Sermons on Biblical Characters | Page 8

you walk its streets you will walk them in the joy
of the divine fellowship.
On the other hand, you may go to Tarshish. Tarshish is the city of
"Have-Your-Own-Way." It is the city of "Do-As-You-Please." It is the
city of "Take-it-Easy." It is the city with no garden called Gethsemane
without its gates and no rugged hill called Calvary overlooks its walls.
It is a city without a cross and yet it is a city where people seldom sing
and often sob. It is a city where nobody looks joyously into God's face
and calls Him Father.
I met Jonah that day on the wharf. He looked like he had passed
through a terrible spell of sickness. His cheeks were hollow. His eyes
were red with sleeplessness. He had a haggard, worn, hounded look
about him. "Are you on the way home, Jonah?" And he shook his head
and said, "No. I am going to Tarshish." Tarshish was the most far away
place of which the Jew had any conception. "Tarshish!" I say in
astonishment. "What are you going to do over at Tarshish?" "Oh," he
said, "I hadn't thought about that. I do not know what the future has in
store for me. What I am trying to do is to get away from God." "And
Jonah arose to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
I wonder why the text did not say "And Jonah arose to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of his duty" instead of "from the presence
of the Lord." The writer of this story had real spiritual insight. He was
far clearer in his thinking than many of us. He knew that to flee from
duty was to flee from God. Whenever you make up your mind to refuse
to go where God wants you to go and to do what God wants you to do,
you must make up your mind at the same time to renounce the
friendship of God. You cannot walk with Him and at the same time be
in rebellion against Him. God has no possible way of entering into
fellowship with the soul that is disobedient to His will. Believe me, it is
absolutely useless, it is mere mockery, to say "Lord, Lord" and then
refuse to do the things that He commands you to do.
Now, when Jonah saw the spaces of water growing wider between him
and the shore a kind of deadly calm came upon him. A man with his
mind made up to do wrong is far more at rest than the man whose mind

is not made up at all. So when Jonah had fully decided that he would
rebel against God and give up all claim to God, a dreadful restfulness
came to his troubled spirit. He went down into the sides of the ship and
went fast asleep. The days before had been troubled days. The nights
had been restless nights. But the battle was over now, even though it
had been lost, and he was able at last to sleep.
This period marks, I am sure, the period of greatest danger in the life of
Jonah. Jonah had been a rebel before, but he had been a restless rebel.
He had been disobedient before, but his disobedience had tortured him.
It had put strands of gray into his hair and wrinkles upon his brow. But
now he is not only in rebellion, but he is content to be so. He is not
only without God, but he is, in a measure, satisfied to be without Him.
No greater danger can come to any man than that. As long as your sin
breaks your heart, as long as your disobedience makes you lie awake
nights and wet your pillow in tears there is hope for you. But when you
become contented with your wickedness, when you come to believe
that it is the best possible for you, then you are in danger indeed.
Now, I am fully convinced that Jonah's danger is the danger of a great
many, both in the Church and out. You who are listening to me at this
moment are kindly and cultured men and women. You are full of good
will toward the Church. You love it and desire its prosperity. Yet many
of you are doing practically nothing to make its desired prosperity a
reality. One of the most discouraging features about the Church to-day
is the large number of utterly useless people within its fold. And these
are not only useless, but saddest of all, they are content with their
uselessness. They seem to feel that it is God's best for them; that it is all
that God expects or has a right to expect.
Did you ever make out your