in the New Testament. Eventually everyone is going to appear
before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things
done in the body according to what he has done,
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whether good or bad. The message he was to preach
is still the same as it was in the days
of Prophet Jonah. God still commands all men everywhere to
repor Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in Sewo Timothy three,
verse sixteen. All scripture is given by inspiration of God
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and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the Man of God may be
complete thoroughly equipped for every good work. Scripture was written
especially for men of God. It can be beneficial for
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those who are not men or women of God. But
it is precisely stated in tewod Timothy three, verse sixteen,
that it has been written especially for the Christian man
or woman, as it is repeatedly stated to those seven
churches of Asia in Revelation two and three. He who
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has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.
The Spirit is speaking in Jonah Chapter two, both to
Jonah and the renegade Christian. Jonah two can be conveniently
divided into three parts. We begin with part one, found
(06:20):
in verses one and two Jonah's crime. Then Jonah prayed
to the Lord his God from the fish's belly, and
he said, I cried out to the Lord because of
my affliction, and he answered me. Then Jonah prayed. After
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Jonah had been thrown overboard by the mariners of the
ship that was headed for Tarsish, he prayed. The mariners
had not wanted to do what they did, because they
respect Jonah's God more than Jonah did, but there was
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nothing else they could do if they wanted to live,
So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea.
Their heathen hands were the holy hands of God Almighty
that would save Jonah before it was all over. What
the mariners did doesn't happen today. People are not thrown overboard.
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They are thrown under the bus. Either way, it is
not a pleasant way to end your life. And Jonah
surely must have thought, while sliding down the throat of
the great fish prepared by the Lord, that his life
had come to an end when he was dumped into
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the belly of that great fish. In verse seventeen. There
are lost people on us who swallow hook line and
sinker false denominational doctrines that land a person in hell.
But here is a case where a prophet of God
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was swallowed by a great fish and dumped into the
fish's belly. The first three words of Jonah two remind
us of what people sometimes do when their life has
been swallowed up by the troubles of life they created
for themselves. Then Jonah prayed. The last time Jonah had
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talked to God was in chapter one, verse three, when
he told God, I'm not going to nn of the
Lord to preach your word. I'm going to Tarsish. But now,
when things were not going as planned, he prayed to
the Lord, his God from the fish's belly. Now, when
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he was in a gem over which he had no control,
he found time to pray to his God. He prayed
from the depths of the sea while in the belly
of a great fish. But when you are in a
tight spot, it doesn't make much difference where you pray
(09:25):
in a church building, walking a beach, or in the
belly of a great fish. Most of us have been
there at one time or another, not the belly of
a great fish, but in a tight spot where it
is difficult to see any light of hope at the
(09:46):
end of the tunnel. Among those who take the time
to study this Old Testament account, it is generally agreed
that the fish's belly is a type a shadow, a
picture of hell. We have a picture of this hell
in the sixteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel. It is in
(10:09):
that chapter that we read of a rich man who
died and went to Hades, the unseen abode of the dead,
While in torments in that place, it is written that
he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me,
(10:30):
and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of
his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I
am tormented in this flame. Ladies and gentlemen. Hell will
be a place where people get religion, but they get
it far too late. People who land in hell because
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of choices they made in this life will have nothing
but time on their hands to do what they had
no time to do in this life. Pray. As it
is in this life that no one can pray a
person into heaven, so it will be in hell no
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one can pray a person out of hell. Jonah's prayer
was like the rich Man's in Luke sixteen, for deliverance
from the hell in which he found himself because of
his rejection of God's message. Jonah and the rich Man
were like most people today. They want nothing to do
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with God until only God can help them. I have
witnessed many a person motivated to pray to God for
the same reason as did Jonah, not because of their
affection for God, but because of their affliction. They asked
for God's help, but if by his grace they receive it,
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soon forgotten, until like the proverbial rabbit, he is pulled
out of his celestial hat. He really isn't God. He
is a trinket who can be pulled out of a
cracker jack box whenever he is needed. Sometimes people turn
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to the Church when they can find no one else
in the world to help them. Because the Church can
recommend no one except the God who saved us an
our hour of desperation. These people cheerfully go to the
waters of baptism to be baptized in the name of
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Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins, thinking they
will wake up the next morning having all their problems solved.
And when they aren't, it's back to something or somebody
in the world who is as miserable as the person
trying to find a solution to their miserable life. These
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people do not fool God. He seized their heart, He
knew their heart when they went under as a dry
renegade and came up as a wet one with no
intent to repent. Or Too often people take their troubles
to people who cannot do a thing for them, rather
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than to God. This is often the case with those
who should know better. Christians. They talk to their brethren,
they talk to the preacher. They have an announcement made
from the church pulpit and written in the church bulletin,
but they never beend their knees and speak to God.
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In Jonah's case, he had no one else to whom
to run or to turn. God had to take him
down to the depths of the sea in order to
bring him up out of the water. Sometimes before God
can make anything worthwhile out of his people, he has
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to take them down. We could call this second chapter
of Jonah Jonah's chastisement, because he surely was. I don't
know if while in the midst of swimming in the
whale's belly, Jonah took time not only to pray, but
also to meditate on scripture. But if he did, perhaps
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he remembered what Solomon wrote in Proverbs three, verses eleven
and twelve. My son, do not despise the chastening of
the Lord, nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves,
he corrects, just as a f the son in whom
(15:01):
he delights. Knowing how this Old Testament story ends, we
have no reason not to believe that Jonah was one
of God's sons, and we have no reason to believe
that God took pleasure in chastening Jonah in the way
he did. In fact, Hebrews twelve verses seven through eleven
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says he didn't. But sometimes he has no alternative except
to discipline, such was the case with Jonah. God wasn't
finished with him, and my friend, God is not finished
with you. Even if you are finished with him. You
may think he is, but what you think doesn't mean
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a thing. You may have departed from God as a
Christian for whatever reason over the years. There are dozens
of reasons disobedient Christians given, but none of them is
worth going to hell. For you may never have bent
your knee in submission to the authority and majesty of
(16:10):
Jesus the Christ because of your own reason, ungodly people,
hypocritical church people, mean people in the church. But these
and other reasons cannot separate you from Christ's forgiveness unless
you allow them. There is nothing in this world so
(16:31):
powerful that the blood of Christ and His word cannot overcome,
including the most nasty and wicked and evil sins ever committed,
or nasty, wicked and evil people. Jesus said, come to me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden. When he
said all you, he meant all you, with no exceptions,
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not even Jonah. We are told by those who do
not know any better, that the Old Testament shows us
a God filled with wrath, damnation, and destruction, and it
is in the New Testament we are shown a God
filled with grace. If this were true, and it isn't,
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the Lord should have left Jonah in the belly of
the great fish and ignored his prayer. The first two
says his Lord answered him. It was by the Lord's
grace that the ship on which Jonah sailed was not
destroyed and sunk by either the great wind or the
great tempest of the sea. It was by the Lord's
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grace that Jonah did not drown. It was by the
Lord's grace that Jonah was preserved in the belly of
the great fish, rather than being killed and devoured by
the fish. Jonah was saved by the fish. And it
was by the Lord's grace that Jonah's prayer was answered.
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This was a case of a sinner's prayer saving a
man not from spiritual death, but from physical death. As
a prophet of God, Jonah was now ready to come
to God in obedience. His stubborn, rebellious will was broken,
his godly sorrow for his disobedience produced repentance in his
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heart that led to his salvation. Not to be regretted.
This is what is supposed to happen at the time
a person is converted. Those converted on the day of
Acts to Pentecost believed and repented before they were saved,
and because they did, they longed to be baptized for
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the remission of their sins. They were genuinely converted. They
did not have to be begged, badgered, and beaten to
continue steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine and fellowship, in the
breaking of bread, and in prayers as do summon the
church to day. No one had to be begged to
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be in the worship assembly each time the church met.
No one had to be badgered to be at the
Lord's supper table on the first day of each week.
No one had to be beaten to attend a Bible study.
No one had to be bullied to return to God
each week at least a tithe of their income. They
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were members of a free will congregation. They of their
own free will gave, studied, prayed, attended, evangelized. They had
repented before they were immersed, not after. May God increased
their tribe in the congregation of which you and I
are apart. God's chastisement of Jonah produced a revival in
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Jonah's inner man. Before God could use Jonah to preach
a revival in Nineveh, Jonah needed a revival himself before
the city of Nineveh submitted to God. The preacher himself
had to submit to God and ladies and gentlemen. Before
a local congregation submits to God and experience as a revival,
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her leaders must. It begins with the evangelist and the elders.
All too often we see members in the congregation more
willing to repent and get revived than her leaders. It
would be good if those leaders resigned, got out of
the way of God's blessing, and allowed new leaders to
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be appointed. There are many good lessons to be learned
from the book of Jonah. One lesson is this, before
the church can experience a revival, the Lord may have
to bring the congregation down to the bottom of the pit.
Until the church is brought to the bottom of the pit,
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that she will realize that she needs God more than
her gadgets and gizmos, her printed church bulletins, and her
silly programs that have nothing to do with God or
his word. It might be shocking to hear the preacher
publicly pray to the church's God and ask that every
member of the congregation be brought to the bottom of
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the pit, But it would be refreshing to hear if
he has the spiritual fortitude to do that, he would
be well advised to have another congregation lined up. We
have images in the Bible of men praying in almost
every conceivable posture. In Ezra nine five, Prophet Ezra prayed
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after falling on his knees. In Niam nine five, men
prayed while standing. In one Kings eighteen, verse twenty two,
Nijah prayed with his face between his knees. In Second
King's twenty verse two, Hezeki prayed while lying in a
sick bed with his face turned to the wall. In
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Matthew twenty six, verse thirty nine, our Lord Jesus prayed
after falling on his face. In John twelve, verse twenty seven,
he prayed while standing before a public crowd. But Jonah
is the only person I know who prayed while bobbing
in water or floating on water. Inside the belly of
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Shield his grave of death inside a great fish. It
was in eighteen forty four that Edgar Allan Poe published
his famous story of the Premature Burial. Jonah's burial preceded
pose and as worthy of far greater attention. Poles was fiction,
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Jonahs was real. Po's was for entertainment. Jonahs is forification.
We thank God that, unlike Poe's character that offers no hope,
Jonah gives us eternal help to those who are lost
in their sins. Ask the Lord the same question Saul
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of Tarsus asked on the road to Damascus, Lord, what
do you want me to do? And then go and
do it? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins,
calling on the name of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
There's a battle going on for the souls of me.
The he's the forthvery.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
But I am saying, within the arms of God's dear bride,
the eber of the sault jeers to Christ a us surrend.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I'll have surryer, I'll have to render.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
I don't lowly a Godspelder.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Brighten Bass speaking, you have just
heard another Gospel Defender Ministries radio broadcast brought to you
by the Church that Jesus built and preaches all of
the Word to all of the world. Jesus said in
Mark sixteen, verse sixteen. He who believes and is baptized
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will be saved. So find someone today who will immerse
you into Christ today, before it is everlastingly too late.
Our mailing address is Gospel Defender Ministries, Post Office spot
US five seven five JELA copy c h I L
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l I c O t h E JELA copie Ohio
ZIP four five six zero one. You can also contact
us to the world wide web at Gospel dashed Defender
dot org or by email at A gosdeff A g
O s d e f A gosdef at roadrunner dot com.
(25:32):
At your request, a written transcript or an audio copy
of today's message will be sent to you free of charge,
with no obligation from you, now or in the future.
We need to hear from you as soon as possible,
so please take the time to contact us today now
(25:55):
until you and I meet again at this same time
and at the same place. Our prayer is that you
will be steadfastly set for the defense of the Gospel.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
God, a Gode
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Godde