As Christians we believe in an all powerful God. A God who used words to form the universe. A God who has the power to destroy the world with a flood. A God who is Just and Holy. We fear God because He decides where we will spend eternity. 

If we are Christians, our relationship with God should be filled with Love, respect, praise, and fear. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The wise person fears God, which means that the foolish do not fear God. Because they lack this fear for God, they continue in sin. They aren’t concerned about what God could do to them. 

This is where our context from Romans 3 comes into play. Mankind naturally desires sin over God. And there will be those, like in Romans 3, that will try to find excuses to continue in sin. Paul gives us the bottom line with this mindset. Romans 3:18 says, “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” He uses phobos, which is where we get our English word “phobia.” Those who live in sin do so because they have no fear of God and His power. 

When we make the choice to live in sin we are saying 3 things about God: 

1. We truly don’t believe in God 
2. Or if we do, we don’t think God can do anything
3. We don’t think God will do anything

Whether we consciously think these or not, when we live in sin, we don’t fear God or the consequences. There’s a man we read about in scripture that perfectly illustrates this mindset. 2 Samuel 11 is one of the most powerful lessons we can read in scripture on sin. David’s sin with Bathsheba shows us the desire of sin, and paints a graphic picture of what sin can do to even the most godly of men. 

David sees Bathsheba bathing on the roof (11:2). He wants her, and pursues his desire. David sinned because in the moment he wanted pleasure over God. 

This is the start of David’s intricate plan to cover up what he has done. He tries to get Uriah to go home to his wife. He has Uriah killed so that he can have Bathsheba as his own. David continued to sin because there was no immediate punishment for sleeping with Bathsheba. The entire chapter ends with these words, “but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” 

How could such a man of God, someone that is described as “the friend of God” do such a thing? Because in that moment, and the days to follow, David lost his fear of God. It was replaced with deception, lust, and murder. 

It is said of sin that it will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. We will always be surrounded by a world filled with sin, and the consequences of those sins. 

But a day will come when God will punish those who practice sin, and reward those who are faithful to Him.