The Cost And Consequences Of Disobedience Series

We don’t sin in seclusion, like second-hand smoke, our disobedience harms the people around us. The tragedy of backslidden Christians is that they make everybody around them miserable.

But perhaps the greatest damage we do when we disobey God is that we push the lost away from a personal faith in Christ.

It is a sad day when a saint of God has to be exposed before an unbelieving world. Jonah was found out, he had concealed his identity, as child of God but he was discovered. But before point a finger of accusation at Jonah, we need to ask ourselves some questions. Have you worked in the same place for years but no one know you are a Christian?

Third, Disobedience Leaves Us Powerless Before the Storms. (vv. 5b- 6)

“…. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. (6) So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."

Everyone was praying, except Jonah. Jonah, as far as we know is the only believer in the true God on that ship. And yet he was the only one not praying. There is no evidence here that Jonah called on God. Later, he did but not here, why? I believe it was because he could not. When we live with open and unrepented sin in our lives, we cannot communicate with God. One of the tell-tale signs that we may be running from

God is that we don’t pray anymore. Maybe it is because you’re mad at God. Maybe it is because you don’t want to give up you sin. But regardless of the reason, the result is the same.

Disobedience Leaves Us Powerless Before the Storms and…

Fourth, You Can Not Live A Disobedient Life and It Not Show. (vv. 7-10)

“And they said to one another, "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.”

The sailors have been discussing this storm and they have concluded that it was not at all like other storms they have experienced. They had been able to handle other storms but not this one. They have concluded that someone in their number has done something horrible. So they have decided to cast lots to discover who is at fault. We think that we can sin and no one will know it, but God knows (Numbers 32:33) and God caused Jonah to get the short straw.

“People may think that such things are determined by chance. They speak of “Lady Luck” or work out some mathematical odds.

But God tells us that He controls what

happens. A verse in Proverbs says: ‘The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD’ (Prov. 16:33)…… The dice were cast into the lap, but God determined the outcome. Donald Grey Barnhouse often paraphrased this verse by saying that ‘man throws the dice; but it is God who makes the spots come up.’ ” [James Mongomery Boice. Minor Prophets. Jonah – Chap 31 - “The God Who Will Not Let Go.” p. 222]

But just because these sailors cast lots to determine the guilty party, does this mean that it is ok for us to gamble today? Nor does this Old Testament practice mean that it is all right to right to play the lottery?