Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”
Exodus 32:34
In Exodus 32, while Moses was away talking to God, the Israelites built a golden calf, an idol to worship. This was a horrific sin against God, who had just rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and Moses was irate when he found out. So was God.
Moses went to plead with God for mercy, offering his own life if God would spare the lives of his people. And God answered, I will punish them for their sin.
The Bible tells us many times that the punishment for sin is death.
“Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.”
Ezekiel 18:4
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
Ezekiel 18:20
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
“Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
James 1:15
Folks, sin is never something to be taken lightly. Even as believers, it can be easy for us to take for granted that our sins have been forgiven. It can be tempting to just give in to sin because “we’re already forgiven, right?” We need to remember that God does punish sin. It’s just that in our case, Jesus has already been punished. It’s not that we are getting away with something, Jesus died for us.
When you are tempted to sin, you need to remember that the suffering that Jesus endured is nothing to take for granted.
The Scriptural Truth 