1. Self-will turned Paradise into a desert. It has been well said, "My will and not Thine be done, turned Paradise into a desert. Thy will and not Mine be done, turned the desert into a Paradise" (Rom 5:19).
2. Self-will is the mother of sin. This is illustrated in Cain, when he in self-will came to God in his own way instead of God's way, and was jealous because Abel's sacrifice was accepted and his was rejected, which jealousy led him on to kill his brother (Jud 1:11).
3. Self-will is the forerunner of disaster. Lot chose the well-watered plain of Sodom, and then soon after was found in Sodom, but he lost all he had in Sodom, and only escaped with his life (Gen 13:10).
4. Self-will shuts out from blessing. Moses struck the rock twice when God told him to speak to it, and was shut out of the promised land in consequence (Num 20:11-12).
5. Self-will brings punishment. King Saul lost his kingdom and the Holy Spirit through consulting his own will in opposition to God's word, when the latter told him to destroy all the Amalekites (1Sa 15:23).
6. Self-will brings injury to others. Peter acted on his own authority when he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest (Luk 22:50).
7. Self-will means loss of blessing. The prodigal son found the difference between the swine troughs and the father's table, and between the far country and the old homestead (Luk 15:16-17).