Question
Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
Answer
No, every sin is against the sovereignty, holiness, and goodness of God, and against his righteous law, and God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them in his just judgment both in this life, and in the life to come.
No, every sin is against the sovereignty, holiness, and goodness of God, and against his righteous law, and God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them in his just judgment both in this life, and in the life to come.
No, God is righteously angry with. our sins and will punish them both in this life, and in the life to come.
Scripture
—Ephesians 5:5–6 (ESV)For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
—Ephesians 5:5–6 (NIV)For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
—Ephesians 5:5–6 (NLT)You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.
Song
Video
Prayer
Adult
“Did the Son of God become incarnate, and expire on a cross, merely to lay the foundation of a new religious denomination in the world, and to become the subject of occasional conversation? Or was it that he might be the hope of the guilty, and the Saviour of sinners—the object of their confidence, of their love, and of their unreserved obedience?… If Christ be not yours; if your hearts be not devoted to him; and if you die in that condition, you had better never have been born. May the Lord save you from the wrath to come, and prepare you for the heavenly state! Amen.”
Footnote
Abraham Booth (1734–1806). An English Baptist minister, Booth served as pastor of Prescot Street Church in Whitechapel, London for 35 years as well as founding what is now Regents Park College for ministerial training in Oxford. He is most known for his work The Reign of Grace.
Attribution
From “An Address at the Interment of Mr. Joseph Swain” in Works of Abraham Booth: Late Pastor of the Baptist Church, Volume 3 (London: Button, 1813), 289–290.
Child
Lord God, your Son came to earth and died on the cross. He is the hope of the guilty, the Savior of sinners. We owe him our trust, our love, and our total obedience. If Christ were not ours; you would still be righteously angry with our sins. If Christ were not ours; we would be punished for our sins ourselves. But we have been saved and Christ is ours! Amen.
Attribution
Derived and adapted from Abraham Booth in “An Address at the Interment of Mr. Joseph Swain” in Works of Abraham Booth: Late Pastor of the Baptist Church, Volume 3 (London: Button, 1813), 289–290.
“Did the Son of God become incarnate, and expire on a cross, merely to lay the foundation of a new religious denomination in the world, and to become the subject of occasional conversation? Or was it that he might be the hope of the guilty, and the Saviour of sinners—the object of their confidence, of their love, and of their unreserved obedience?… If Christ be not yours; if your hearts be not devoted to him; and if you die in that condition, you had better never have been born. May the Lord save you from the wrath to come, and prepare you for the heavenly state! Amen.”
Footnote
Abraham Booth (1734–1806). An English Baptist minister, Booth served as pastor of Prescot Street Church in Whitechapel, London for 35 years as well as founding what is now Regents Park College for ministerial training in Oxford. He is most known for his work The Reign of Grace.
Attribution
From “An Address at the Interment of Mr. Joseph Swain” in Works of Abraham Booth: Late Pastor of the Baptist Church, Volume 3 (London: Button, 1813), 289–290.
Lord God, your Son came to earth and died on the cross. He is the hope of the guilty, the Savior of sinners. We owe him our trust, our love, and our total obedience. If Christ were not ours; you would still be righteously angry with our sins. If Christ were not ours; we would be punished for our sins ourselves. But we have been saved and Christ is ours! Amen.
Attribution
Derived and adapted from Abraham Booth in “An Address at the Interment of Mr. Joseph Swain” in Works of Abraham Booth: Late Pastor of the Baptist Church, Volume 3 (London: Button, 1813), 289–290.
Commentary
“If Jesus Christ did not take care to secure our standing, we should fall to our ruin. Adam fell, and, being our federal head, we fell in him…. ‘God (says the apostle) included all under sin.’ What is sin but a breach, that is, a transgression, of the law; ‘the wages of sin is death;’ every transgression of the law incurs damnation…. We must die, we are legally dead…. We have broken God’s law, and are liable to eternal condemnation…every one of us without distinction; we are all upon a level…. It is not greatness of station, nor external differences, that make a difference in the internal state of the soul…. This is our state towards God, we have lived in trespasses and sins, [and] are legally dead now…. But, besides this legal death, there is a spiritual death, and the consequence of that is eternal death; if I die in that state, I must die for ever; that is, I must be a creature living eternally banished from God…. It is impossible to know, or to value, that life that Jesus Christ came into the world to impart to us, and procure for us without considering the nature of the death he delivers us from.”
Footnote
George Whitefield (1714 –1770). An English Anglican minister, Whitefield crossed the Atlantic 13 times and for 34 years preached throughout England and America (as part of what is known as the Great Awakening). Whitefield’s voice could be heard over vast distances and was reported at one point to be heard by over thirty thousand people in the open air. Whitefield preached more than 18,000 sermons in his lifetime, fewer than 90 have survived in any form.
Attribution
From “Sermon LXXI: Neglect of Christ, The Killing Sin” in Sermons on Important Subjects by the Rev. George Whitfield (London: Fisher, Son & Jackson, 1832), 741–743.
Further Reading
“Mortality” and “Judgment Seat” in Concise Theology, by J. I. Packer.