NOBTS’ Kelley asks, ‘Will you go?’

TAMPA (FBW)—Naming God’s passion, penalty, patience, power and problem, Charles S. Kelley, president, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary told messengers to the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist State Convention if they would examine God’s attributes they would be more enthusiastic about the pursuit of sharing the Gospel.

Drawing from the Old Testament book of Jonah, Kelley said Jonah was so intimidated by God’s insistence he deliver the Word of the Lord to the wicked Ninevites, that he ended up in the belly of a fish.

Jonah had good reason to be afraid, Kelley asserted. The Ninevites were considered a barbaric people who "every nation on the earth despised," he said. They had literally conquered "all of the old world."

"Yet God loved them," said Kelley. "He only loves you for the same reason He loved the people of Ninevah."

And in the fish, Jonah had some time to contemplate what it meant to refuse God’s command — which was spurred by His passion and love for the people.

"What was it like for Jonah in the belly of that great fish?" Kelley speculated. "It was like being in hell. [It is] the reality of the judgment of God for the lost."

Kelley said the same descriptor used in the Bible to describe an eternity in hell is also used to describe eternity in heaven. For those who question God’s passion or love because of this predicament, don’t understand his motivation.

Using as an example his mother and father who set the rules when he was young, Kelley said: "Love flowed out of their character of sacrifice and concern," and they had "standards" to which he was held accountable.

"We cannot talk so much about the love of God that we neglect to talk about the penalty of God," Kelley said.

Moving to the patience of God, Kelley said Genesis 3:1 illustrates God’s patience in extending a second chance. The same concept applied when he was growing up, Kelley recalled, and when being called in to supper, he was given many chances before his mom finally yelled out his full name to get his attention.

"Thank God, He is patient," said Kelley. "Praise the Lord, He is longsuffering. The day will come when that patience will end."

Speaking of God’s power manifested in Jonah, Kelley marveled at how Jonah preached for 40 days and 40 nights once he let God work through him. "Everywhere the people gathered, Jonah was there.

"The incredible happened. Everyone cried out in repentance ... [and] God was able to forgive that city," said Kelley.

Likening the power of God to the worm that attacks the gourd tree plant in Jonah 4:7, Kelley asked: "If God can find and use a worm..., what do you think God will do with you?"

"God knows your name. He knows the color of your eyes. Ladies, He knows the real color of your hair," Kelley added. "God’s biggest problem was not with the pagan Ninevites, God biggest problem was not their cruelty and barbarism. God’s biggest problem was Jonah. Ninevah was only a problem away from revival."

Telling a story about a church which baptized only one person in 30 years, Kelley warned that the spreading of the Gospel might skip a whole generation in some churches — particularly in the United States.

"God’s biggest problem is not the hardness of the sinner, but is the hardness of the saint," admonished Kelley. "The great challenge we face ... is how willing the saved are to go.

"Will you go?" he asked.