“18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
20 “The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven.” -Deuteronomy 29:18-20
God will deal with all evil doers. He is a merciful God and will “abundantly pardon” those who repent of their sins and who come to Him for mercy (See Isaiah 55:7). Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself and died for us, taking the punishment or payment for our sins (See Romans 6:23; Isaiah 53:4-6). However, if we turn away from the Lord’s mercy and stubbornly persist in our sins, just trampling upon His grace as if it were a license to sin then we are deceiving ourselves! God will not tolerate such wickedness. The verses above remind us that bitter and stubborn rebellion against God’s ways, or the choice to live in sin, when Jesus is saying, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11), will be fatal choices. Such a choice to continue living in sin, while comforting yourself with the thought that no retribution or punishment will come for it, would be a fatal one–a seal or mark of death.
The Lord says, “Repent” or “Turn from your evil ways, for why will you die…” (See Ezekiel 33:11). God hates sin. But He loves people. Sin destroys lives. Both our relationship to God and to one another is deeply injured by sin. Therefore, God hates sin. Sin is the opposite of true and pure love. Therefore, because God is love, He utterly hates sin! Since God must destroy all sin, those who choose to persist in their sins will die with their sins.
Some say, “I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart” (v.19 above). Such a statement is utter blindness and deception. Only the righteous and pure, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, who follow the “dictates” of God’s Holy word will receive the reward of eternal life (See Revelation 22:14,15; 21:7,8,27; Matthew 5:8). Let us not be deceived by thinking to follow the “dictates” of our own hearts, the worldly desires, lusts, or “imaginations of our own hearts” (as some Bibles have put it). God’s word makes it clear that such will never receive salvation (Hebrews 10:26,27). Let us therefore rather be those who follow the dictates of God’s Holy word and who receive the commendation of God, “Well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21; 4:4). Amen?
