The Consequences of Disobedience

[0:00] Good morning again. I hope I haven't ruined my voice this morning with all this great singing. It's been good this morning to see we've got some young folks that have been learning the soundboard, have been learning how to use Proclaim.

[0:16] So it's good to see so many involved in that. Hopefully that one day we can see a whole new generation rise up and be serving in so many different ways.

[0:30] Have you ever heard the phrase, when we make our bed, we must lie in it? You know, that's been a statement that I've heard over and over. And this morning, as we are continuing in the book of Jonah, going verse by verse, we are seeing that when a child is on the run from God, there will be discipline from God.

[0:58] And we will be looking this morning as we unpack these verses today, verses 4 and following, about the consequences of disobedience, what we may expect in our lives if we are disobedient.

[1:16] Because a child that is disobedient to God is fair game for whatever means God wants to use to get our attention and to get us back on track.

[1:28] Dr. Johnny Hunt says, disobedience always disturbs deity. Disobedience always disturbs deity.

[1:39] And make no mistake about it, there will always be consequences to the disobedient when we choose to do our own will instead of the will of God.

[1:50] Jonah was a prophet of God on the run from God because he didn't want to proclaim the message from God to the Ninevites.

[2:01] And Jonah experiences God's hand of discipline in these verses and the following verses that we will come to in the weeks to come. And mark my words, Scripture bears this out, that disobedience in the life of the follower of Jesus will always follow disobedience in the life of a saint.

[2:28] And also what we're going to find is not only are our lives going to be affected when we're disobedient, but the lives of those around us. Our families' lives are going to be affected.

[2:40] And sometimes our lives or our disobedience will even affect the lives of those who are not followers of Jesus around us as well. Let's take a look and read this morning Joshua chapter 1, and we will be in verses 4 through 9 today.

[2:59] Verse 4 says, But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

[3:11] You remember from last week? God says, Jonah, go preach to the Ninevites. Go tell them that their sin has come before me. And if they don't repent, I'm going to get them off.

[3:22] I'm going to get rid of them. And I'm going to discipline them. And Jonah says, I don't feel like it. And so what he does is he goes down to Tarshish.

[3:33] He finds a ship. He pays the fare. He goes down into the ship, and he goes down away in the opposite direction for where God wanted him to go.

[3:44] And we see in verse 5, Then the mariners were afraid. And every man cried out to his God, and through the cargo that was in the ship, into the sea to lighten the load.

[3:58] But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him, in verse 6, and said to him, What do you mean?

[4:14] Sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish. And they said to one another, Here are the sailors.

[4:26] They said, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

[4:39] Then they said to him, Please tell us for whose cause is this trouble upon us. What is your occupation? What do you do for a living? And where do you come from?

[4:50] What is your country? And of what people are you? So they were on a mission to find out everything they could about this guy who had gotten them in so much trouble in their mind with the gods.

[5:08] And in verse 9, So he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord. We're going to unpack that a little bit in a minute. When he says, I fear the Lord.

[5:19] The God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. So we ask ourselves the question, From where did this storm originate? Where did the storm originate?

[5:32] Tell me. Exactly. And so what we see is God sends the storm for the disobedient. God sends the storm.

[5:44] When we disobey, when we run from Him, and when we are disobedient from God, God is going to, just like when we have a child who is disobedient, we will discipline that child.

[5:58] And so God sends the storm for the disobedient. And what we see is God was at work. Let's go back here for just a moment before we go to our next verse.

[6:12] You know, I thank the Lord that He doesn't give up on us when we disobey. Aren't you? Aren't you glad He doesn't say, You know what? I'm going to wash my hands of you. This is the last time I'm going to put up with this.

[6:27] Because what would be the problem with that? Because we fail, just like the Israelites did. We fail over and over and over and over again.

[6:37] It might be an attitude. It might be an action. It might be in word. It might be doing something we're not supposed to do. It might be not doing something that God tells us to do, as in the case of Jonah.

[6:48] Even when we are running from the will of God, He works in our lives to bring us back to Himself. It's just like with a runaway child.

[7:00] Just like with the runaway son from the New Testament and the father who represents God is waiting for his wayward son to return.

[7:12] You know, a restored child of God is forgiven and will always be able to thank God for the storms in their life.

[7:24] God, thank you for that storm because it brought me back to you. God, thank you for not forgetting me. God, thank you for not giving up on me. And here's the great theological truth.

[7:35] God uses storms in our life to confront His wayward children. And verse 4 teaches us that God will be at work in the life of a prodigal, in the life of one who runs from Him.

[7:52] And we see that in the prodigal prophet's life. And I think Romans 8.28 can be applied here. Romans 8.28 could be applied to Jonah's life back then and to our life today.

[8:06] Verse 28 of Romans chapter 8 says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

[8:21] God was at work in the life of His wayward prophet. As we look in Jonah chapter 1 and verse number 4, it says, But the Lord sent.

[8:33] And in the original language that the book of Jonah was written in, this word sent means to pitch over or to reel or to cast down or cast out.

[8:47] And so what the Bible tells us is that God cast the wind upon the waters. God made the waters pitch and roll. God sent the wind.

[9:00] He cast it down. And so God's control of the wind and the weather is seen in His casting down the wind upon the sea. And God intentionally sent the storm on the sea to discipline His prophet.

[9:17] And what we see is that Jonah's action brought a reaction from God. Jonah's disobedient action brought a reaction from God.

[9:28] And our disobedience will always bring discipline from God. Matthew Henry, the commentator, said, Sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into the church and nations.

[9:45] And he goes on to say, And it is a disquieting and disturbing thing. And what about the thunderstorm? It was no little rainstorm, was it?

[9:56] It was no little thunderstorm because it says it was a mighty, mighty storm. The storm even got the attention of the sailors.

[10:11] See, when God sends storms into our life for corrective purposes, they will always get our attention. And God will always send the discipline into our life not only to get our attention, but why?

[10:29] To move us into action. So it's one thing for God to get your attention. Okay, God, you got my attention. But what does God really want?

[10:41] He wants our action. Okay, now, turn back, repent, go back the way that we are supposed to go.

[10:52] Excuse me. So Jonah's disobedience not only brought this reaction from God, not only did it endanger the life of Jonah, but what else do we see?

[11:03] It endangered the life of the sailors who was on the ship with him. And so here's also another great biblical truth is our disobedience affects our lives and the lives of those around us as well.

[11:20] So great was the storm that we see in verse number four so that the ship was about to be broken up.

[11:30] And the word that was used there means to burst or to break into pieces. The wind was so strong, the waves were so mighty that these sailors were afraid that their ship was going to be broken into pieces.

[11:48] Now these were seasoned men. These were seasoned sailors and I'm sure they had made that trip multiple times across the sea. I'm sure that they had been in storms before, but this was no regular storm.

[12:05] This was a divine storm. This was a storm that was threatening their ship to be broken up. You know, there are ships in our lives that may be broken because of our disobedience.

[12:18] There's fellowship with God that's broken when we are disobedient. Fellowship with God and His church. Companionship with spouses.

[12:32] You know, I remember back a number of years ago when God called me back to Bible college. and finally I got to the point where I mentioned to Kath and I said, well, what would you say if we go back, if I go back to school?

[12:53] And she said, well, you've been miserable and you've been making me miserable and so, yeah, let's go. And so, when we're disobedient, not only does it affect our lives, but it affects our other lives as well.

[13:05] So it affects our companionship, it affects our stewardship of the Lord's blessings upon our life. It will affect the lordship of Jesus Christ in our life because we are not allowing Jesus' lordship over us because we've taken that lordship back.

[13:21] It will affect worship because when you think about it, when you are at odds with God, how is your worship? If it even exists, it will be empty, it will be mechanical, it won't be from the heart.

[13:39] And so, disobedience will affect our worship and it will also affect the battleship of our spiritual warfare. I mean, we will be vulnerable to Satan when we are disobedient.

[13:54] So God showed that he was displeased with Jonah and he sent a furious storm. And I like what I read something this week. Someone has said this, locking horns with God is a good way to get dehorned.

[14:10] Locking horns with God is a good way to get dehorned. He went on to say, if you upset God, God will upset you. It would be a great help to man if he got a great deal more concerned about the fact that sin really disturbs God.

[14:26] I want to read that again. It would be a great help to man or mankind if he got a great deal more concerned about the fact that sin really disturbs God.

[14:40] Men need to get more concerned, he goes on to write, about God's reaction to things. Often, folks seem very concerned about what other men think of their performance, but seldom do evidence much concern about what God thinks.

[14:56] God thinks. Let's let that sink in for a moment. For whom are we the most concerned? What other people think? Or what God thinks? I think we need to heed Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19.

[15:10] As many as I love God says, I rebuke and I chasten. Therefore, be zealous and do what? He says, repent, change your mind, change your thought pattern, change your actions, change going from this direction to that direction.

[15:27] Now, we have to understand something. Not all the storms in our life are because of our disobedience. I mean, not everything that goes wrong in your life is because you're disobedient. Sometimes, because we live in a sin-cursed world, bad stuff just happens.

[15:43] But here's the thing. We know that all the storms in our life, no matter what they are, whether they're discipline or they're simply something we go through, God can use them to make us more like Jesus.

[15:58] God can use whatever it is to make us more like Jesus. So when we face the storms of life, we need to turn to Him rather than turning to all these other things that we might think will fix it.

[16:13] Verse 4, we've seen that the furious storm was from the sovereign God. God sent the storm to discipline Jonah. But in verses 5 through 7, this is what we see, that the storm brings fear.

[16:28] It brings fear into the lives of those who were involved. Now, the storms in our lives usually generate strong emotions, do they not? Something bad happens in our life, and we have an emotional reaction.

[16:44] It might be fear. It might be anger. It might be whatever, but the storms in our lives bring fear. Let's take a look at the sailors.

[16:55] Let's look at the sailors' reaction in the first part of verse 5. Then the mariners were what? They were afraid, and every man cried out to his God.

[17:09] See, the consequences not only came for Jonah, but they came for all of those around him. But they hadn't seen any storm like the one God sent.

[17:20] They had seen storms before. In verse number 5, I think the Bible gives us a well-tested principle. When men fear for their lives, they tend to do what?

[17:34] They turn to their God, right? When men fear. There was a comedian back in the 70s.

[17:44] I don't even remember his name now. He said he got drafted, served in the military, or he went and joined before he was called to serve.

[17:56] They were in Vietnam, and he said that he was living, it was before he came to know the Lord, he was living a hippie life, and they told him maybe he ought to be a medic, join the Navy.

[18:12] He said, the only thing, I just don't want to join the Marines. He said, because they get hurt. And they said, well, you know what, maybe you could be a medic, join the Navy, and they said, you know what, you get to hand out drugs, he go, oh, drugs, I get to hand out drugs, yeah, I'll join.

[18:28] and so he joins the Navy as a medic. And he said, you know what I realized? Who do the Navy medics serve? The Marines. And so he got attached to a group of Marines.

[18:41] And so he was under fire, and he said he was hunkered down, and he said, I had a cross, he said I had an ankh, I had, he said, you know what, I didn't want to offend any god.

[18:53] And so when we get afraid, he said I was praying to anybody out there that would hear me. And so this is a well-tested principle. When people get afraid, they cry out, they cry out to their god.

[19:06] So one commentator says, he says, take a man who can curse like a sailor, and when the hurricane comes in, the first thing he wants to do is pray. He cries out to whatever god there may be.

[19:20] Now these guys didn't pray to Jehovah, they prayed to their gods, but they took matter into their own hands after that. Look back at verse number 5.

[19:32] He said, they threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. They tried to lighten the load, but the ship was still heavy with what?

[19:47] The body of Jonah. The real weight was still weighing them down. And so the problem was Jonah. The problem was the disobedient prophet. The problem was the prophet on the run.

[20:01] Our sin rebellion is very, very costly. But what's going on? Take a look at the last part of verse number five. I want us to spend just a few moments there. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship.

[20:16] He had lain down, and then what does Jonah do? He falls asleep. These seasoned mariners, these hardened sailors, were afraid their ship was going to be broken up.

[20:31] They're throwing their stuff out, not their cargo. Think about it. They got paid by their cargo. They didn't get paid if they didn't bring cargo to their next port of call.

[20:46] And so here they are. They're throwing their livelihood into the ocean to save their own skins. They're all afraid, thinking they're going to die. And where's Jonah?

[20:59] Sleep in the bottom of the ship. So when the sailors were trying to spare their own lives, Jonah, out of the will of God, is still able to get a good night's sleep.

[21:14] Jonah was a fact, was asleep. And here's the thing that we see. It's a fact that you can be out of the will of God and still get a good night's sleep.

[21:26] See, Jonah's senses were so dulled by the hardness of his heart that he slept through the raging wind and the waves that tossed the ship.

[21:36] He slept through the storm that was on the verge of tearing their ship to pieces and would send them all down to the bottom of the ocean.

[21:48] Warren Wiersbe writes this. He says, you can be rebelling against God and still have a false sense of security that includes a good night's sleep.

[22:00] Think about it. You can be so deluded and your conscience so seared, you can be running from God and have a false sense of security because things seem to be going your way.

[22:14] Remember, Jonah went down, he went down to the port, found a ship going in the direction he wanted to go, which was opposite from the direction that God wanted him to go. So it seemed so convenient.

[22:26] He had enough money for the fare, paid his fare, and he goes down. Matthew Henry writes, neither the noise from without, nor the senses from guilt from within, awoke him.

[22:38] The sinners, the sailors, were trying to protect themselves from the storm while the prophet of God was asleep. Look at verse number six. So the captain comes to him, so the captain comes to him and said to him, what do you mean, oh sleeper?

[22:57] Now we go, we go back to, we go back to this, he says, what do you mean sleeper? Arise, call on your God, perhaps your God will consider us so that, excuse me, we may not perish.

[23:09] in verse six, what the Bible is telling us here is that this pagan captain had to rebuke the prophet of God.

[23:21] The pagan captain had to rebuke the prophet of God. You see, what he says here is the pagans, those who were worshiping other gods, didn't even worship the Lord God, were afraid, they realized, the problem is Jonah, and Jonah was asleep in the belly of the ship, and so the captain comes to him and rebukes him.

[23:49] May God help us when a lost world comes to us and tells us, why aren't you doing what you're saying your God wants you to do?

[24:02] You know, the word sleeper, the word sleeper here means to stun or to stupefy with sleep or death. Just like a drug that we take that just makes you out of it, that stuns or stupefies you, you just, people can't even wake you up.

[24:23] He said, that's what the word sleeper here means. So this is what the captain said to him. You know, why, well, you sleeper, why, what are you doing here? This is what John Phillips writes about Jonah.

[24:38] He says, today's world is being torn apart by drugs, drink, immorality, apostasy, and the menace of nuclear war. He'd written this a few years ago.

[24:50] And the church sleeps. Abortion, pornography, syndicated crimes, sodomy, and the dreadful diseases that threaten mankind, and the church sleeps.

[25:04] He goes on to write, friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers grope in spiritual darkness, and the church sleeps. Two-thirds of the world's people will never hear the gospel, and the church sleeps.

[25:21] We need to wake up and sound the alarm. The end is near. Now, don't be like the guy on the street corner with a sandwich board that reads, the end is near, the end is near.

[25:33] But we can give the same message as we tell people, you know what, don't you see the signs around you? Things are getting worse. Things are getting worse. One day God will judge this world.

[25:45] You need to be ready. And God wants you in his family. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sin.

[25:58] God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[26:13] People are lost and dying and are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire and the church sleeps. Do we see evangelism in today's church?

[26:29] Do we see today's church weeping over the lost? And do we have definite strategies to reach the world around us?

[26:49] Back in the 70s, there was evangelism explosion. There was all types of evangelism formats that were used, churches were out knocking doors.

[27:00] That may or may not work today, but they were doing something. And we say today, well, you know what, those ways don't work anymore. Oh, that doesn't work, or that won't work, or this won't work, that won't work.

[27:12] And the problem is, we're so negative about everything, we end up doing what? Nothing. And so, let's do something. How are we going to win the lost?

[27:24] We are, I think we're beyond the age of cultural Christianity. People just don't go to church because it's the thing to do. And so, how will we reach our community?

[27:36] We go to them, and we share the gospel, and we evangelize the lost around us. Preachers need to wake up and preach the word. Vance Avner once said, the problem with the average church is that we are in a non-profit organization.

[27:54] Let me say that again. The problem with the average church is that we are in a non-profit, P-R-O-P-H-E-T organization.

[28:09] God wants the church to be prophets, to proclaim the word of God to a lost world. He said, the problem with today's church is we are in a non-profit organization. So, it's time to wake up out of our sleep as the captain is telling Jonah.

[28:25] When the world inspects, will they find a sleeping church? Let's look at Romans 13. Romans 13, 11 through 13.

[28:36] And do this, knowing the time that it is now high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than we first believe. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

[28:52] Let us walk properly as in the day, not in reverie and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife or envy.

[29:03] He says, knowing this, it's high time that we not be asleep, but that we be actively proclaiming the word of God.

[29:14] And so when they're in trouble, this is the next thing we see, people will attempt to pinpoint the problem. Verse 7, they said to one another, come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.

[29:26] So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Now the Bible doesn't tell us what manner they used, it might have been dice, it might have been little stones with, excuse me, we don't know what they used, but here's the thing, it shouldn't amaze us that God was even in control of the lots that were cast.

[29:47] And God saw fit for it to point to Jonah. He pointed to the problem, and it was Jonah. Here's the thing, we can't escape from our sins. Numbers 32, 23 says, and be sure your sin will find you out.

[30:04] Exactly. Be sure your sin will find you out. What is there in your life? What is there in my life?

[30:14] Maybe a hidden sin, a dark secret that we may be holding, and maybe it's our pet sin. It could be pride, it could be whatever. Be sure your sin will find you out.

[30:28] We go into verse 8, then they said to him, please tell us. And they go through all of this, who are you, where are you from, what's your occupation? They wanted some personal information on him, and when we're out of the will of God, when we're out of the will of God, and under the discipline of God, people will see and maybe even confront our sinful lives.

[30:54] Warren Wiersbe also writes, God was no longer speaking to the prophet Jonah through his word. He was speaking to him through his works, the sea, the wind, the rain, the thunder, and even the great fish.

[31:04] He said everything in nature obeyed his God except for his servant. God even spoke to Jonah through the heathen sailors who didn't even know Jehovah.

[31:18] It's a sad thing when a servant of God is rebuked by pagans. And the thing is, the lost world, the hardened world around us, is looking at the church, and they're saying, why aren't you doing some important stuff?

[31:37] Why aren't you all doing stuff that, you know, kind of makes a difference? Why are you just meeting together and enjoying each other's company and preaching the Bible, but not doing anything of significance?

[31:50] We don't see you all doing anything out here. And if the world realizes that the church is asleep, what are they going to do with the church? Wash their hands and say, you know what?

[32:01] A bunch of hypocrites. And unfortunately, most of the time, they're right. Because we say one thing, but we do something else. God said, I have a job for you.

[32:13] You're on a mission. I saved you so that you could proclaim the gospel to a lost and a broken world. And in verse number eight, the Bible teaches us about the confrontation by the people.

[32:23] In verse nine, we notice, and so he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Well, here's the thing.

[32:33] Jonah's fear of the Lord didn't prompt obedience and faith in his heart. So did he really fear God? Jonah's fear of the Lord was not really a good example to follow.

[32:46] These sailors feared their pagan gods, their ungodly idols, more than Jonah feared the living God. Think about that for a moment.

[32:58] These pagan sailors feared their gods more than Jonah feared his God. God. You know, can you imagine the look on these sailors' faces when Jonah comes out and says, well, I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

[33:15] They're going, yeah, right. Yeah, right, Jonah. Sure, you fear the Lord, but do you know the meaning of fear? We know the meaning of fear.

[33:26] And here's the great biblical truth. We need to be careful about our confession of faith when we're living in open rebellion from God. Be careful what you say. Because I've heard stories of people telling people at work, yeah, I'm a Christian, and I go to such and such a church.

[33:43] But they know what they do on Saturday night, and they know their foul mouth that they have at work. They've heard them share their raunchy stories. And they go, yeah, right.

[33:56] You're a Christian. Yeah, but I see, and I hear, so be careful. If you say, I fear the Lord, if you say, I am a follower of Jesus Christ, then you better what?

[34:08] You better live like it. You better show by your testimony that you truly do fear the Lord. So Jonah's walk didn't line up with his talk.

[34:23] So this confession, and the word made when he said, but this God made the heavens and the earth, it really means to create. To do, to make. So this was a very, very strong confession to pagan sailors.

[34:36] In essence, Jonah was saying, my God created the heavens and the sea and all the dry land. So if we confess that we belong to God, we need to live it.

[34:51] But also, here's another, I think, another great biblical truth. God made everything around us.

[35:03] Because they're hearing something totally the opposite from schools. They're hearing something totally the opposite on the History Channel. They're hearing totally the opposite. So we need to be able to proclaim, God made all of this.

[35:17] Jesus Christ is creator. Jesus Christ is sustainer. And Jesus Christ is savior.

[35:29] This is what David Jeremiah said. He said, Jonah had good theology, but bad application. How to live in the light of who God is.

[35:40] He goes on to say, it's one thing to sin against God in ignorance, and it's quite another to sin against God knowingly. So we must understand there will always be consequences to our disobedience.

[35:53] This portion of the book of Jonah teaches us that what we do in our life will not only affect our lives, but it will affect the lives of others around us.

[36:04] So a question this morning as we close is, are you in a storm? Is there something going on in your life? Ask God, is it because of me? Is it something I'm not doing? Is it something I've done?

[36:15] Am I the problem? Ask ourselves the question, are we asleep today? Are we asleep like Jonah was in the middle of the storm?

[36:29] Are we asleep to the needs of those around us? Are we asleep as the lost and the broken are dying and are going to spend eternity apart from God?

[36:40] God? You know, for those who don't know Jesus, it's come to Jesus for salvation. And for those of us who are followers of Jesus, if you're not, the call is come back to Jesus and serve.

[36:59] Let's pray. Our precious Father, Father, this morning I pray if there's anyone sleeping asleep.

[37:09] Lord, I pray that you would wake us up and shake us from where we are. Lord, I pray for individuals, for families, for churches, that we would come clean with you, confess our sins, maybe confess our rebellion.

[37:26] I pray, Lord, that we would trust you, that we would obey you. And Father, I pray that you would confront us if there's any disobedience in our lives and conform us to your will, conform us to your image.

[37:44] Father, I pray that you would draw men and women. I pray that you would comfort the downtrodden, convict the rebellious. I pray, Lord, that you would encourage the discouraged and calm the storms that we're in.

[38:01] And now, Lord, I pray that we would respond to what we've heard today, to what you've said with all our hearts. Lord, we thank you.

[38:13] We thank you for the discipline and the correction that you send in our lives to get our attention. But we also pray, Father, that it would move us into action. Father, thank you for caring about us.

[38:26] Thank you for not giving up on us. Father, you're calling us to serve you. I pray that we would be on the mission of sharing your gospel, the good news, with the world around us.

[38:43] Father, help us to count it a great privilege and a great honor to serve you. For it's in Jesus' holy name, I pray.

[38:55] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[39:06] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.