Consequences are part of life, but you live in an anti-consequence culture. You are living in a culture that does everything it can to deny and diminish consequences. You can’t afford an item; there are credit cards. We have more public service expenses than taxation can support; we can always increase the national debt. A couple has unplanned pregnancy; they can get an abortion. The culture denies and diminishes that it sees as negative consequences.
It does the same with positive consequences. We diminish real achievements in an attempt to make everyone feel like an achiever. We wind up increasing the burdens of those who do good work in an attempt to appease those who won’t do good work.
I am more affected by this culture than I would like to think. You are more affected by this culture than you would like to think. We tend to talk about the culture as being “out there” but in so many ways it is “in here.” You can take any vice of our culture and find a toned-down version of it within the church and possibly even within yourself. That means that you and I are probably more anti-consequence than we would like to think. You and I are probably far quicker to deny and diminish consequences for ourselves and for others than either of us would like to think.
That will bring its own consequences because consequences are unavoidably part of life. Abortion doesn’t eliminate consequences. It just trades one set of consequences for another. Increasing the national debt by $2 trillion a year doesn’t eliminate consequences; it brings unforeseen consequences. Diminishing the real achievements of others in an attempt to make everyone feel like an achiever doesn’t eliminate consequences; it brings unforeseen consequences. Consequences are unavoidable. That isn’t simply a rule of life; that is the will of God. There are consequences for sin and there are consequences for obedience, and that is the will of God. That is the claim of this sermon: there are consequences for sin and there are consequences for obedience, and that is the will of God.
We will study this in two points. First: the consequences for sin. Second: the consequences for obedience. In the first half of verse 11 we see the consequences for sin. In the second half of verse 11 we see the consequences for obedience.
First: the consequences for sin. This is our fourth sermon in Psalm 19. In our first sermon we studied what theologians call “general revelation”; this is what we can know about God, ourselves, and life by way of creation and reason. Since then we’ve studying what theologians refer to as “special revelation”; this is what we can know about God, ourselves, and life by way of what God has revealed in His word. We’ve seen that this special revelation brings life to the soul, light to the eyes, and joy to the heart. Now we see that it warns; that’s verse 11, “By them is your servant warned.”
Scripture includes any number of warnings such as, “the wages of sin is death,” to make the consequences of sin clear. Scripture doesn’t create these consequences. Scripture simply announces these consequences. You can think of these warnings as functioning much like rumble strips on the edge of the highway. They don’t create the consequences of veering off the road. They warn against it. Scripture does the same; “by them is your servant warned.”
These warnings are loving. Think of them in terms of a mother warning her child against touching a hot burner. No one would consider that to be an unloving act. We would consider that mother unloving if she didn’t warn her child. What’s strange is that people consider God unloving because He does warn. That just shows you how blind we are by nature.
It also shows you how prideful we are by nature. People can accept the warning about the hot burner because getting burned is a natural consequence. People will not accept that warning against sin as loving because God’s wrath is God’s choice. That mother doesn’t choose the consequence of burning. God does choose to give consequence of punishment and so people rail against Him. What they don’t see is that God also chooses the consequence of burning. He makes heat useful for cooking, but in order to cook it also has to be able to burn. Have you ever heard of someone angry with God for giving heat the consequence of burning? Why is it then that people are angry with God for giving sin the consequence of punishment?
There are any number of answers to that, but what’s most important to point out is that people are angry about the consequences of sin because of pride. The idea that any sinner is in any position to tell God what He should do about sin is laughable. God is holy. We are not. God is righteous. We are not. God is love. We are not. If He has chosen to warn against the consequences of sin and then dispense those consequences, He knows better than us. The idea that God needs to justify Himself to us is the height of pride.
The fact is that this is God’s world and in God’s world there are consequences for sin. You see that in life. David knew that from life. We don’t know when David wrote this, but imagine that he wrote the words, “by them is your servant warned,” after he took advantage of Bathsheba and killed Uriah. The law warned him against adultery. The law warned him against murder. He was living with the consequences. He had lived with them on his conscience. He lived with them in his family. One of his sons took advantage of David’s daughter just as David took advantage of Bathsheba. Another of his sons killed that son just as David had killed Uriah. David may have written the words, “by them is your servant warned,” with those consequences in mind.
The blatantly obvious fact of life is that there are consequences for sin. God ensures that there are. You see this at the very dawn of creation. God told Adam and Eve, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” They chose to ignore that warning and they, and we, suffer the consequences; the message is clear: take God’s warnings more seriously than Adam and Eve did.
Think about Cain. He was spitting mad that God accepted his brother’s offering but not his own offering. God told him what to do about it and also warned him that sin was crouching at his door. Cain ignored that warning, killed his brother, and suffered the consequences; the message is clear: take God’s warnings more seriously than Cain did.
Think of Noah’s listeners. Noah warned them repeatedly about the destruction to come. They didn’t listen. They were destroyed in the flood; the message is clear: take God’s warnings more seriously than the people of Noah’s day did.
Think of Samson. He knew God’s law. He knew that consorting with faithless women carried consequences. He chose to ignore the consequences. He had his eyes plucked out; the message is clear: take God’s warnings more seriously than Samson did.
Think of Solomon. The law made clear that the king was not to take multiple wives. The law made clear that believers were not to take unbelieving wives. Solomon ignored both. His wives led him away from God. The message is clear: take God’s warnings more seriously than Solomon did.
We could continue to go on; we don’t have time for that tonight, but you do have time on your own. Read God’s word. You will find warning after warning; “by them is your servant warned.” We are warned over and over because we are by nature so obtuse that we often miss the point the first twenty times.
Now notice who actually is warned by these warnings; verse 11, “By them is your servant warned.” It is the servant of God who accepts the warnings. Those who really have nothing to do with God hear nothing in God’s warnings. Think about Pharaoh with the Exodus. He received warning after warning from Moses, but he didn’t listen. It is the servants of God who take the warning to heart.
Jesus said that anyone who hears his words and fails to put them into practice is like a man who builds his life on the sand. The consequence of such a decision is best described as a great crash. The fact is that “the way of the transgressor is hard,” as Scripture puts it. You can see that as you look at the consequences of your own sin.
Jesus is not anti-consequence. He died for sin, but that doesn’t mean that he denies or diminishes the consequences of sin. He died so that sin could be done away with, not so that sin could be tolerated. Nobody warned of sin more often than Jesus. He did so because he loves, and he doesn’t want people to suffer the wages of sin. You could change verse 11 to say, “By Jesus is your servant warned.”
God’s word warns against sin and its consequences. It also makes clear that obedience brings reward. That is our second point: the consequences for obedience.
We humans tend to deny and diminish the consequences of sin. Even we who believe the word of God tend to deny and diminish the consequences of our own sin. We even try to throw ourselves between our loved ones and the consequences of their sin. Each of us has much to change in regard to our first point. My guess is that each of us has much to change in regard to this second point. We tend to deny and diminish the consequences for obedience.
Some people wrongly interpret the consequences for obedience. They believe in the health and wealth gospel which says that belief in Jesus and obedience to his ways brings health and wealth. This idolatry. It is nothing other than the worship of health and wealth framed in Christian language.
Now some of us might be seduced by that, but my guess is that many more of us are confused about the consequences for obedience. We are rightly concerned about works-righteousness and so we struggle with the words, “in keeping them there is great reward.” We rightly know that we can never earn God’s favor, but we wrongly think that, therefore, God will leave obedience unrewarded.
We think that we should do good simply for its own sake rather than from any reward promised. We think that such self-interest is somehow sinful. CS Lewis explains where we’ve gone wrong. He writes, “If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”
God expects us to want the reward that comes from obedience. You can’t earn your salvation by obedience, but obedience does bring consequences just as disobedience brings consequences; God motivates us by this reward; “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
Sometimes this reward consists in simply continuing in the grace you’ve already received. Think about Adam and Eve. They did nothing to make that garden. They did nothing to make their innocence. That was all a gift. That was grace. The reward for obedience consisted in continuing in what they had.
Sometimes the reward consists in continuing to enjoy what you’ve already been given. Sometimes the reward is seen natural consequences. If you obey God’s command to the tell the truth consistently, you will be trusted. If you obey God’s command to humble yourself consistently, you will be respected. If you obey God’s command to look out for the welfare of others, you will be appreciated. God arranged human relationships in such a way that, that the reward is enjoyed by the obedient. People who don’t obey still want the reward. Those who lie still want to be trusted. The proud still want to be respected. The unloving still want to be appreciated. They won’t be because they are reaping the consequences of their actions just as the obedient are reaping the consequences of theirs.
For years my dad worked as millwright in General Motors. A millwright is responsible for installing, dissembling, assembling, repairing, and moving heavy machinery. The job requires a lot of tools. One of the lower skilled workers by the name of Willy Jones was upset about those tools. Now management had given this guy opportunities for further training, but he didn’t take them. He saw my dad and the other millwrights with all their tools and complained, and this is a loose quotation, “why do the people who do all the work get all the tools?” Listen to that again, “why do the people who do all the work get all the tools?” Why do the people who tell all the truth get all the trust? Why do the people who the people do all the kindness get all the appreciation? “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
Sometimes the reward consists in continuing to enjoy what you’ve already been given. Sometimes the reward is seen natural consequences. The reward is certainly seen in its eternal consequence. Paul expected that; “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” I imagine that crown kept Paul going on many a day.
Jesus said that disciples who obey with what they have been given can expect to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” That’s one way to think about Psalm 19:11, “in keeping them there is great reward.” That should be a motivation to keep the commands.
The culture will not teach you that there is positive consequences for obedience or negative consequences for disobedience. The culture will deny and try to diminish these consequences. Satan will tell you what he told Eve in the garden—there are no real consequences for sin and no real consequences for obedience. Your own flesh will shut your eyes to the consequences of sin and distort the reality of the rewards for the obedience to the point that you have no motivation to obey.
You will only hear these consequences from God. “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” There are consequences to what you sow. You are currently reaping them. You will be reaping more in the near future. You will be reaping them forever. Consequences are unavoidable and you are choosing yours. Choose wisely. Amen.