It seems we can find a thread through every reading today: the effects of sin.

Disaster pursues sinners…

Proverbs 13:21 ESV

…and you have not made him stand in battle.

Psalm 89:43 ESV

“If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you…”

Joshua 24:20 ESV

“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences…”

Luke 21:11 ESV

God’s wrath comes on sinners. The justice of God demands it. He can’t deny Himself. There must be justice. Our forgiveness isn’t because God decides to ignore sin but because His wrath was satisfied when justice was done by our sin being punished by death on the cross.

Do we still fear punishment? The power of the Spirit in us means we can overcome sin, and if we do ever choose sin, we can repent and Jesus the righteous is our advocate before the Father to plead against wrath. That’s not what you want your relationship with Jesus and the Father reduced to, perpetual pleading to spare you. There are consequences to sin, and God can give us over to them to discipline us to bring us back to Him. Sin is bad. It didn’t become a non-issue after the cross. It became defeated, so we can endure, lift up our heads, and overcome.