Runaway Jonah, and the Convenient Ship

From the book, Lessons From Jonah, by Charles Spurgeon, in Modern English by Roger McReynolds 

Runaway Jonah, and the Convenient Ship (#2171)

A Sermon Delivered on Sunday Evening, November 9, 1890

by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle

Jonah 1:3

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish.

Introduction

Sad sight! Here is a servant of God running away from his work. One might as well imagine the stars wandering from their appointed paths. When we read that he fled from the presence of God, we do not assume that Jonah thought he could get away from God regarding the Lord’s omnipresence—Jonah knew that God is present everywhere at the same time. He wanted to escape serving in God’s presence. He wished to avoid being used by God in his special service as a prophet. He thought the Lord might call him and send him on assignments if he went to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire that evidently had some relationship to the Lord and his people. But if Jonah could travel as far as Tarshish, he could avoid any entanglements with that connection and would no longer need to speak in the name of the Lord.

He imagined that there could not be any relationship between Tarshish and Israel, and therefore he would not be expected to do any further prophetic work. Or, if he did, his reputation would not suffer, because the news would not reach Jerusalem. If that was not the issue, if he was not trying to get away from the self-denying duty and hard work of prophesying, he did, at least, wish to avoid the voyage to the idolatrous city of Nineveh—a journey, he foresaw, that would not be for his own honor.

Why did he want to avoid his work? Whatever reason he had, it must have been a bad one, for no servant of God should, regardless of the reason, think about quitting the service of their Lord. We should not wish to avoid doing the Lord’s will. When we know what our duty is, we should follow through with unwavering determination. We must not wish to leave our post, no, not even to go to heaven. We should not be yearning to be gone. Employers do not like someone who is always looking for the weekend. Let them be at their work each day, and the week will end soon enough. One does not like to see someone standing around, stretching their arms and sighing, “The week is too long, I wish it was Saturday.”

You appreciate someone who intends to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage, and who does not watch until you turn your back so they can slack off. You must not be crying, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” What would you do if you had wings? Such heavy mortals as some of us are had better stay closer to the ground. Whatever reason anyone thinks they have for avoiding the Lord’s work, the reason is as flawed as the thing they are aiming at. Children of God have no right to leave the service of their heavenly Father, and, when they do, they put their own safety at risk.

What was Jonah’s reason? Was it partly because he thought the work was too great for him? The task appointed him was certainly great. “Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.” How was one man to rebuke and evangelize all of it? The idea seems irrational! Could he not be assisted by at least one colleague? Even Moses had his Aaron. Why did the Lord not send a college of prophets, or an army of preachers, and order them to divide the vast city into districts and hold services in all the large auditoriums, and at the street corners, or even visit from house to house? Must one man be set against hundreds of thousands? Would a single voice be heard when it was surrounded with the loud noise of the city? The odds were great against one person.

Was that why Jonah ran away? I do not think so, although it has been the reason why many others have fled. Is there a servant of God here who does not feel equal to their work and therefore wishes they could escape from it? My dear friend, you are unequal to your work, for you have no competency of your own. I also know that I am essentially not competent for my own calling; does that mean we should run away? No, no! That is not the way to look at it; that is the reason we should stick to our work even more diligently.

Every hard material can be cut by something harder, and the most difficult work can be accomplished by strict determination. If the work cannot be done well by us, how will it be done without us? If our diligence seems too little, what will our negligence be? If there is too much for us to do, should we therefore not do what we can? May that never be the case! My friend, make the effort to accomplish what may seem impossible. Make your own personal weakness a strong reason for getting to the work, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” and God’s “power is made perfect in weakness.” With more prayer we will have more power. I hardly think that fear of being overworked was Jonah’s reason for deserting his post.

Why did Jonah wish to run away? Was it because he did not like the Ninevites? I think something like that was in his thinking. He was a strict old Jew. He loved his ethnic group and felt no desire to see anything done for Gentiles or idolatrous people who were not included in the Abrahamic covenant. Therefore, he had no passion for a mission to Nineveh. Is there anyone here who does not want to support, or be involved in a work, because they do not like the people? Will you flee to Tarshish to get away from a dreaded task? Are you backing out of your duty because those with whom you are to serve are not quite to your taste? Are they too ignorant or too educated, too countrified or too refined for you to be among them?

My dear friends, this must not be! Do not be ill-tempered or grumpy like Jonah undoubtedly was. If the people to whom you are sent are worse than others, let that be a call for you to go to them first, just as the apostles were to begin in Jerusalem. If those to whom you are sent are greater sinners than others, they need Christ all the more. And if you have heard reports about their evil tendencies, surely that is a call for you to raise them to a higher level. However, I am not sure that this had very much to do in Jonah’s case, though it may have been one of the many arguments that worked together to produce his disobedient behavior.

Was it possibly because Jonah knew that God was merciful? “Now,” he said to himself, “if I have to go through Nineveh and say, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,’ and, if these people repent it will not be overthrown; and then they will say, ‘Remarkable prophet, that Jonah! He is a man who cries “Wolf” when there is no wolf,’ and I will lose my reputation.”

Am I speaking to any servant of God here who is afraid of losing their reputation? This is not a reason that will hold up under scrutiny. My friend, that is a fear that does not trouble me. I have lost my reputation several times, and I would not go across the street to pick it up. It has often seemed to me to be something that I would like to lose, so that I might no longer be weighed down with the responsibility for this huge congregation, but be able to preach to two or three hundred people in a country village and look after their souls. I might stand before God with a clear conscience regarding all of them, whereas here I am tied to work that I cannot accomplish.

How can I be a pastor to more than five thousand people? It is a complete impossibility! How can I watch over all your souls? I would have an easy conscience if I had a church of moderate size, that I could efficiently look after it. If a reputation gets some into the position like I now occupy, it is certainly not a blessing to be coveted. But if you have to do anything for Christ that will lose you the respect of good people, and yet you feel obligated to do it, never give two thoughts about your reputation. If you do, it has already gone to that secret place where you would cherish your reputation most.

The best reputation in the world is to be faithful—faithful to God and your own conscience. As to the approval of the unconverted multitude, or of worldly people who claim to be Christians, do not give them a thought; their admiration may have a deadly effect. Many people become more slaves to their admirers than they imagine. The love of approval is more oppressive than an inner dungeon would be. If you have done the right thing before God and are not afraid of “the judgment seat of Christ,” fear nothing, but go forward. I think Jonah had a little regard for his reputation; possibly a great deal.

But still, there was a higher and better motive, even though it was a misguided one, because anything is bad, however true and excellent it may be, that leads someone to oppose God’s will. It was this: He thought that the character of God would suffer. If Jonah went down to Nineveh and proclaimed, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” then the people might repent, and Jehovah would allow them to live, and then, after a while, the people would say. “Who is Jehovah? His word does not stand. He does not carry through on his judgments. He puts his hand on the hilt of his sword and then pushes it back into the scabbard.” As a result, the Lord, by his mercy, would lose his reputation for being true to his word and not changing his mind.

Jonah would have preferred the destruction of Nineveh to the least dishonor to the name of the Lord. Have you never felt as if you could wish that God would execute judgment on deadly forms of error and cruel forms of oppression? Have you not been half weary of his great patience? I stood at the bottom of Pilate’s staircase in Rome. What a pretentious ritual forced on the people! It is claimed to be the staircase down which our Lord came from Pilate’s hall. There are certain holes in the wood that cover the marble steps, in which the Roman Catholic Church claims can be seen the drops of blood that fell from our Lord’s bleeding shoulders. As I saw people going up those stairs on their knees, and the priests looking on, it occurred to me that, if the Judge of all would lend me his thunderbolts for about five minutes, I would have made a wonderful clearance.

It was the Jonah spirit stirring me, and I felt I was right to be angry. But, you see, the good Lord did not empower me to be an executioner. And I am very glad he did not. Have you never felt a zeal for the Lord of hosts, that led you, like John, to wish “to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them”? Did you not feel half sorry that the Lord withheld his anger when it seemed necessary to execute vengeance in order to maintain the honor of his gospel? Have you not almost said, “Oh, that he would punish such tremendous iniquities”?

Not long ago, when these streets of ours were ringing with stories of immoral outrage, did you not feel as if something must be done, something so horrifying that it would sweep away the dens of lust and cleanse the great accumulation of corruption from our city? But God did nothing in the way of plague, or war, or famine. In his long-suffering, he passed by the transgressors and allowed them to continue in their wickedness, as he has done for many years, patiently waiting, if perhaps people might come to repentance. This is a trial to righteous souls.

That, I think was the great fear on Jonah’s heart. When God spared the city, Jonah said to him, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” This was not because the people were spared, but because he thought God had lost his honor by not fulfilling what he threatened to do.

I have given too much time to these excuses of Jonah. If you have any excuses for not doing what you should, throw them out into the street, and never let them in again. Get rid of them! Throw them away! You do not need to take the trouble to repeat them to yourselves or judge their comparative value. They are all harmful. If you are a servant of God, then obey him immediately without questions. If you are not a servant of God, may God grant that you may be, for if you are not his servant you are his enemy. If you will not turn to him through Jesus Christ, and do not find mercy from him, what will become of you?

I now come to the text. Jonah wanted to abandon his prophetic work by traveling to the out-of-the-way place called Tarshish. And when he came to Joppa, which was the port of Jerusalem, he found a ship bound for the place he desired to reach. May we be taught by the Holy Spirit certain practical truths from his incident!

I would teach you four things.

We May Not Follow Our Impulses To Do Wrong

The first is, that we may not follow our impulses to do wrong. The desire to not go to Nineveh came on Jonah suddenly, but to go to Tarshish instead. “Tarshish! Tarshish!” was constantly whispered in his ear until he had Tarshish on the brain, and go he must.

I often meet with people who say, “I felt that I must do so and so. It came on me that I must do so and so.” I am afraid of these impulses—greatly afraid of them. People may do the right thing under the power of these urgings, but they will spoil what they do by doing it out of mere impulse, and not because the action was right in itself. People far more often do very wrong things under impulses, and I feel it is necessary to give a warning to any here who are prone to be led in this manner.

We must not depend on our impulses. Our thoughts run wild. Do you say, “It suddenly came into my mind to do such and such”? Do you think this is a good reason for your action? If you do, you are making a great mistake. Do you say, “The idea came on me like a flash”? Do not let this be the rule of your life. One might as well follow a will-o’-the-wisp as follow these freakish flights of fancy. You must never obey an impulse to do wrong. Now, in Jonah’s case, the impulse was, “Go to Tarshish. Go to Tarshish.” I think it is probable that he could have claimed that he felt pressured in his spirit to do so. “Go to Tarshish. Go to Tarshish,” was beating on the drum of his soul.

Perhaps the impulse is to do a very brave thing. Going to Tarshish was a daring act. Jews never took to traveling by sea. They were a land-loving people. Will Jonah go in a ship? We think little of traveling by sea these days, but the Hebrews considered it a very terrible ordeal to go on the sea. And then, to go to Tarshish—to the very end of the earth! Who but the men of Tyre would venture so far? These Hebrews did not know what kind of place Tarshish was, but Jonah is bold to go.

Some of you who are now sitting in this auditorium ought to be in the Congo, or in North Africa, or in India, or in China, but you do not go from lack of courage. Yet people are bold enough when determined to take the wrong path. They will take great leaps in the dark, while others are afraid to follow what is really a far safer way. Jonah insisted on going to Tarshish! He was not afraid of the sea, or the storm, or anything. The impulse may seem to have called him to do that which is brave and noble, but it was evil, for it led him to oppose the clear command of God.

Impulses may also appear to be very self-denying. Going to sea was not enjoyable, neither was leaving his native land and all its associations. Yet it is easy to go wrong while claiming to deny self. A person may be worshiping self by practicing what they call self-denial. The devil can easily use this as a way to hide the demon of arrogant self-righteousness. People may fast from food so they may gorge their souls on pride.

It seemed that Jonah might have claimed liberty in this matter. Surely, he could go to Tarshish if he liked. True, he was a prophet, but could he not discontinue the work if he wanted to? Does God turn people into slaves in order to make them serve him? Surely, a prophet may take a vacation or go on a trip! Was it right for him to go to Nineveh if he did not feel happy about it? Have you never met with this form of argument? I have heard people talk about holy duties in this manner.

Take, for example, believers’ baptism: They believe that is Scriptural, but they say, “I have never felt called to do it.” As if we were not called to obey every command of Christ! I have heard people say, “No doubt it is the Word of God, but I have never felt it brought home to me.” What a wicked thing to say! If I had a son, and I gave him a command, and he told me that he did not feel it applied to him, and therefore would not obey me, I think I would take care to bring it home very quickly in a way that he might not appreciate.

I believe that when Christian people do not show proper respect regarding known duties, their heavenly Father will soon find a rod to fit their backs. A tender conscience looks to the Word of the Lord, and wants to obey in all things. What do you need apart from the command of God? If an angel were sent from heaven to command you to obey, you would not be more obligated to obey the command than you are now. The Lord has given you liberty—not liberty to sin, but liberty to obey. Never talk about freedom to do wrong. It is horrible for someone to say, “God loves us to be free in our service to him, therefore I will not serve him, but follow my own impulses.”

At the same time, Jonah was violating his conscience; he was in conflict with his inner life. As a servant of God, he was required to go where he was commanded, and he was fighting against that which was to him a necessary element of life. Oh friends, be careful about violating your consciences! Whatever you do, never treat your conscience lightly. If you are going to make a gash in yourself anywhere, make it in your ear, or in your nose, but never in your conscience. The harming of your members would cause pain, and might injure your beauty, but a wound in your conscience is a far more serious matter, since it touches your inner life.

A gash in the conscience may damage a soul forever. Let conscience speak to you in all things, and do not follow impulses. Weigh the matter in the scales of conscience, and if it is not something that conscience can guarantee is aligned with the mind of God, leave the impulse alone. We are no more to follow worthless impulses than cleverly devised myths. The Word of the Lord is to be our guiding star in all things.

People who talk about their impulses will often do what they criticize in others. They ought to open their eyes to their own dangerous condition. If anyone else had run away to Tarshish when they were told to go to Nineveh, Jonah would have seen their offense and rebuked them harshly. I would like to have seen Jonah analyzing Jonah’s case, just as David judged and condemned the rich man who took the poor man’s one little ewe lamb, and then realized that he had been judging and condemning himself. I would like to appoint some of you as jurors on your own cases. I am sure that you would denounce yourselves in burning language for those very things that you now allow. How clearly you would see the disgrace of someone running away from the clear path of righteousness because they had a foolish impulse urging them to do wrong! Why, you can now see how ridiculous it is. Will you, then, take a similar route yourself? Will you flee to Tarshish when God tells you to go to Nineveh? Will self-rule? Will the flesh be pleased?

This pretense of impulse is what none of us would allow someone else to use as an excuse to apply it toward ourselves. If anyone had an impulse to knock us down, we would not see the correctness in it. If they had an impulse to rob us, we would feel an impulse to call in a police officer. If anyone had an impulse to wrong us, we would appeal to the law for protection. In the same way, if we feel an inner urging to do what we should not do, let us not be so silly and so wicked as to imagine that the law will be relaxed because of the evil fluctuations of our mind.

I consider it necessary to take this text and speak in this way because I have seen several examples of people following, not the Word of God, not the law of righteousness, but some harmful thinking in their own minds, to which they attached an authority that did not exist. I was ready to say, “How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?” But they half imagine that these ideas come from God, while the fact is that God is not the author of evil desires and evil suggestions. It is much more likely that these thoughts come from the devil, and most of all likely that they arise from a foolish and corrupt heart.

If anything says to you, “Flee to Tarshish,” when God says, “Go to Nineveh,” shut your ears against the evil impulse and hurry to do as God tells you. What business do you have concocting schemes and entertaining the desires of your own hearts? Are these to be a law to you? I plead with you, do not be counted with the foolish ones who will be carried about with every wind of imagination and desire to have their own way. “To the teaching and to the testimony,” should be your cry—you may not appeal to inner urgings and impulses.

We May Not Take a Wrong Course Because It Seems Easy

My second remark is this: We may not take a wrong course because it seems easy. Jonah says, “I will go to Tarshish.” And he goes down to the port of Joppa and finds a ship about to go to Tarshish. How easily evil desires can be accomplished! My dear hearers, whether you are Christians or are not, I want to put you on your guard against the idea that just because a certain course of action is very natural and easy, you may therefore do it even though it is not right.

Remember that the way of destruction is always easy. “The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” The way to hell is downhill, it is generally easy traveling. Because it seems easy, natural, and almost inevitable for you to go along a certain questionable road, do not therefore dream that this gives you a license to follow it. A course in life in which there is no difficulty should be suspect, for righteousness is not at all easy. If a route is difficult, chances are it is the right way, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Remember that doing wrong will always be easy while our sinful nature is what it is. People can always find, one way or another, the means to rebel against God. The old proverb is, “You can always find a stick to beat a dog with.” I only quote it to show that in some things the will always finds a way. People can always find ways of sinning against God. I remember, in my younger days, a schoolboy, who, when playing with his companions, would fly into a furious rage and immediately throw something at the person with whom he was angered. The point is, I noticed he always found something to throw. Whether in the classroom, playground, or the street, there would surely be a stone, a book, a cup, or something else available.

It is the same with people who fight against the Lord. They discover weapons everywhere in the fury of their rebellion. The evil brain is quick in formulating, the depraved heart is swift in grasping the situation, and the sinful hand is skillful in carrying out any and every scheme of disobedience to the Lord. When someone wishes to sin, it is always easy to sin. Nevertheless, the availability of any means of action is not an argument in its favor.

Satan also works to make people sin, and he is very cunning. When he tempted Jonah to go to Tarshish, the evil one knew that there was a ship at Joppa waiting for a fair wind to sail for Tarshish. Therefore, he whispered in Jonah’s ear, “Go to Tarshish,” because he knew that his suggestion would not be opposed. Our tempter has a complete familiarity with what is going on in the world, and therefore he can plot and scheme in such a way that his suggestions will be supported by events that are taking place. He is not all-knowing, but his army of spies keeps him well informed. Therefore, he can fit his temptations to our surroundings.

The way of sin may be easy because evil people will help you. If anything wrong needs accomplishing, the children of the evil one will lend a willing hand. As a result, an evil plan may easily succeed, since all the world pulls in that direction. Only set up a calf, and the tribes will be quick to cry, “These are your gods, O Israel.” Sin takes little time to become popular. Everyone will praise the evil way that provides them pleasure. In the rush along the downward road the eager crowd will pick you off your feet and carry you with them down to destruction without your needing to exert yourself. It is generally easy to go wrong. It is swimming with the stream, flying with the wind.

At the same time, good things are always difficult. God makes them that way to train his people.  The one who can stay the course of goodness when it causes suffering is indeed good. It is, moreover, an increase to the honor of saints that they are enabled to do the right thing under great opposition, and to fight their way to heaven, foot by foot at the point of the sword. If integrity were so very easy, where would the honor in it be? To glory and immortality we climb uphill.

Do not, I plead with you, fall into the delusion that because an evil act seems to be the next step, the unavoidable course, that therefore you may do it. The law is not, “Do the easiest thing,” or some would be very virtuous. Would you excuse other people for injuring you because it was easy to do? If someone in your house robs you of your trinkets or cash, would you accept the excuse that such things were easily got at and that it was natural for the thief to take them? Someone simply opens their mouth and robs you of your character; is the ease of slander an excuse for it? A person signs your name to a check or other document and gets the money for it; is it a valid excuse when they say, “I have a great talent for imitating handwriting, forgery is very simple and lucrative, and you can hardly blame me for attempting it”? No, friends, you denounce the thief, the slanderer, the forger. And you will also be denounced if you fall into the sin that clings so closely to you.

I am no doubt pricking the conscience of some who will do anything for a quiet life. They are gradually slipping down to hell because the way there is so smooth that they delight in it, so easy that their laziness prefers it. I know that many are excusing themselves for doing wrong because in their case it is so natural, while doing right would cost a great trial. Oh people, take yourselves out of the deadly atmosphere that makes the sleep of sin almost certain to overtake you. Excuses are easy to create. I plead with you, quit that unrighteous business, and, at all cost, follow after that which is good. Begin by faith in Jesus, and then go on to build up a holy character. May the Holy Spirit work it in you!

We May Never Plead Providential Arrangement as an Excuse for Doing Wrong

We will now go a step further. We may never plead providential arrangement as an excuse for doing wrong. There could hardly ever be a more remarkable example of God’s apparent co-operation than we have here. Jonah wants to go to Tarshish, and, having selected that place as an area in which to hide, he decides it is necessary for him to go to the port of Joppa on the Mediterranean Sea. He walks along the pier, and the first thing he sees is a ship going to Tarshish! Is that not providence? Is that not God working behind the scenes for his servant’s benefit? Ships did not make that voyage often. Do we not acknowledge that it is a providence when we learn that the ship’s captain is willing to take on passengers for a set price? Jonah wants to go to Tarshish, and the very day he arrives in Joppa, a cargo ship is about to start for that remote region he desired to reach. No one can refuse to see an apparent providence. This is often used as an excuse for wicked behavior. “I could not do differently,” says one. “God seemed to point in that direction. I would be going against God’s will if I had not done it.”

Ah, me! How wicked people are—trying to saddle their sin on God! How shamefully you deceive yourself! If Jonah persuaded himself that it was right, he was soon cured of his error. Two or three hours later, when they woke Jonah where he was fast asleep in the inner part of the ship, and he saw that awful storm, did he then think that a gracious providence had led him into that tremendous storm? He soon wished he was anywhere except on that great sea. When they were about to hurl Jonah into the sea, he did not say much about providence; he was too much convinced of his own foolishness to blame his God.

I have seen businesspeople doing certain problematic things, trying to pretend that the circumstances compelled them to act as they did. “Such and such a person walked in just in the nick of time, and said certain things, and then something else happened so remarkably appropriate to the case, that it all looked like a providential arrangement. And everyone who saw it would have thought so too.” Nonsense! Nothing can make it right to do wrong. I plead with you, never blaspheme God by laying your sins on the back of his providence. This is an act of daring disrespect and sin. You will never see a providence more remarkable than that which happened to Jonah, and yet Jonah, for all that, was rebelling against the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish. Providence or no providence, the Word of the Lord is to be our guide, and we must not turn our back to it by using the excuse that it was necessary given the difficult nature of the situation.

It is very easy to invent a providence when you want to. If you sit down and try to discover in the ways God is treating you an excuse for the wrong you are intent on committing, the manipulative devil and your deceitful heart will combine to create an excuse for suggesting God arranged it and you are therefore justified in doing it.

The man who shot another in revenge might say that providence led him to carry his gun that morning. The burglar providentially met with a companion who wished to relieve a householder of their money. The thief saw merchandise lying unprotected near a merchant’s door, and it providentially happened to be exactly what they wanted. It will not do. The pretense is too obvious. Yet I am afraid many, who think they are Christians, are persuaded by this wicked argument.

Such reasons would have led many into sin who are famous for their integrity. The three holy young men would have escaped the fiery furnace, and Daniel would never have found himself in the lions’ den, if they had been guided by what people call providences. There are more examples. The wife of Joseph’s master is so kind to him, and he is in such a wonderful position as overseer of the house that it is hard for him to deny her desire and lose his position. Had providence not placed him in his excellent situation? Will he throw it away? When his master’s wife tempts him, will he risk everything? Would it not be better to think that providence clearly hinted that he should satisfy her desires? Joseph was not so wicked as to reason like that. He knew that adultery cannot be tolerated, and so he fled from her, rather than remain close to her temptations.

Look at David, too. He and Abishai went down into the camp of Saul and found Saul sleeping. Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” What a providence, was it not? The cruel foe was completely in David’s hands, and the executioner was eager to settle all further conflict by one fatal stroke!

What could be clearer or more straightforward? Yet David never said a word about providence, but replied, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” He would not follow opportunities, but would continue in God’s law.

Do the same. If everything seems to lead to doing wrong, and many circumstances unite to steer you in that direction, do not give in to them. Your guide in life is not a so-called providence, but an irrefutable principle of the Lord. Do as God commands, and do it immediately. May God help you to follow the path he has made. May he lead you by his Spirit in the way everlasting, for the path of obedience is the way of peace and righteousness.

A so-called providence has often been an excuse for wrongdoers. I believe that many have gone wrong through looking at circumstances rather than commands. Look at Lot. He went to Jordan Valley to live in Sodom, among a godless, filthy group of Canaanites. He had been with Abraham in the separated life, but now he left the tent life for a house in the city, with its disgusting surroundings. Why did Lot go the way of Sodom? He looked, and saw it was well-watered everywhere; and as he had flocks and herds, it seemed providential that he was able to go there, and that his Uncle Abraham had left him free to choose. Did providence not say, “Go to the well-watered plain of Sodom”? What could be more obvious?

I have known a certain providence speak in that manner to certain Christian people who were growing rich and wanted to get into what is called society. They jumped at the first chance and ended up in bad company. They entered a business that promised to pay them well. True, it was a very questionable business, and dangerous to those who were in it—a destructive trade to those drawn into it. But it paid well. It was the well-watered plain of Sodom, and they excused themselves by saying that it would not be wise to give it up.

Others will go to live in a certain district where there is no gospel preaching. They leave all their friends, and their Bible class, and every opportunity for usefulness, for the sake of the protection and beauty of the place. Providence has found them a spot where they can be as lazy as they like. When people head into dangerous paths, they talk about providence in this manner. Wonderful providence, is it not? Sadly for Lot, in the end he had to read his lessons over again in the light of the blazing cities of the plain.

Consider Aaron, too. On one occasion he fell so low that he tried to blame his sin on providence. When he had made the gold calf for the people to worship, and his brother Moses sharply rebuked him for it, Aaron told him he felt threatened and told the people to bring their gold jewelry. He told his brother, “So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” True, the image came out, but it had first been fashioned and molded, and placed in the fire. Aaron wanted to make Moses believe that a special providence made the metal form itself into the shape of the ox-god. A despicable lie! Sad, that the priest of the Most High God should mock the truth like that!

And so, there are people who tell you wonderful stories about what has happened to them, and what has led them into their way of evil.

Blessed be the providence of God forever! Let the Lord be worshiped and adored, for he is good, and does good, and only good! His providence is holy. Let every blasphemous charge against it be condemned! Never let us take advantage of opportunities to do evil! And if we dare sin against the thrice-holy God in this manner, let us not saddle the blame on him.

Would you excuse anyone else who would wrong you and claim it was providence? Suppose a thief broke into your house and said that it was a providence that you had not fastened the back window, or that the latch was so easy to open. Suppose they said providence saved them a lot of trouble because your drawers were not locked, nor your money stored in a safe. What would you say about such providences? Someone swindles you in your business and says that it was a very remarkable providence that led them to you. Do you support such talk? Why, you would not listen to that person for a moment, and will you listen to your own self when your heart begins to make the holy Lord an accomplice in your transgressions? No, no, there are devil’s providences as well as divine providences, and there are misinterpretations of providence and shameful misrepresentations by which the Holy One of Israel is flagrantly insulted and provoked.

I have now briefly given you three words of caution, and the fourth is similar.

We May Not Excuse Our Wrong Actions Simply Because They Are Not Illegal

We May Not Excuse Our Wrong Actions Simply Because They Are Not Illegal. What is right in another may not be okay for me. That which someone else might do without sinning may be a serious wrong in a child of God.

It was undeniably okay for the mariners to go to Tarshish. We are not saying that going to Tarshish by sea was wrong in itself. There would be an end of international commerce if ships did not roam the watery plains. Yes, my dear friend, it may be quite right for certain people to pursue a course that you must not even consider. For the Tyrian sailors to go to Tarshish was their business, their calling, their duty; but it was a very different matter with the prophet.

It was not Jonah’s business, calling, or duty. What reason did he have for going to Tarshish? There is a serious difference between being at sea in the path of duty and going there to escape service. He did exactly as the sailors did, the procedure was the same. But they were right and he was wrong. They did not go on board to escape serving God, but he did, and that made all the difference. Two people may do the same thing, and the one may be growing in Christ and the other may be increasing their damnation by the same action. After all, it is the motive that must rule our judgment. Beware of defending your transgression with the excuse that others may do it without being criticized.

But could Jonah not go to Tarshish if he wanted to? Yes, under certain conditions it may have been okay for Jonah to go there. When he was not on duty, he might have gone to Tarshish for his health, but it must not be the case when God says to him, “Go to Nineveh.” You may not do that which is in conflict to the Lord’s will, even though, in itself, the action may be innocent. We may not say, “I have a right to do it.”

We have no right to do differently than what the Lord commands. We have no right to do wrong, and the more we realize that God loves us, and the more certain we are that we are his children, the more we are obligated to follow closely in the way of truth and holiness. We are not saved by works. But because we are saved, we desire in all ways to glorify him who has saved us by his most precious blood. Oh, dear heart, if you are truly a servant of God, you realize that obedience is liberty and holiness is freedom. To the pure in heart sin would be slavery, while to do what God commands would be liberty. By grace we will to do the will of the Lord.

There was no excuse for Jonah’s sin even though he acted in an honorable manner. He did pay his fare, and this was right if he intended to sail to Tarshish. “He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare.” He did not sneak on board and try to get free passage as a stowaway. But someone asks, “When he had paid his fare, did he not have a right to go?” Yes, as far as the captain of the vessel was concerned, he did. But he had no right before God. After paying his fare, how could he not go? He would lose his money, and that would be foolish. Yes, it is very easy to make excuses for wrong actions, but that does not make them right.

Excuses for disobedience are merely lies. If you do something wrong in the rightest way in which it can be done, it does not make it right. If you go against the Lord’s will, even though you do it in the most decent, and, perhaps, in the most devout manner, it is, nevertheless, sin, and it will bring you under condemnation.

Servants of God, you are under a higher law than anyone else. Redeemed with precious blood, chosen of God by his sovereign grace, made inheritors of eternal glory, it is your job to bring “holiness to completion in the fear of God” by his good Spirit, and do whatever he says to you, not swerving “to the right or to the left.”

I have shown you that there is instruction in the incident at Joppa. I think it is permissible teaching from the fact that when Jonah wanted to do evil, everything seemed conveniently arranged, and yet he was doing serious wrong. May this warning be useful to some of you by God’s grace! I do not know for whom this sermon is meant, but I have felt compelled in my spirit to deliver it. It is intended as a warning for someone who is hearing it, or will subsequently read it.

Perhaps a dozen or two may find that it applies to their cases, and, if it becomes clear and obvious to your consciences, I caution you, by the living God, do not turn away your ear from hearing it. Let it search you through and through. Let it not only plow you, but clear the debris, and cross-plow you, and have its full effect on your heart. And then, feeling that you have sinned, throw all your foolish excuses to the wind, and come to Jesus just as you are. Come to Jesus and find pardon for your inexcusable sins. As long as you are sewing together the fig-leaves of excuse, you will never come to Jesus for true covering, but when you have abandoned the spider’s webs of foolish argument, the Holy Spirit will bring you to the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you wanted to go to Tarshish, it would be a great providence if you found a ship bound for that port, but if you want to go to Jesus, you may always go to him. You may go to him now. Sitting in that pew, or sitting in that chair at home, you may come to Jesus. If you go to Tarshish, you have to pay the fare. There is no fare to pay in coming to Jesus. To him it is, “Come and welcome.” His salvation is free, without charge, given to all who are willing to receive. It cannot be purchased by way of merit or money. It must be accepted freely through the way of sovereign grace.

I know that the impulse of that young man over there is to flee from Christ, to run away from hope and heaven. May the Lord help him to resist the impulse! Your mother begged you to attend the house of God, but your inclination is to go for country strolls. Resist the wish, and listen to the gospel. Many go to Tarshish and are lost.

I know that the temptation of the young woman over there is to forsake the way of righteousness, to chase after fun and entertainment, that is, to go to Tarshish. Close your ears to every whisper of that ambushing enemy. No matter how easy it may be for you to obey his suggestion, no matter how much even providence may seem to make a way for you, do not pay attention to the voice of the tempter. Do not dishonor the Lord your God by assuming that he can actually invite you by his providence to do that which he forbids you by his Word. Please listen to me, and come to Jesus. Come to him now.

Perhaps tonight, if that young man does not come to Jesus, he will be lured to somewhere where great sin takes place, led into desperate sin, and for many years he will not feel that tenderness that is stealing over him just now. Do not treat the wooing of grace lightly, for fear that you will be trapped by the lies of Satan. The man is being strongly tempted at this time. A voice constantly cries in his ears, “Go to Tarshish.” I call on you, oh my tempted brother, collect your courage to fight with this evil spirit. Rather than listening to his enticing words, let the voice of mercy have power over you. May God the Holy Spirit grant that this may be the case.

“Come to me,” says Jesus, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Do not seek Tarshish; seek Calvary. If you run from the presence of the Lord, a storm will pursue you, an angry sea will open its depths to swallow you. There may be no great fish appointed for you, no friendly sea creature to carry you to shore. You will be lost forever.

Oh man of God, do not run away from your work! Oh sinner, do not lust after pointless and empty pleasure! Child of God, come back to him from whom your heart has wandered, and, from now on, by his grace, be his diligent servant to the end. Sinner, you who have gone far away from peace and hope, listen to the heavenly voice tonight that warns you of your danger. Cry, “I will arise and go to my father.” He will come to meet you. He will embrace you. He will kiss you, wash you, clothe you, save you, and you will praise him forever.

I will indeed be happy if I have taught some souls to give up their false pretenses and excuse-making. Happy indeed if I have persuaded them to fully confess their sin before the Lord Jesus, who will wash them until they are without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.