There Are Consequences For Not Listening To God

We’ve got a great sermon that takes place from the Book of Jonah, and also throughout history—the Israelites or the Jewish people, the Book of Daniel, things like that. So get your Bible ready because we’ve got a good message that we are going to dive into straight away.

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We’re talking about not listening to God. So if you’ve been with us, we have other sermons on listening to God and hearing God’s voice. You can find all of those on our website.

Just go there, type in the search bar “Listen” or “Hear,” and they’ll all pop up, and then you can watch and check them out there. But throughout the Bible, there have been many scenarios where the people of God choose not to listen to Him.

If you’ve read the Bible, you can probably relate to some of them already, but we’ve got several instances throughout history of God’s chosen people doing the opposite of what He said, or just not doing what He said to do, and in all circumstances and in every time, what happens?

Something bad. God says to them, “Do this. You will be blessed,” “I’ll bring you into this,” or “I will bless you with this,” and they choose not to listen to Him.

And then it’s like right away, they either get put into captivity, into slavery, cast out, their homes get destroyed, someone takes them over, there’s war, there’s death, there’s a plague, there’s famines—who knows—there’s all kinds of things and it’s always bad. Let’s take a look at a couple examples. The first one: when they refuse to honor God.

They go into slavery many times throughout the Old Testament. Probably the most well-known example is when God delivers them from Egypt. So they were already in slavery for not listening to Him, but He delivers them from Egypt.

Of course, that didn’t just happen right away, because when Moses went to the Israelites and told them, “Hey, we want, I’m here to free you. I’m going to Pharaoh.” The Israelites were not on Moses’s side right away.

He had to convince them. Then he went to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh laid down his heavy hand and made the labor worse, and the Israelites didn’t like Moses because of it.

Instead of having faith like, “Come on, let’s get out of here,” they’re like, “No, let’s stay. Now you’re making our work more difficult.” They’re not listening to God. Okay, then they finally get out, and what happens?

God tells them, “Go and take the land I’ve promised you, I’ve promised your forefathers. You guys have been in captivity and slavery for so long. This is the land I wanted you to have all those years ago. Go back and take it.” They go in there, “Nope, we don’t want to. There are big people there. There are high walls. We’re scared. We don’t want to do it.”

So God says, “Fine, stay. Wander in the desert for a whole generation for 40 years because I don’t want any of you people who refused me to be alive when you go get into that land.”

And then during that time, they still don’t listen to God. We have the incidence of all the serpents attacking the people, we have instances of ground opening up and swallowing a bunch of people.

We have other instances of people putting out their sensor bowls and then being tested, and fire from Heaven consuming people. We’ve got tons of, of time after time after time where these people do not listen to God, and God just gives them a punishment. Or not really a punishment—but says, “Here, if you listen, good things will happen. If you don’t listen, you’re putting yourself under a curse.”

Even with the manna, He says, “Go out there and gather it for six days. On the 7th, you’ll find none.” People are still out there gathering on the seventh, and there’s nothing. And they’re all mad, “Where is it?”

In another case with the manna, He’s telling them, “Gather enough for that day. If you try to hoard any and be greedy, then guess what? It’ll have maggots in it, it’ll be nasty and everything.”

Yet still, what do people do? They hoard. They take extra. The next day, they wake up and they find it all nasty and bugs, and then they complain. In addition, what else?

Later on, well, they complain. “Oh, this manna, we’re tired of it. We want meat.” God’s like, “Man, you insolent people. I’ll tell you what. I’m going to give you so much meat you’re going to be so sick of it,” and He sends quails.

And these people are eating all this meat, and then they’re all sick because they ate too much meat, and now they’re complaining. It’s like time and time again, they refuse to listen to God.

And time and time again, bad things happen. Why? Because God makes them happen? No. Because the people choose the alternative route. Exactly like you.

If you listen to God in your life, and you do what God wants you to do, even if it doesn’t make any sense, if you do what He wants you to do, you will be blessed. Your life will be a lot easier.

If you refuse because it doesn’t make sense, or because, like the Israelites, “Oh no, I’m scared,” or “Oh no, it looks too daunting,” or “I like my comfort zone,” or “I like my security, financially or whatever.” If you refuse, you put yourself under hardship. Why? God is going this way.

And if you choose to go that way with God, things are easy in your life. I mean, yes, there are going to be trials and troubles. We have many sermons on that. You can check those out.

But you’re going like this. God’s going with you. Okay, if God tells you to do something and it’s along this path, and you say, “No, I don’t want to do that,” God is still going this way. He’s not going to change.

He’s not changing His mind. He says, “This is the trajectory, okay? I’m in motion this way. You can be with me.” You say, “No, you don’t want to do that.” You start going like this. What’s going to happen?

Eventually, God’s going to be pulling you. Things are going to be tough because you’re not aligned with them anymore. Eventually, you will get back in line with God. It’s just going to take some time. Might take some trouble. Might take some trials.

We have an entire sermon series on “Why God Puts You Through Trouble,” or “Allows Satan To Put You Through Trouble”, so check that out in a card up here. Very important if you are going through hard times, to kind of take a reflection of your life and see what’s going on.

Is it because of you? Is it because of exigent circumstances? We don’t know. You have to examine it. Get into the Word and realize – is God trying to tell you something? Or are you just being attacked, and you need to prevail and give glory to God?

So that’s the Israelites. They had so much going on. We also have throughout the Book of Judges and First and Second Kings—the same thing happening.

Every time that they listen to God, prosperity like you wouldn’t believe under kings like David who, who were just. And even though there were wars, the people were happy. They were so great.

And then even under Solomon, he made silver as plentiful as the stones in the street. Can you imagine today, if you’re walking around and you had so much silver that it was as plentiful as the stones in the street? Like, we’re talking vast riches for that entire kingdom.

They were blessed, like blessed blessed, like so blessed we can’t even realize how great it was. Even though it was way long ago, before things like plumbing and electricity. Think how blessed we are today just to have that.

Then? I mean, come on. But time and time again, the people refused to listen, and they would get captured or subdued, or even that glorious temple that Solomon built, God allowed it to be destroyed time and time again.

And then kings would rebuild it, or they would, they would get it back. Like when Nebuchadnezzar took all of it to Babylon. Years, years later, the Babylonians ended up sending it back to the Jews, and giving it back to them so they could restore the temple.

Then other kings from Crete or from Macedonia or even from Egypt or even from Syria would all be plundering the temple, and then later they’d give it back.

Plunder it, some other kingdom: give it back, time and time again. If you read through the “Antiquities of Josephus” or the “Jewish Wars,” even the Maccabian books, they are always being conquered, or captive, or sold into slavery because they refuse to listen to God.

Now, why do I go into such length about all of this? You need to listen to God. Learn from history. God doesn’t change, so that means He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If you choose not to listen to God, what do you think will happen in your life? Probably what’s happened throughout the past 5,000 years.

Jonah is a very, very good example in the Bible about someone not listening to God, and then eventually God getting them to listen to Him. So we also have a sermon on listening to God. You should check that out in a card here. It’s called “Listen To God.”

It talks about all the great things that can happen when you listen to God, and that when you listen and obey that wonderful things will happen in your life. So let’s take a look at the story of Jonah. It’s probably the most well-known illustration of not listening to God.

Even people who aren’t Christians or who don’t know their Bible have probably heard of the story of Jonah. And they know what he did, and who He was.

They know “Oh yeah, He’s the guy that was told to do this and then did this, and then this bad thing happened, and eventually he went and did what God wanted him to do.” They know that.

Let’s go to Jonah Chapter 1, Verse 2: (Jonah 1:2) “Go to the great city of Ninivah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” So that’s the word of Yahweh.

God is telling Jonah, “Go do this,” and Jonah says, “No, I don’t really feel like doing that. I don’t like the Ninevites. The Ninevites hate us. Anytime we enter that city, they kill us they make fun of us, they do all sorts of terrible things to us.”

And so Jonah didn’t want to go there. He was scared. He was afraid. He didn’t trust God—he didn’t trust that God would get him there and get him through that because this is what God wanted him to do.

If you do whatever God wants you to do, He is going to see you through. If you work according to God’s will, nothing can stop you. Yes, there will be difficulties, but God’s will prevails. Stay in alignment with it.

So what happened to Jonah? He said, “Okay, Nineveh is here. The furthest place from Nineveh is here. That’s where I’m going!” So he goes literally to the opposite side of the world.

It wasn’t like, “Okay, if Nineveh is here, I’m going to go all the way around the furthest distance and go here. No, no, no, I’m going here.” He went as far as East from West, kind of. I mean, he went a long way. What happens? Well, on his way there, a big storm. Let’s go to Verse 4.

Jonah 1:4: “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. Such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” Okay, this isn’t like a normal storm where you know it could be scary.

Jonah was on a vessel with people who knew the waters. These were merchants, they were sailors, they had years and years of sailing. This was such a violent storm that even they were terrified.

They thought that their ship was going to shatter into a million pieces before it would even sink. This—this storm was so violent that they were, they had no idea what to do. They were scared. This is a bad thing that happened. Why?

Because Jonah didn’t listen to God. Let’s go to Verse 17. Verse 17, more bad things. So eventually, Jonah convinces the people, “Hey, this is my fault, you have to throw me over.” They say, “No, we can’t. You paid us for your safety, we need to get you somewhere.”

He says, “No, look, throw me into the ocean. This is my fault.” So they finally throw him in, probably into the Mediterranean Sea, not ocean, but same thing, into the sea. “Throw me into the sea,” all right, they do that. Instantly, calm waters.

They’re like, “Dang, this is amazing!” So do they try to pull him back up? We don’t know, maybe, but the point is, then at that point Jonah gets swallowed by a big fish. Another bad thing, like “Poor Jonah!”

So the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. So at this point Jonah’s thinking like, “I’m dead. I didn’t listen to God. This is a bad thing. This is my punishment,” and Jonah is like, “This is justice.

I know my God is a just God, and I didn’t listen.” And he goes through a big prayer to God. Eventually, God says, “Fine,” and again God’s plan prevails, no matter what.

So God tells the fish to swim all the way to Nineveh. Talk about a free passage. The fish is going there. Eventually, the fish vomits Jonah up on the land. Kind of nasty, he’s probably half digested because he was in there for 3 days.

Bleach white, maybe no hair. I mean just crazy, stinks like you wouldn’t believe, I’m sure. Ends up going to Nineveh, tells the people of Nineveh, “Hey, repent, or you will be destroyed.” What happens? They repented. They repented and God spares them. Let’s go to Chapter 3, Verses 4 and 5.

Jonah 3:4-5: “On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed 40 more days, and Nineveh will be overturned.” 40 days, he’s telling these Ninevites, “Hey listen, 40 days you will be destroyed.” Okay, first of all, let’s remember this. This is a Jew, a prophet.

The Ninevites were not. They didn’t believe in God. They worshiped fish and sea creatures. Also ironic, because Jonah was in a fish. So the fact that that happened, maybe gave him some more credibility.

And they were like, “Wow, this guy was inside the fish and was delivered from the fish, whereas we believe that to never happen because we believe that! They worship that, so his God must be greater than ours!”

So then, eventually, the Ninevites do listen. The Ninevites believed God, and they declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

So they listened to a Jew, which probably never would have happened, but because of what God did through the fish, the Ninevites repented and turned to God. Now, of course, if you continue reading Jonah, you learn that Jonah didn’t like this. He wanted to see Nineveh get destroyed.

Even got a little place on a hill, and wanted to watch. And when a weed grew up to give him shade, and then a worm ate the weed, he was more distraught over the weed dying than a whole city filled with people.

So Jonah was kind of messed up, but he did what God wanted to do ultimately, and this is a great story of what happens when you don’t listen to God. Let’s jump over to Daniel.

Daniel was an example of someone who listened to God time and time again. And yes, bad things happened in his life, but time and time again, he was delivered from all of those bad things.

He didn’t eat the king’s choice food. Okay, what happened? They’re like, “Hey, you got to eat this food,” Ashpenaz is like, “You got to eat this, because if you start looking scrawny it’ll be my head!”

And he’s like, “Give me 10 days. We’re going to eat our own food, vegetables, we’re not going to eat all those meats, and then you put it to the test. If we’re not healthy, we’ll switch.” Ashpenaz is like, “Fine, that-that sounds good to me.”

They do it. Daniel and his friends are way healthier than the other people, and he’s like, “All right, but why did that happen?” Well, he listened to God. Good things happened. Also, what happened after that? Well, let’s read Daniel 1:15.

Daniel 1:15, “At the end of 10 days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” There we go. After that, Daniel continued.

Throughout many kings, and time and time again, when something bad was going to happen, Dan, like even the wise men, were going to be slaughtered. Daniel says. “Let me pray to my God, and I’ll get you your dream. Okay?” Done.

Time and time again, eventually he gets thrown into the lion’s den under Darius the Meade, and is delivered. Because why? He continued to listen to God and do what God wanted him to do.

Let’s go to Daniel Chapter 6, Verse 22. Daniel 6:22, “My God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, oh King.”

This was King Darius that he’s speaking to. Great history. Josephus also provides some excellent interpretations of this and a little more detail. These people were wicked. They tried to trap Daniel for praying to God.

They were also jealous of Daniel because he had been so successful for so many years. God was with him, the King liked him. He was well respected as a wise man, and they wanted him gone. So they got him into the lion’s den eventually. Nope.

God delivers him, and those people said, “The lions must not have been hungry.” King Darius says, “Fine, let’s feed them.” So they feed the lions tons and tons of food, and then he says, “Okay, well now that the lions have been fed, why don’t we put you guys in there?”

So they throw these wicked people in there. Boom, they crush their bones. They eat them, gobble them up, maybe even before they hit the floor. Then they say, “Go, get all their families. Throw all those wicked people in there, too. They’re gone. Justice is served.

Similarly, another story in the Book of Daniel, Shadrach and Abednego, they chose to listen to God. Nebuchadnezzar says, “You need to worship this image,” which is interesting, because Nebuchadnezzar kind of went believing in God, not believing in God, believing in God, not believing in God.

He’s flip-flopping, and of course, he didn’t listen. And eventually God cast him out into the wilderness for seven years to be a wild beast, and he had to eat grass and drink the dew off the ground and out of ponds. And then after the seven years was up, boom! He was back in his right mind and went back to the kingdom. Very, very strange.

But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – they wouldn’t worship that image so what happened? Thrown into the fiery furnace. The furnace was heated like seven times hotter than normal, so hot that the people throwing them in died. Okay ,then they get delivered from the fiery furnace. Let’s go to Verses 27 and 28 of Chapter 3.

Daniel 3:27-28. “So Shadrach Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire. And the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their head singed. Their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego who has sent his angel and rescued these servants. They trusted him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any other God except their own God.”

What’s the point? When you listen to God, He will take care of you. These are a few of the many examples that show when you listen and obey God, He will deliver you from anything that you go through.

If you don’t listen, God will allow bad things to happen to you to get you back on track. Remember, check out that playlist about what “God Allows Satan To Do Things.” We have a sermon that opens it up. It’s called “God Allows Satan.”

So check that out. That’s the video, but you can check out the whole playlist as referenced earlier, so to watch it all, because it’s excellent. God will allow things to happen to you to get you back on track.

So if you listen and obey God from the start, things will go much more smoothly in your life, and you will notice blessing upon blessing because the hand of God will be with you wherever you go.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this great message of an inspiration to listen and obey you.

I really ask that you put it on people’s hearts and minds to listen and tune in to you. That they would know what you are trying to tell them. That they would know you have a plan and a purpose for their lives.

That they have a purpose, that they would have plans, that they would understand those plans, that they would get to know you more.

And if they could do that through watching more of our sermons, great! Or attending a church or a Bible study, or fellowshipping with other believers.

God, all of those things are needed in their lives and give them that hunger and desire to know you more, and to seek more information.

To seek more knowledge, more wisdom, more understanding, and that they would be filled with your holy spirit. That they would go out and listen and obey you and you alone.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Seriously, guys, listen and obey. If you do, you will notice tremendous blessings in your life.
Have a great week, and God bless.