“Knowing And Doing The Will Of God”
Jonah 1:1-3
Sermon Series: “Jonah”
Introduction: Success in life is finding out what God wants us to do and doing it. God’s will can be simply defined as what He wants us to do. He wants us to know and do His will so He reveals Himself and His will to us through His Word and Spirit? We have to listen, trust, and obey. We will be successful (as defined by God) or unsuccessful based on our choice. Are we doing God’s will or acting like Jonah and running away from God?
Main Idea: God speaks to us, which gives us a choice of obedience or disobedience, and that choice sets a course with built-in consequences.
1. God speaks to us. The text says that “the word of the Lord came to Jonah.” He told Jonah to go to Ninevah “and cry out against it” because of their wickedness. God still speaks to His children today and reveals His will to us. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). How does He speak to us? How can we listen to God? Here is a New Testament example from Acts 1:15-26.
A. Scripture (1:15-20)
B. Wisdom that is based on Scripture (1:21-23) C. Prayer (1:24-25)
D. Godly counsel from other believers
2. We have a choice to make. He calls us to obey, but we can choose to disobey, which is obviously what Jonah did. Jonah disobeyed because he did not want to do what God told him to do. God often tells us to do things that we do not want to do, do not make sense to us, or do not seem the like the best thing to us.
However, this is really a trust issue. Do we believe that the Lord knows best and will we obey Him because of who He is?
3. Our choice sets a course for our lives. We cannot really experience and enjoy God’s presence while rejecting God’s plan. Obedience draws us closer to the Lord while disobedience draws us away from Him. Obedience is our expression of trust in the Lord. We are either moving towards God or away from Him. Sometimes we are actively running away from Him, and sometimes we are passively drifting away from Him, but we are never just standing still spiritually.
4. This course has built-in consequences. We will explore this in next week’s message, but we always reap what we sow. Verse 3 says that “he [Jonah] paid the fare.” We need to note and remember what Donald Grey Barnhouse said about this phrase. He said, “When you run away from the Lord you never get to where you are going, and you always pay your own fare. But when you go the Lord’s way you always get to where you are going, and He pays the fare for you.”
Conclusion: Are we listening to Jesus? Are we trusting Jesus? Are we obeying Jesus? Our response to God’s voice will set the course for our lives so let’s listen, trust, and obey so that we will experience His blessing instead of His discipline.
