Do you ever hear someone say, “I know the Bible says this is wrong, but God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy?” We tend to want to justify a sin by our own standards and not by God’s.

I had a friend that did this when she left her children and her husband for a married man. She said, “God would not want me to be so unhappy.”

Can we know if this is a right way to think? All we have to do is look at scripture for the answer to this question.

In the book of Genesis, we find our first example. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Genesis 6:5-6 ESV).

As God looked at the people that inhabited the earth, He was grieved. He said that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence (verses 11-12); and He determined that He would destroy it.

One man found favor with God, a man named Noah. God decided to save this man and his family and enough animals to repopulate the earth. Other than these, all flesh died; and all living substance was destroyed.

We find the second example in Genesis 19. Abraham had been visited by two angels to give him the good news that his wife, Sarah, would finally give him a son. As Abraham walked with these angels to send them on their way, the Lord revealed that He would destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah where his nephew, Lot, lived. He said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20-21).

Abraham begged God not to punish the good with the wicked, and God agreed that if there were fifty righteous people in the city He would not destroy it. The problem was that there were not even ten righteous people in those cities.
In chapter 19 we can read the story of how God “rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (verses 24-25).

Our third example is found in II Kings 21 and 24. A young king named Manasseh began to reign in Judah. Verse 2 says, “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (II Kings 21:1).

Manasseh is attributed with being the most wicked king of Judah. Verse 19 says that this king led the people to do more evil than the nations had ever done. He built altars to idols in the temple of God, put idols all over the land, and even offered his own son to one of the gods.

Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah, ruled Judah for a time. Unlike his father and grandfather, he was a good king. He restored the temple, found the Book of the Law, and turned the people back to God for a time, but evil kings followed him. Finally, God had enough.

The king of Babylon descended on Judah and took them into captivity. This is what the scripture says about the punishment of Judah. “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon” (II Kings 24:3-4).

The fourth example is found in Acts 5. There we find new Christians selling their possessions and giving the money to the apostles to help other Christians.

Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, brought money from the sale of some possession. They lied about the amount of money they received from the sale, and both of them died as a result.

Peter confronted Ananias with these words, “Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God” (verse 4). Both Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead because they lied.

In each of these instances, there was no repentance. None of the people made an effort to change their ways. Man cannot live as he chooses, doing his own thing, living like he wants with no thought of God and His commandments.

Paul says, “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:5-8).

“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Romans 2:12-13).

We must do what is right in the sight of God to receive the benefit of heaven. God revealed to John, “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, and sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7-8).

That same fire and sulfur that burned Sodom and Gomorrah will await those who have not repented, been obedient, and pardoned.

Sandra Oliver