The title of my message today friends is
running from God and I suggest to you
that there are several ways a person can
run from God.
The first is in salvation, the second is
in service, and the third is in self
-preservation.
Let's look at the first of these as
seen in the story of the prodigal son
from Luke's Gospel in chapter 15.
Here is a young man full of life
and he wants to go out and enjoy
life, experience it on every level like some
of you friends.
He wants to indulge every lust, taste every
pleasure, so he tells his father to give
him his and then he takes off into
the world and this man is running from
God.
He runs away from his father's house to
go to a far country where he can
send all he wants to.
That's what some of your college kids do
today.
You'll get out from under your parents house,
go away to school to get out from
being under their eyes so you can go
do what you want to and that's what
this man did.
He went to a far country so he
wouldn't be under his father's eye so he
could go do what he wanted to do.
And we read in verse 14, and when
he had spent all there rose a mighty
famine in that land and he began to
be in want.
This young man was running away from God
in a mad pursuit of this world and
its pleasures.
People do that today.
They chase this world and try to grab
as much of it as they can with
no thought to eternity and they chase the
wind until it runs out.
That's what this young man did but God
had to bring him to the end of
himself.
Maybe God has been dealing with you friend
and bringing you to the end of yourself.
Well God ended up saving that young man
because he repented.
He returned to his father's house and he
was restored to fellowship.
He was given a robe.
When you get saved you get a robe
of righteousness.
Next we see a man running from God
in service.
All you have to do friends is to
open your Bible to the book of Jonah
to see this very fact play out.
Here was a prophet of God who is
running away from God in his call to
service.
God told him to go do a thing,
to go cry against Nineveh, but he wouldn't
do it.
We see in verse 3 of Jonah, but
Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from
the presence of the Lord.
This man's running from God.
Maybe it's your story friend.
Perhaps God has given you a call to
service and you packed your bags and went
the other direction on your run from God's
call on your life.
Perhaps he called you to be a pastor
but you don't want to be poor so
you ran from that call.
Maybe he called you to the mission field
but you know the sacrifice and demands of
that and you were on the run from
him.
Jonah was like that but God had to
put him in the midst of a storm
and almost drown him.
God had to conquer him to get him
in obedience to him.
Maybe God will have to conquer you as
well friend.
Then lastly we see a man running from
God in self-preservation.
But first he's running toward God.
In Mark's gospel we see a rich man
tested who ran up to Jesus in his
emotions and said, good master what shall I
do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus told him what he had to
do but he wouldn't do it.
The gospel has rights and claims on a
follower of Christ Jesus.
That young ruler turned his back on God
and walked away.
I don't believe friends that that rich young
ruler ever got saved.
I believe when God's Spirit stops arresting, convicting,
troubling, awakening and calling then the door is
shut on that person and they become reprobate
silver.
You hear me now.
God deals with the hearts of men according
to his sovereignty.
But I believe God's Spirit will only strive
so long with a person.
I believe that's scriptural.
God says so in Genesis 6 3 where
he says, and the Lord said, my spirit
shall not always strive with man.
These three individuals did three things and God
did three things.
I want you to take note of that
friends of how a holy and sovereign God
deals with the souls of men.
The first individual on the run from God
came to the end of himself and he
saw his need and repented and God saved
him.
The second individual on the run from God
had to be conquered by God to be
brought back into obedience to God.
The third individual walked away from God and
God left him alone.
I was playing golf with a giant of
a man years ago.
He stood six foot six and weighed over
300 pounds.
He had a lot of money and he
also had one of the filthiest mouths I
ever heard on a man.
Every time he missed a golf shot he
cussed God and took Christ's name in vain.
God will hold a man accountable for taking
his name in vain.
You don't cuss and curse the very God
who created you but this man did.
Finally I had enough of his filthy mouth
and as we were standing on a tee
box I asked him, I said, can I
ask you a question, friend?
He said, shoot.
I said, how was your relationship with God?
He smiled a big grin and answered, fine,
I have a great relationship with God.
I leave him alone and he leaves me
alone.
That's what the old boy said but there
will come a day in his life where
his money won't help him when it comes
time for him to die and he stands
on the brink of eternity and he dies
and his soul leaves this world for another
world he is quite unprepared for because God
left him alone.
There are two verses of Scripture that trouble
me when I read them.
One is Proverbs 29.1. Proverbs 29.1
states he that being often reproved hardeneth his
neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without
remedy that speaks of God striving with a
person only for so long then it's hell
to pay because if you die without the
remedy for sin in the person of Jesus
Christ then it is hell to pay.
The second verse that bothers me is Isaiah
55.6 which states seek ye the Lord
while he may be found.
Call ye upon him while he is near.
That verse disturbs me because I've been in
meetings where God was dealing with men and
it was obvious he was near but they
were unwilling to do what God required of
them as seen in the following verse of
Isaiah.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return
on to the Lord.
I pretty much think friends that sums up
the rich young ruler who had the Lord
of glory staring him in the face telling
him what he needed to do to gain
heaven and eternal life and he wouldn't do
it.
Jesus crossed him at his point of rebellion
put his finger on the sore spot in
his life in which in his case was
his money but he was running from God
in self-preservation and with tears in his
eyes Jesus watched him walk away and he
left him alone from that point on.
Hell is full of people like that whom
God at one time strived with dealt with
and wooed by his spirit for there was
a time in their life when he was
near but they weren't ready nor were they
willing to comply with the terms of salvation.
Listen to me friends you better put aside
this cotton candy carnival gospel they hand out
in our churches today that smells sweet and
looks good and sticks to your hands a
little until it washes off.
I'll end this message friends with the following
story a Baptist Church one time gave me
a coffee mug when I joined their church
and on that mug were two things the
name of that Baptist Church was on the
side of the mug and on the bottom
of the mug it said made in China
that mug lasted about eight months because it
was made in China meaning it was made
cheaply and one day after about eight months
when I reached for it one morning the
handle broke off and the mug came crashing
down the gospel that Baptist Church handed out
wasn't much better than that mug it did
the job for a little while but fell
apart in the end.
If you are pastor or an evangelist friend
you better be dead certain you are true
to the souls of man because many only
have so many opportunities to come to Christ
like we saw in our message today and
if they are thirsty and God is near
and you hand them a deficient mug of
a gospel there'll be hell to pay.
Listen to me friend if God's been dealing
with you then you better get serious with
him and seek him while he is near
until you find him a saved person has
found Christ let us pray