For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgement and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.     Hebrews 10:26-27 HCSB

I want to spend the rest of this week talking about the consequences of our sin because as our Scripture passage tells us, there are severe consequences. Oh, we may enjoy our sin for a time, but eventually it will destroy us. When we disobey God, we will be punished.

The Ten Commandments are in Exodus 20, and they are not suggestions as our pastor often says. God commands us to do these things. When we fail to do them, we are rebelling against God. The first four commandments are about our relationship with God and putting Him first. We are to put no other god before Him. When we put God first, we put worshipping Him and praising Him above all other things in our lives. We devote ourselves to Him.

We are to make no idols. We may think this is easy, but have you made an idol out of your job? Have you made an idol out of a relationship with someone else? Anything that causes us to disobey God’s commands can be considered idols in our lives.

We shall not take the name of God in vain. We think of curse words using God’s name, but what this actually means is we should only use God’s name with reverence and respect and not flippantly. We shouldn’t say things like, “Oh my God!” because we are using God’s name in vain. A good rule of thumb is to use God’s name only with the utmost honor, respect and praise.

We are to keep the Sabbath holy. This means the Sabbath is a time of praise and worship. This goes along with not putting other things before God. These first four commandments deal with our relationship with the Lord. Jesus summed them up in Matthew 22:37 saying we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. When we do this, we live our lives in a way that brings Him glory, honor and praise.

The last six commandments deal with our relationships with others. The fifth commandment is that we should honor our father and our mother.

We are told not to murder, but Jesus said in Matthew 5:21 everyone who hates their brother is subject to judgment. And in 1 John 3:15 Jesus said anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. So, keep this in mind when you harbor hatred and anger against someone.

You shall not commit adultery. We think of adultery when a spouse cheats on their spouse with another person, but the Biblical definition of adultery is sex outside of marriage. And in Matthew 5:28, Jesus explained that looking at someone with lust in our hearts is the same as committing adultery.

You shall not steal. This one explains itself, but I think there are times when we take things and try to justify it. Stealing is stealing keep that in mind.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Of course, this means we should not lie. However, I think it also pertains to gossip. Often times people repeat things they here about someone else that are false and slanderous, tread lightly here.

The tenth commandment tells us we should not covet. We should not want something that belongs to someone else.

Because I think we are dangerously close to the end of time as we know it, I want us to understand that our sin can destroy us. In Hebrews 10:31 it says it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. We serve a loving God, but we also serve a just God who will punish sin.

If you have deliberate sin in your life, get rid of it. If you feel you can’t do that, pray to God. He will help you. Turn to Him, trust in Him and watch what He will do.

Have a great day!