Cost And Consequences Of Disobedience Series

II. A Believer’s Disobedience Always Involves Others. (v. 5a)

“Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load….” Because of Jonah’s sin, innocent sailors (and I use that term carefully) are about to die. Of course these men are not innocent in that they are sinners, but it is Jonah’s sin not theirs that put them in this situation. We don’t sin in seclusion, sin is 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. We see here that Jonah was found out, he had concealed his identity as child of God, but now he was discovered. But before we point a finger of accusation at Jonah, we need to ask ourselves question. Have you worked in the same place for years but yet no one knows you are a Christian?

III. 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 one on the ship who believed in the one true God. 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 couldn’t. 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, read your Bible or go to church anymore. Maybe the reason you don’t do these things is because you’re mad at God. Or most likely it is because you don’t want to give up your sin. Let me remind you of something about tolerating sin in your life. It will take you farther than you ever wanted to Go. It will keep you longer than you ever wanted to Stay and it will cost you more than you ever wanted to Pay. But regardless of the reason why we don’t pray, read the Bible or go to church, the result is the same. Disobedience Leaves Us Powerless Before the Storms and…

IV. 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 had experienced. They had been able to handle other storms but not this one. They had 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 and God caused Jonah to get the short straw.