Who told you that you were immune from any form of ‘punishment’ if/when you ‘sinned’ ... after you became a ‘believer’ in Jesus? Could it possibly have been that same voice that deceived Eve in the garden when the ‘serpent’ whispered to her that she could indeed ‘eat off that one tree and she would surely not die’...after God had told them plainly – “you surely shall die?” (Gen. 2:17; 3:4)

And what concerns did Paul express when he wrote: “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness...so your minds may be corrupted...(by what?)” (2 Cor. 11:3-4)

So when Paul warned the believers at Ephesus: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things (various sins)..the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience”(Eph. 5:6)...do you think it was possible we believers today could easily be... deceived?

I sure hope you are caught up here in this series on ‘law and order’ so you will better understand what we are looking at today. We’ve been studying why there is an absence of the ‘fear of God’ in many of our churches today, and it is because of the absence of any in-depth teaching on God’s law, which for the most part...has been ‘lost’ like it was in previous generations. (2 Kings 22; Rom. 3:18).

When our understanding of God’s law is shallow (or non-existent), then we fail to grasp what ‘sin’ is and why God’s judgement still falls on sin today. When we don’t understand God’s judgment, then of course there would be an absence of genuine ‘fear’ which is the ‘beginning of knowledge’ (Prov. 1:7). And it is the ‘lack of knowledge’ that is leading to much pain, suffering and ‘destruction’ among ‘God’s people’ today, according to Hosea 4:6.

Here is where there’s been a huge ‘disconnect’ for many of us today in the church. We don’t ‘fear God’ because we’ve been taught to believe He no longer ‘punishes’ us for our sins. (And I’m not talking about past sins that were ‘covered by the Blood of Jesus’ when we first come to Him).

Listen to what John wrote in his first epistle- “...fear involves punishment...” (1 John 4:18). If you remove the threat or possibility of any ‘punishment’ for an infraction...then why would we ‘fear’ any repercussions when we break laws... which most admit to still doing regularly. (Read that again, please)

Simple case and point: You are flying down the interstate not paying attention to your speed...and then notice up ahead a state trooper parked under a billboard off to the side. What is the first thing that you experience? Maybe an uptick in your heartbeat as you look down at your speedometer while your foot automatically taps the brake? And if you see you are traveling 12-15+ mph over the limit, you draw in a breath which you hold momentarily as you pass that traffic officer's radar and immediately look into your review mirror to see if his lights flip on? And why do most of us experience this? Our ‘hearts condemn us’ and we know we may get a costly ticket...because we are breaking the law.

Now...if you are like many professing believers today, you might be under the false impression that since your ‘father is the judge’...you are immune to having to deal with any traffic violations. Oh, you may get a good ‘finger-wagging-butt-chewing’ from your ‘dad’ when he hears about it, but nothing will appear on your driving record and there will be no fines to pay. How nice!

There’s just one problem with this all too common of a scenario - it’s not biblical.

When Jesus healed and delivered that man after 38 years of physical and most likely emotional torment and suffering...(John 5:1-9), healed immediately I might add...He later found him in the temple, and pointed out to him that he had indeed been ‘made well’. Why... do you suppose Jesus told him to ‘go and sin no more’? Because...if he did... ‘something worse may come upon him’ (14). Give that a moment, if you would please.

In Matt. 18, Jesus shares a parable about an unforgiving servant who was released of a great debt, but then failed to forgive someone else of a lesser infraction (22-31). When brought before the king, he was scolded and called a ‘wicked servant’ (32). Do you recall what happens immediately to him after this confrontation? The king calls for the ‘torturers’, and for this man to be imprisoned and dealt with’ (34). Please notice what Jesus then tells those in His audience” So will My heavenly Father also will do to each of you...if you fail to forgive others from your heart...” (35). He was not talking about ‘in the afterlife’. Oh...who do you suppose the ‘torturers/tormentors/jailers’ were in that story...and still are today?

Then, there is the matter of some sexual sin that was exposed in the Corinthian church that Paul had to address (1 Cor. 5). To whom...did Paul say this guilty person was to be turned over to, or ‘delivered’ to? We read there in verse 5: “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”. Sounds like punishment to me, does it not to you? But please note what the purpose of this ‘punishment’ was designed to do...to humble this man and bring him to repentance (which he later does- 2 Cor. 2:3-11). Friends...this has always been God’s intent and design for any form of punishment or judgement - to humble us and remind us that His way is much better than our way. I hope we would all understand as parents...why we ‘discipline’ our children- it’s because we love them. And I think we all get that punishment is never joyful or pleasant, but can actually be ‘painful’ at times (Heb. 12:5-11).

This idea, which has been lost on the church...where God still punishes sin...does not take away from God’s ‘goodness’ by any stretch of the imagination. It only reinforces this idea, which is why Paul reminds us to ‘consider both the goodness of God...and the severity of God...’ (Rom. 11:22).

God really means what He says. And when we begin to truly believe this, it will have a profound effect on us, as well it should. After the dramatic display of God’s judgment on Ananias and his wife (Acts 5)...we see the immediate results that came upon the rest of the church back in those early days: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.” (5:11).  And what about that particular incident we read of in Acts 5:1-11...how would you explain to a new convert what that was all about?