Consequences of Disobedience

Evil is not reserved to people like Hitler or Stalin, criminals and child pornographers. Evil is simply disobedience to the basic things God has asked us to do. We desire what God has not given us yet and so we pursue to do that which God has commanded us not to do. This is rebellion against our rightful Lord, and the littlest disobedience, without repentance, will cause us to be trapped in a cycle of sin that will have at least some of the following consequences.

Uncleanness—The first consequence of sin is that we become defiled before God. God no longer desires to associate with us, even as we would not want to associate with someone who has not bathed in months. We are unable to approach God in prayer, except in repentance, and until we repent we are unable to be in God’s presence. (Mark 7:21-23; Zechariah 7:12-13; Isaiah 1:11-17; I John 1:5-7)

Evil desire—Sin begins with an evil desire and it perpetuates evil desire as well. One desires what one can have or obtain, not what one can do for God or others. Eventually, one’s mind is obsessed with thoughts of doing evil. (James 1:14; Romans 1:28; I John 2:16)

Bad reputation—People will see you as untrustworthy. They will feel they have a right to judge you and no longer want to be around you. They will also think badly of God and Jesus and their names will be blasphemed because of your actions. (Ezekiel 36:17-21)

Increased disobedience—You will desire to have more of what you gained in your disobedience. Since the gains of disobedience are fleeting and temporary, you will head deeper and deeper into the disobedience and rebellion against the Lord. One also develops a community of disobedience, developing friends that encourage each other to sin, away from the Lord. (James 4:2-3; Romans 1:32)

Mental illness—You will no longer be able to think correctly about yourself, your life, others around you, the world or God. What God says is true, you will call a lie; what God says is real, you will call a fantasy. Soon you will live in accordance with that false reality, instead of God’s truth. Not all mental illness is a result of sin or Satan, but living in sin absolutely leads to mental illness. (Romans 1:21-22)

Inability to love others—The Lord will take away the love he gave you to serve others. You will want to do good to others, but you will not be able to. Even the good that you do is a double-edged sword, causing harm even when you do good. (I John 4:8, 20)

Broken relationships—You will hurt those whom you love and who love you. Eventually they will turn away from you to seek safer relationships. Those who live with you will no longer listen to you or want to be around you. (Matthew 18:17; I Corinthians 5:9-11)

God will take away what little authority you have—The Lord will take away any amount of rulership you have, because you have proved yourself unworthy. You will lose money; no one will listen to you; you will be hated by those who live with you or are under you—employees, children, spouse, roommates, church members, etc. (I Samuel 15:23; Psalm 37:9)

Earthly punishment—The Lord will punish you for your sin. This will often happen in direct connection to you sin. For instance, someone involved in sexual immorality will get a sexually transmitted disease. Someone involved in stealing will be arrested. Other consequences may happen as well, though, including sickness, blindness, loss of food or shelter, and separation from one’s community. (However, not everyone who experiences sickness, homelessness or poverty is judged for sin—see Job) (Deuteronomy 28:58-61)

Bondage to Enemies—Yahweh will hand you over to the gods whom you are serving and you will only gain what they have, which is misery, death and horror. He will also possibly hand you over to the police or other governmental authorities to punish you. (Judges 2:11-14; Romans 1:24-28)

Not receiving the promises of God—The disobedient will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will not gain the resurrection. They will not receive God’s blessings. They will seek the Lord and not find him. They will listen to God’s word and not understand it. They will think they will receive all of what God has in store for the righteous and they will gain none of it. (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

Causing others not to receive God’s kingdom—Because you are living in hypocrisy, others will think that they can follow God as you do. Then they will receive the same consequences as you—punishment, dishonor and death. (Matthew 23:15)

Rejection of God—Eventually the one in sin will realize their hypocrisy and decide that they never really wanted to follow God in the first place. They reject any word of the Lord and become an open enemy of God. At this point, there is no turning back and the final consequence of sin is inevitable. (Romans 1:20-23; Hebrews 6:4-6)

Judgment according to deeds—Whatever one does to another, that is what that one will receive on the final day before God. So if one grants judgment to others, they will receive judgement. If they never show mercy, they will not receive mercy. (Luke 6: 36-38)

Death— The final consequence of disobedience is death. The Lord will hand you over to the power of death, under the control of Satan and he will destroy you. You will be in fire and torture and punishment for eternity. (Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:12-15)

However, the consequences of sin do not have to be our end. All of these consequences can be reversed through the cross of Jesus!