Rev. David Holwick G T.U.L.I.P. #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 19, 2012
Jonah 1:1-16
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I. When your Valentines are too meager.
A. Internet advice on how to be irresistible to women.
A secular website had some advice that surprised me:
Be chaste - you shouldn't even try to kiss on the first date.
Be optimistic - don't discuss how oil prices are going through
the roof (or about how you think the Tribulation is right
around the corner).
Don't try to "buy" her. Anything you get her puts her under
no obligation to you other than to say "thank you."
Listen more and talk less. (That's right out of the Bible,
James 1:19.)
Here is the clincher - go out with another woman. If you are
going to a place where people mingle, take your sister with
you.
Women are more open to talking to men who are with other women.
Your sister can help with the small talk, too.
#63521
B. How irresistible are you to God?
1) My sermon really isn't about Valentine's Day or dating.
2) It is about the love relationship between God and us.
3) The fourth principle of Calvinism is called Irresistible
Grace.
a) It means that if God wants you to be saved, you will
certainly end up saved.
b) At some point in your life you will acknowledge God's
claim on your soul and surrender to him.
c) You cannot resist God's will for you. You can't run,
can't hide, can't reject him forever.
1> God always wins in the end.
2> Do you think that is true?
II. People have run away from God for a long time.
A. Jews didn't like oceans.
They never had much success with ships and only had one
small port on the Mediterranean Sea.
Read the Psalms and see how many references there are to
drowning - it was one of their worst fears.
So when Jonah gets on a boat, you know he is desperate.
His destination is Tarshish, as far as you can get from
Israel.
But he couldn't outrun God.
The Lord sent a storm that terrified the pagan sailors.
They rolled dice to see who was the guilty one.
Jonah lost, and he fessed up.
At his request, they threw him into the sea.
Of course, God wasn't done with Jonah yet.
Out of his mercy, God provided a large fish.
Jonah gave praise for his "salvation."
He went on to evangelize Nineveh with great success.
B. Paul opposed God, though he didn't realize it.
1) He thought he was doing God a favor by persecuting
Christians.
a) When he later talks about his Jewish life, he never
mentions feeling inadequate or troubled.
b) He actually says he did pretty good as a religious
Jew - he was "faultless."
2) Paul did not become saved until God miraculously intervened.
a) While Paul was on a mission to Damascus, a bright light
shone and a voice spoke to him.
b) Then Jesus said to him, "It is hard for you to kick
against the goads." Acts 26:14
c) This was a hint that Paul was struggling with something.
1> Was it the stoning death of the Christian Stephen?
2> Was it a feeling that obeying the Law was not
enough?
3> We are never told.
d) But Paul's life changed dramatically from that point on.
C. The Hound of Heaven.
Sometimes those who struggle the most, appreciate God the most.
Francis Thompson was a young man from a good family in England
in the late 1800s.
Like some of us, Francis tried to ignore God's warning
signals in his life.
Francis intended to become a priest.
His father was a medical doctor, however, and wanted his son to
study medicine, even though his real passion was poetry.
When Francis was in his early twenties his mother suddenly died.
His world crumbled about him.
Unable to pass his medical school exams, he went to London
where he lived as a tramp and an opium addict.
At his lowest point, he attempted suicide.
But something kept pulling at him.
One night, under a lamp post, he scribbled an essay on a piece
of paper and sent it, along with some brief poems, to the
editors of a magazine.
They ignored his grimy letter for half a year.
Then one day, one of them happened upon it and quickly
recognized the mark of genius.
The editors made unsuccessful efforts to find him and decided
to print his poetry anyway.
Months later, Francis Thompson saw his published work.
He went to the magazine and identified himself as the author.
The editors befriended him and guided him to the care of a
Christian home in London.
His health was too far gone, however, and he died of
tuberculosis at the age of 48.
Before he died he wrote one of the most famous poems in
Christian literature, "The Hound of Heaven."
“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.”
As the poem comes to an end, Thompson depicts the persistent
cry of God who pursues to the end:
“Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!” #2961
D. Many Christians have had a similar experience.
1) Apart from any effort on your part, God breaks into your
life.
2) It was true of me, back when I was about as non-religious
as you can be.
III. Calvinism argues that God always wins.
A. God decides to save us so we have to end up saved.
1) Remember, he saves us when we are still his enemy.
2) He makes us born again before we ever think to turn to him
(at least that is what Calvinists argue).
3) Those he chooses, he also calls. Rom 8:30
a) God carries through on his decisions.
b) By a variety of means, he will reach that person.
B. God's call is always effective.
1) "All that the father gives me WILL come to me." John 6:37
2) If God's call is not effective, then he is not sovereign,
according to strict Calvinists.
a) God's will would be no stronger than our will.
IV. Can you thwart God's will?
A. There is no doubt that we can resist God. Everyone believes it.
1) Some will resist him for a time, even for years.
a) But in the end, they will surrender to God's call.
b) They will surrender willingly, too.
1> No one is saved against their will.
2) Some will resist him forever.
a) Calvinists say we will find out these are the ones
who were not chosen by God.
B. The critical question is whether our will can trump God.
1) Since we cannot see God's mind, it is impossible for us
to see if we are going against God's wishes.
2) But the Bible teaches that people do resist God's call.
a) The whole Old Testament is a record of people -- God's
people -- resisting God.
b) In Acts 7:51, Stephen says to his Jewish audience,
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts
and ears! You are just like your fathers:
You always resist the Holy Spirit!"
3) The Bible also teaches that we can stop resisting, & believe.
C. If human will is not real, than neither is love.
1) Rigid Calvinism makes humans into robots.
a) Real love requires options.
b) We have to be able to choose.
2) If God's will can never be ultimately resisted, then
logically all our actions are under his control.
3) We can sin all we want, and we would just be doing God's will.
V. Are you resisting God's advances?
A. The tug between God and me.
1) The interplay between our faith and God's grace is only
clear in eternity.
a) In this life, we can't know how much is God and how
much is us.
b) Here and now, God's will is only a feeling or perception
on our part.
2) We can face our choices with faith.
a) Live as if it is all up to you.
b) Obey what you need to obey.
c) Movie "Higher Ground" - actress who is contemplating sin
says, 'God, if you are there, don't let me do this.'
1> Don't put it on God - do what you know if right.
3) When you are out of strength, or lost, trust God to be
there.
a) At times like that, live as if it is all up to God.
B. God is usually more subtle than a hunting hound.
1) He calls us through the Bible.
a) Matthew 11:28-29 has these words of Jesus:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls."
2) He calls us through an inner prompting in your soul.
3) He calls us through the witness of another person.
a) Jonah himself ended up being a tremendous evangelist,
converting an entire city.
C. Perhaps he is calling you right now...
1) Don't resist his call to believe.
2) Don't resist his call to obey.
3) Don't resist his call to grow.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2961 “The Hound of Heaven,” by Rev. King Duncan, Dynamic Preaching,
May 1992.
#63521 “Take Your Sister Along,” by Rev. David Holwick, adapting a blog
by Mikhail Chuklai, <http://seductiontutor.blogspot.com/2006
/09/how-to-be-irresistible-to-women.htm>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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