Two o'clock, you may also, of course, play volleyball in the afternoon. Now as we open God's word together, we present our brother Don Ceylon from Florida. Brother Ceylon. I don't see how a person can sing so well, so early in the morning. I have difficulty even speaking, and I certainly have appreciated it. And I want to say something, and I'm not going to look at the person when I say it, but I appreciate that piano. Amen. Well, all you have to do is travel around in meetings sometimes, and then you really appreciate it. But it's a real ministry. It's an unsung ministry, and when that person is there, right there, just like that, how we appreciate it. We take your Bibles and turn to the little book of Jonah this morning. I might announce this morning that in the will of God, tomorrow night, when it's my privilege to speak again, I want to speak on five wonderful words. Five wonderful words. That's tomorrow night. The day after that, I want to speak about the God of the Second Chance. That's right. The God of the Second Chance. And then on Friday in the will of God, I want to speak about... words and words. Well, that's what we have to look forward to from our little book of Jonah. But now this morning, the book of Jonah, chapter one, and we want to read verses three through seven. Jonah chapter one, verses three through seven, and I'm going to ask that we read it responsibly. I'll read verse three, you four, and we'll alternate through verse seven. Jonah chapter one, I'll begin reading at verse three. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. All right, together. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was in vain. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish now. And they said, Everyone to his fellow, Come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. God will bless to us this portion from his word. Shall we again ask his blessing? Father now, as we seek to hear thy voice speaking to us, we pray again that the author of this word, the Blessed Holy Spirit, may take these things and reveal them to us. We pray again that we may have a receptive heart retentive hearts. And we pray, our Father, that may we not only be hearers of the word, but doers as well. Oh God, we're asking you now to calm our hearts in thy presence. Oh God, speak to me. Speak to each one. For we pray in the name of Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen. Someone has said that preaching is self-suicide, and I agree. When God gives you a line of truth to teach as God has laid upon my heart this week, I want you to know that I think it speaks to me more than it speaks to you. I have said, I think, every time I've stood in back of this desk that... This fellow, Jonah, has been working me over, and brother, he has this more. But just so that we don't forget, some people have been asking me or mentioning that they didn't get my outline of chapter one. So let me give it to you very quickly. It's not the outline that I'm using, but it's a good outline to understand chapter one. In verses one and two, we have Jonah's call and commission. In verse three, we have his disobedience and departure. In verses four through eleven we have his rebuke and reply, and then in the balance of the chapter we have his suggestion and his sacrifice. But as I approach what God has laid on my heart this morning, I think of the words of a poet who said something like this. One ship sails east and another west by the south same wind that blows. It's the set of the sails and not the gale that determines the way it goes. And like the winds of the sea are the waves of fate as we journey on through life, it's the set of the soul that determines the goal and not the stress and the strife. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying, Allah! and Jonah arose to flee from the presence of God. Here's a man who heard the voice of God speaking to him. He had the word of God and rebellion comes into his heart. He knows what God says. He knows what God's speaking to him, and he rebels against it. Now it's very interesting to trace. Jonas steps as he rebelled against God after he heard the word of God. You know, the word of God tells us that he shards out for Joppa. And apparently he had his passport in his pocket. He was all prepared. And then again, too, in all probability, he had his wallet with him because he took it along and he was on his way going down to Joppa. And then as he journeys on, it's rather amazing to see that nobody stops him in the way and says, Jonah, watch out. No, probably Jonah. I'm sure God's with me. Look at the decision I have made. He heard the voice of God, remember. But there's no one that said, Jonah, watch out. And I suppose he thought within himself, well, things are going quite well for me today. But as we're here this morning, and we look out over that sea and we see that sail and as we peer up as we look at the horizon we see a ship we see a man and he's down in the hold of that ship fast asleep but then for a moment we're permitted to gaze up into heaven into the face of the Supreme, the sovereign God. God looks down at that scene. He sees that ship. And so he says, Wind, come on. And the wind starts working on that ship, and the waves become wild and tempestuous. But then we have a conversation between those veteran sailors. You remember? It's obvious they were terror-stricken. If you've read chapter one, they tried their best to bring that ship safely to land. And then finally they say, Shane, you remember that fellow that came on board? That fellow had the knapsack, you know, and where is he? What? He's down in the hold of the ship. He's fast asleep. And they said, let's catch watch and see. They catch watch as Bert Southern tells us. And the lot fell upon Jonah. And then they have an interview. Jonah tells him about his occupation. And if we had read the balance of the chapter this morning, you would find that he told them that he was fleeing from the presence of God. You see, there's a man who's trying to get away from the voice of God. He's trying to get away from the whisper of God. He's trying to get away from the face of God. I'm wondering as I look at you this morning, if I'm hearing someone say, you know, on July third, nineteen hundred seventy-three, as Mr. Pilon stood up in front of us at the Bristol Bible Conference, I heard the voice of God. He was speaking to me, and I rebelled. But we go to this man, Jonah, and he makes a tremendous admission. He tells these sailors, unbelievers, if you please, I know that because of my presence on this ship, this storm has come upon you. Listen, someone has well said that rebellion never slips God's notice. And it's foolish for men to think they can resist God's will with impunity. You can't do it. And I want to say something here this morning. I don't want God's second best for me. I want the perfect will of God. But look at verse twelve, if you will. Look what Jonah said. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. Now before we do that this morning, before we cast that man into the sea, I'm going to ask Jonah to come up here on the platform. Jonah, I want you to address this company of believers this morning at the Bristol Bible Conference. I want you to stand here for a short time and tell these people what disobedience means in the heart of a man. Jonah, what do you have to say? Jonah says to us this morning, I'll tell you. Look at verse three. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord, and went to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarsus. So he paid the fare. When this man stepped up to the ticket office, and said, I want a first class ticket to Jaffa or to Tarsus. And the man said, the agent said, the cost is one hundred and ten dollars and twenty-two cents. And when he laid the one hundred ten dollars and twenty-two cents on the desk and to receive his ticket, that wasn't all that Jonah paid. And I believe as Jonah stands here this morning, he talks to us about the cost of disobedience in the heart of a man. What did it cost you, Jonah? Jonah says to us this morning, I'm going to tell you my story. But before I do, why don't you find out what it costs some other men to disobey God? And we're going to do that this morning. I want you to turn with me your Bible to Genesis chapter twelve. Genesis chapter twelve. Verse ten. Here's a man by the name of Abraham. He heard the call of God. And in response to the call of God, this man went on a journey. So now notice with me, Genesis twelve, verse ten. And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down unto Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass when he came near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore, it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee. Here was a man who heard the voice of God. And as you read this story in this part of the book of Genesis and its context, you see what it cost a man to disobey God. Abraham, what if you lose? Abraham stands before us this morning and he says, Because I was disobedient to God, I lost my faith. I lost my courage. And I lost my testimony for God. If you read this portion of the Word of God, I wish we had time to dwell here all morning, you'll find that there's no altar here. There's no tent. that marks the man of God, the altar would speak of his communion with the living God, and the tent would depict his pilgrim pathway here on the earth. They're not mentioned. And we know that because of disobedience to God, dear Abraham was the loser. My Christian friends, I want to say something this morning. The greatest blight on the church of Jesus Christ. No, I'm going to make that difference. The greatest blight on the assemblies of God's people and evangelical people and evangelical groups in particular in this hour is disobedience to the Word of God. You're not going to like to hear it, but it's true. Just think. what would happen in the place where you lived and where I lived, if each one of us would walk in absolute obedience to the Word of God. I didn't say emotion, I said the Word. We'd make an impact on this world that would be unparalleled. And each one of us would only believe God, but dear old, Paul, he said, I believe God. If only one could only believe God and obey God and push rebellion away from our lives by the Spirit of God. You know what would happen in our assemblies today? We see a wave of blessing so great that we couldn't contain it. I was speaking to someone this morning and I said this to this person, we're not willing to take God at His word. You trust God and there's no answer in. I've known this as personal experience. Now it's hard to do. Oh yeah, no, I'm not kidding anyway. When you trust God and rest on His word, I want you to know something. First Corinthians chapter one and verse nine is true. God is faithful. And so Abraham stands before us this morning and he's saying something like this. I know what you're talking about, Jonah. I know what it costs because of disobedience. He stands here next to me and he bows his head in shame. the cost of disobedience. I want you to look at another man, Numbers chapter twenty, will you? Numbers chapter twenty. Verse nine, Numbers chapter twenty, verse nine. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear ye rebels? Listen, this was the voice of the meekest man in the Old Testament, and he's having a meeting before the brethren. And what did he do? He loses his temper in rebellion against God. So we're calling Moses up here this morning. Moses, what did it cost you to disobey God? Moses says, you know it cost Abraham something, yes. But Moses says, it cost me something too. Moses, what did it cost you? Moses said, listen, I died before my son. I never got home. I missed the reward that God had for me. Look at the twelve verse, number twenty. The Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, because ye believe me not, disrankify me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Oh, listen. what disobedience does in the life of a man, a Christian man, and a Christian woman. I tell you this morning, as I stand before you, I have a tremendous responsibility resting on my shoulders, because I hear the word of God, and you do too. Every one of us has a tremendous responsibility because we hear the word of God. Jonah, Abraham, Moses, let's call another. Psalm fifty-one. Psalm fifty-one. Now we know that this Psalm comes from the pen of Dear David. And as you read this Psalm, you try to enter into the spirit of it. I've read this psalm on occasions and trying to stand next to dear David and locking arms with him. And I'm afraid that I have shed some tears. Look at verse twelve. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy way. David? What did it cost you to disobey God? David stands before us this morning and he said, Because I was disobedient to God, I lost my joy. I lost my power. And I lost my testimony to. I heard a preacher of the gospel on one occasion say that a celibate incident that happened to him one day. He heard a car door slam outside his house, and soon the doorbell rang, and he went to the door, and here was a very distinguished-looking gentleman standing there. The man said to him, I came here today to speak with you about my life. He said, I'm fairly well-known in this city, and the man said, I knew him. He said, so he came. They went into his study, and they sat down, and so the preacher of the gospel opened the conversation, something like this, and said, well, I'm glad you're here. I'm happy for the impact you've made on our city. And the man said, that isn't what I came to talk to you about at all, sir. I came to talk to you today about an incident which happened in Western Canada, twenty-five years ago, when God spoke to my heart, and he called me by name, and he said, This is what I want you to do. And I said, Lord, I'll do anything. After all, Lord, you'll be quick in many ways. He continued, God wrestled with me. God spoke with me. And do you know, sir, I've lived for twenty-five years. with frustration, with anxiety. As a result of that day, twenty-five years ago, when I looked into the face of God and said, I'll go my way and pay the price. The cost of disobedience. Jonah knew something about this. But now back to Jonah chapter one and verse three. Jonah chapter one and verse three. Oh, I've got to hurry. the middle of the verse. Jonah went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went down into it. Look at verse five. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship. Chapter two, verse six. I went down. Here was a man who was running from God. And I would remind you this morning that the cost of disobedience is linked with a course of disobedience, and the course of disobedience is always down. Down from peace with God. down from fellowship with God, down from the conscious presence of God. And as I read this verse, I see in the life of a Christian a cesspool of sin, if you please. Jonah goes down. My Christian friend, when you lift up your hands to pay the price, remember there's only the course and the course is down. We haven't timed this morning, but I suggest that in your leisure time you read Genesis chapter thirteen and read about this man. What? We look at him, you remember, in Genesis chapter thirteen and he stands next to Abraham as they look over the well-watered plain of Jordan and Abraham says, now look, Lot, you take your choice. If you go this way, I'll go that. And so Lot stands there, you know, and he gets a whiff of the fragrance from Sodom and Gomorrah. And then he looks at that well-water plain, and he sees a fine place to pastor his Angus and his herpers. And then he looks into Sodom and Gomorrah, and he sees a place for his children to get a great education and all the rest. And I suppose he sees a possibility for advancement. But when I come to Genesis chapter thirteen in verse twelve, I read this. Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and his pitch is sent to war in Sodom. And I suppose from our vantage point this morning we would say, Lot, don't do it! Don't do it, Lot! And then we see how the kings of those wicked cities go out and finally Lot is captured. And if there's any sin of our age, my Christian friends and my young person, it's being captured by this age. Now I have to live in this world. I can't get out of it. It's all around me and it beckons us and it's holy. But I'll tell you, God save us from being captured by this age. Lot, what did you lose? This is tremendous. Listen, my family, friends, he lost his family. He lost his family. You know, I said this, and I say it publicly, and I'm still on first base. My kids are still coming up. If I lose my family, I lose everything. So, darling, kids, you're God. What did you lose? He was a dad. Because, and we know he was a Christian, he was a righteous man. The New Testament tells, we wouldn't know it from the Old Testament, but he was a righteous man. And as a result, he lost his family. He lost his fortune. And he lost his testimony. Now as we come back to Jonah, I believe you can see the relevance of this passage that we have read to us this morning. A man pays, and then he begins a course, and the course is down. So we have the course of disobedience, the course of disobedience. Now we want a third one, the calamity of disobedience. You see, if Jonah could have gotten out in his own canoe and started out on the sea alone, that would have been one thing. But he couldn't. If he could have gotten in his power boat and slipped away into the sea and said, look, God, I just don't care. I don't care what you say. That would have been one thing. We could probably say, go to it, Jonah. Get out of here. We don't want you around. But he couldn't. Let him drown. But I want you to know something this morning, my Christian friend. No man, no woman drowns alone. This is the tragedy of it all. You know, it's sad when God exposes sin in the life of a Christian, when the eyes of the unbelieving world look on. They don't understand what happens. It may well be that it does happen to a Christian who's out of the will of Christ. The world doesn't understand that God sometimes has to chastise believers, you know. And even sometimes exposure before unbelievers is calculated by God to benefit the believer. And Jonah was out of the will of God and God exposed him. The calamity of disobedience. And you know when I turn to Romans chapter fourteen and verse seventeen, that in fact Romans chapter fourteen, that great chapter of Christian ethics. It says this, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. My Christian friends, whether we realize it or not, our lives are connected with other lives on this sea of life in which we are going. And our lives are involved with other lives. And the endangering of my life endangers the lives of other Christians. When some child of God pays the price and then they go down and they're overtaken as they sometimes are by the storm and they collapse and the world looks on and the world laughs. I hate it. I hate it. Young man, young woman, older man, older woman, listen to me. You can't stay alone. You can't do it. Remember that man, Saul, centered on the basketball team, head and shoulders above everybody else. The prophet came to him and said, listen, you go out and smite Amalek. So Saul went out. He said before he went, now listen, don't scare anybody. hot suckling sheep, man and woman, destroy them all. Remember what happened? Saul went out. He just couldn't do it. Why, there's so many good things that would help him, you know. So he destroyed the bad and he kept the good. Remember he came back to Samuel and he said, We've done just what you told us to do. We've obeyed the word of God. And Samuel says, What's that bleeding of those things I hear in my ears? What do I hear? Saul says, Why, we just we took those so we could sacrifice. Samuel says, Who obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Listen, my friend, situation ethics is nothing new right there. But there's something else I want you to notice about that incident. The Bible tells us that he left Agag, the king of Amalek, a lot. A little later on, Saul had the battle. And you know, kings went out into the battle in those days, and they led their troops. And so Saul goes down, and he finds himself in the midst of a battle, and he falls. And do you know the man that stole him? Second Samuel chapter one in verse ten says, It was a man of Amalek who he didn't destroy. But that's not all. The story even gets worse. When Saul went down, he swore mothers with him. Just like a great big tree in the forest. You know, when a tree goes down, the sacklings go down too. And you know what happened? there were others affected and as Saul went down and held out those mighty arms, you know who fell with it, his own son. Because, listen, my Christian friend, you can't live alone and you can't die alone. This was the calamity in the life of these sailors. And because a saint was out of place, he endangered the life of those sailors. And listen, saints trying to escape God are just one problem to the Church of God. I heard a man tell how some years ago, remember when they had the old drug stores with the soda fountain? He used to like to, he loved ginger ale. So for a break every now and then he'd go down and order a great big fall glass of ginger ale and he had stood at the fountain. And as he was sitting there one day, a lovely young lady came sitting next to him and she ordered a Coke. He said, I knew the lady. In fact, he said she was one of our assembly families. And so the young lady began to talk to him. She said, I've been meaning to tell you about my life. And then she began to tell him what was happening in her life. And then she looked at him and she said, I decried it. And he looked her straight in the eye and he said, Do you have any idea what it will cost? Do you have any idea what it will cost you and your children? This lady looked him right in the eye and she said, Sir, I don't care what it costs, I've made up my mind. Just recently that man was preaching in another state. He hadn't seen that lady for twenty years. He looked in the congregation and about five rows back there she sat. After he finished his message, she came and stood next to him by his side and she said this, You will never know what you said to me that day, how true the words were that you said to me that day. When you sat in that drugstore and drank your ginger ale and I drank my Coke, she said, I've been paid. and pain and pain. She said, will it ever quit? Men of the tears coursed on her feet, she said. My disobedience has cost me a boy and a girl and a girl and a boy and a husband and a mother and an uncle. They've all been ruined by my disobedience. My Christian friends are the calamity in disobedience, the cost of disobedience, the course of disobedience, the calamity of disobedience. Now, one last one, the confession of disobedience. Jonah, come on up here. Do you have anything else to say to this audience this morning? Yes, I do, says Jonah. I have a confession to make. But he says, before I do, will you remind them once again what it costs other men to disobey God? All right, Jonah, let's do that. Abraham, what did your disobedience to God cost you? Abraham looks at us this morning and he says, because of disobedience, I lost my faith. I lost my curse. And I lost my testimony. Moses, tell this congregation this morning, what did disobedience cost you? And Moses said, because of disobedience, I died before my time. I never got home. I missed out on God's reward for me. Moses takes his place next to Abraham. David... Do you have something to say to these people this morning about your disobedience? And David said, oh, yes. I lost my joy. I lost my power. And I lost my testimony, too. And takes his place next to Moses. What? Do you have anything to say to this congregation this morning about your disobedience to God? Lot says, listen, because I pitched my tent towards Sodom, I lost my family. I lost my fortune. And I too lost my tent. So he takes his place here next to David. Jonah... from you having Satan with this morning. Jonah says, all the cost of disobedience, all the course of disobedience is done, all the calamity of disobedience, others are affected. Could I have a confession to make? Jonah stands before us this morning and he says, I did a stupid thing. I should have known what the psalmist says in the hundred and thirty-nine psalm, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. If I take the winds of the morning and dwell in the other most parts of the sea, Jonah says to us this morning, I can't escape from God. He's on the present, he's everywhere, and I should have known it. And I lock arms with Jonah this morning. And I stand before you this morning and I say, Thank God, God pursues men. And thank God He never let them go. I know. Maybe you'd like to come up here and stand this morning. Stand next to me. Maybe the hounds of heaven have been after you. I don't know why the Lord has laid the throne definitely on my heart. There must be something that God has seized. Oh, but I want you to know again. I'm thankful that God pursues me. and he pursues with it. You know what he does? He uses them in spite of themselves. I don't know you should do it. My Christian friend, God wants to use you. Don't look at me. What do you do? God has blessed the coffee and Bible class ministry down our way. We have ladies come to us and say, Mr. Piotr, I can't keep the Bible, and I said to him, listen, you know more than the lady next door, and you'll teach it to him. We've had, I think, this past winter, fourteen coffees in Bible classes, Lord. And I don't care who you are this morning. You can go out. A lady asked me, how do you get a coffee started? It's simple. We can tell you and you can get, I can guarantee you'll get people in. God can use you. It doesn't have to be the spectacular. I had a Bible class. I was mentioning this to someone individually. I had a Bible class this year. A lady came. She was saved. Her husband wasn't. This was for couples. When he came, he didn't even believe that the Bible was the Word of God. You know, about five weeks ago, he came to my study. I said, Dennis, he's a stockbroker. I called him up and said, Dennis, I got to talk to you. He came to my study and we sat down and we discussed the Word of God. And before he left my little study, he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. you can have that same grip every month. So at this time too. It happened in nineteen sixty-three a missionary who had left the mission field because of some problems. There was rebellion in his heart. So he came home and he got a job and he was quite successful by all outward appearances. One morning he met with a man who had met a lot to him in his Christian life. They stood together and they loved each other and the Lord, and they clapped each other's hands. This man looked into the eyes of the senior brother and he said, Listen, God has overtaken me. I can't run anymore. I can't fly anymore. I can't get away anymore. And he gripped this man's hand so tightly that they actually turned white. The blood was squeezed from there. And they went down on their knees together, and they thanked God for the pursuit of God. He's fine. He's fine. And he found Jonah. He found Jonah. Oh, may God speak to us. If we've been running from God this morning, I pray that he'll find you and that he'll find me. Shall we pray? Our time is gone. We won't have a closing hymn this morning. But I hope you'll remember my four C's and that God will speak. Tomorrow morning it will be a little happier. We want to speak on five wonderful words. God our Father, we pray that Jonah may have spoken to each one of us this morning. We will not forget his message to us. Now take us out today. May the joy of the Lord be our strength. And we fellowship together. But we pray that each one of us may do personal business with these. Because we realize this is the most important thing that can be done on these concert grounds. Keep us from accidents and harm today, we pray. And go with us, we ask. In the name of Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.