Consequences of Sin
It is certainly no secret that I emphasize grace in my writing and teaching. After all, this is The Grace Blog. Sometimes, when people see so much emphasis on God’s grace however, they think that I am saying there are no consequences for sin.
Are there consequences for sin?
Absolutely. There are definitely consequences for sin.
Now, some people will have you believe there are consequences as believers such as broken fellowship with God, a state of unforgiveness until you confess, or that God is angry with you over your sinful choices.
But those things just are not true. There are consequences for sinning as a believer, but those consequences stated above are not specific consequences we will face.
SIN DOESN’T LEAD TO BROKEN FELLOWSHIP
Many people will try to convince you that a consequence of sin is broken fellowship with God. They’ll say that positionally you are good with Him, but that you are not in a good place relationally with God when you sin. It’s the image of you and God no longer being face to face but back to back.
I’ve seen so many Christians walking around in fear and shame because they’ve been told they are out of fellowship as a consequence for sinning.
The truth is that your sin doesn’t lead to broken fellowship with God.
The moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, His finished work on the cross to forgive all of your past, present, and future sins was applied to you. You entered into an eternal spiritual union with Jesus Christ. His once for all sacrifice for all sins of all time (Hebrews 10) means that your sin never gets in between your face to face relationship with God.
Now, I’m not saying that sinning is no big deal. It is, and we’ll get to that soon; however, you can rest assured that your sin is no longer a barrier between you and God if you are in Christ. And you are in Christ and no longer in Adam if you’ve received His free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus.
SIN DOESN’T LEAD TO A STATE OF UNFORGIVENESS
Another consequence of sin that some people will have you believe is that you are unforgiven until you confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness. Most of the time, they’ll refer to a verse like 1 John 1:9, but that’s not what that verse means. (The Real Meaning of 1 John 1:9)
When Jesus took His last breath on the cross, He declared that His work was finished (John 19:30).
In Ephesians 1:7, Paul declares, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Paul doesn’t say, “You have forgiveness of sins until you sin again.”
Confession of sin is not necessary to be forgiven for sinning unless you are an unbeliever. If you are a believer, you are completely forgiven for all of your past, present, and future sins.
You don’t have to walk around in fear of being in a state of unforgiveness until you confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness. I mean, imagine if you didn’t realize that you had sinned or forgot to confess one. You’d never be able to experience forgiveness.
SIN DOESN’T MAKE GOD ANGRY AT YOU
As mentioned earlier, another consequence of sin some people proclaim is that you make God mad. He is angry with you.
Many people view God as a drill sergeant who gets upset with you when you’ve done wrong. He gets in your face and yells, “How could you do that??? Don’t you know what I did for you? You just took my grace for granted, and I’m so ticked off at you right now!”
That is not how God reacts. Scripture does talk about grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), but that is different than Him being angry with you.
It saddens God to see that we choose sin over the abundant life we already have in Him. It saddens Him that we will have to suffer earthly consequences for sin. It saddens Him if we’ve hurt other people when we sin.
God knows that all of our needs are met in our union with Christ, and of course it grieves Him to see that we feel we are lacking something we think can only be fulfilled through choosing sin. But He isn’t angry. He isn’t red faced and yelling at us. He grieves for us.
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
Even though sin doesn’t lead to broken fellowship, unforgiveness, or anger in a believer’s life, there are still consequences for sin.
What are the consequences of sin?
When we choose to sin, we choose to try and get one of our needs met in an illegitimate way. Anytime we choose sin, we are going to experience a counterfeit life. It will never satisfy. Jesus is Life so the life we crave will never be found in anything other than Him. When we settle for sin, we settle for less than the abundant Life we have in Jesus.
Another consequence of sin is the destruction it can cause in our earthly life. Sinful behaviors can cause damage to our minds and our bodies. It can result in the loss of credibility, being fired from a job, a divorce, financial debt, an illness, an injury, and even time in jail. Satan is at work through sin to cause death, destruction, and turmoil in our lives.
When we sin, we sometimes hurt other people as a consequence of sin. If we lie and gossip about someone, they suffer. If we lash out in anger toward others, it causes fear. Anytime we sin against someone else, it hurts them and damages our relationship with them.
These are just some of the consequences of sin in our lives. There are obviously countless others. God’s grace of course, has the power and ability to redeem our sinful choices, but they will always cause damage or destruction in some way.
CONCLUSION
When believers choose to sin, we choose to walk in the power of our flesh instead of the power of the Spirit. Sin always has consequences. Satan is out to steal, kill, and destroy.
When we sin, we may suffer in this world. Other people may suffer as a result of our sin. We’ll also never find what we are looking for through sinful choices.
However, as believers, our sinful choices do not lead to broken fellowship with God, a state of unforgiveness, or God’s anger being unleashed upon us.
We are always in union and fellowship with God through Christ. We are completely forgiven for all sins of all time. God may be grieved by our sin, but He does not lash out in anger towards us.
When you sin, tell God that you are sorry for trying to find life outside of Him. Thank Him for the forgiveness you have. Take ownership of sinful choices made against others. Ask for their forgiveness. Pray that you’ll take whatever earthly consequences are caused with humility and ask Him to be at work through them for your good and for His glory.
