am and look at it? What does
discipleship cost you? What is involved in your allegiance to the
Lord? Coming to church once or twice a month on Sunday mornings and
making a small contribution. Only this and nothing more. The Sunday
School is not your burden. The prayer meeting is not your burden.
Visiting the new members that have recently come into our Church and
into the Kingdom and need your help is not your responsibility.
Helping by your presence and by your prayers to give spiritual fervor
to all the services, is not your responsibility. Yours is to make your
way up to the doors of the House of Many Mansions by and by without
ever having made one single costly sacrifice in order to follow the
Lord.

Are you running away from your duty this morning? You know what it is.
At least you may know it. This is a needy world. This is a needy
Church. It has an opportunity to touch the uttermost parts of the
earth if it is spiritually alive and spiritually mighty. Are you
making your contribution? Are you accepting your responsibility or
have you turned your back upon it for no other reason than just this,
that it is too much trouble? If that is true of me and if that is true
of you, may the Lord wake us up this morning and give us to see our
deadly danger.

So Jonah turned his back on his duty and turned his back on God. He
took ship for Tarshish and went to sleep. Surely his situation is
critical indeed. But though he has forgotten God, God in His mercy has
not forgotten him. God still loves Jonah, still longs for him and
still hopes for him. And so in mercy He sends a storm after him. That
was dangerous cargo that that ship had on board. It had better have
had gasoline or T N T than a rebellious prophet.

It was in mercy, I say, that the Lord sent the storm after Jonah.
Coverdale translates it, "The Lord hurled a storm into the sea." Let
us thank God for the storms that rouse us, that wake us up, that keep
us from sleeping our way into the pit. May the Lord send us any kind
of storm rather than allow us to fling ourselves eternally away from
His presence. I am so glad God will never allow a man to go
comfortably and peacefully to eternal death. He never allows any man
to be lost until He has done His best to save him.

I read some years ago of a New England farmer who was driving to town
on a cold winter's day. He overtook a woman on the way who was walking
and carrying a baby in her arms. H