Fact: You’re A Criminal—3 Steps To Avoid Punishment
Everyone commits crimes. Yes, even you.
Maybe you’ve driven over the speed limit, failed to wear your seatbelt, or even stolen something before. Maybe you’ve done much worse.
Usually, you’ve gotten away with those things, right? Not so fast.
In this article I’m going to explain how your crimes, big and small, are in fact adding up to be used against you. And I’m going to explain how to really avoid the punishment.
Let’s do a thought experiment.
Think of all the times you’ve broken a law, even seemingly small ones. Think of every song you’ve illegally downloaded from the internet, every stop sign you’ve blown through, every dollar you’ve failed to report to the IRS…
The list could go on, couldn’t it? You’ve probably committed more crimes than you can remember.
Now imagine you have to pay the legal penalty for each time you committed one of those crimes. It could be fines, jail time, or even prison time, but every crime has a legal penalty.
Most times you don’t get caught, but imagine for a moment that you did get caught—for everything.
Now imagine there’s no attorney able to get you out of it, there’s no opportunity for a bargain plea to lessen your charges, there’s no statute of limitations, and the judge will not let you off. It’s just straight, uninhibited justice.
What would your full punishment be?
If you’re like most people (and, in this regard, you are), your punishment would be more than you can bear. Your freedom would be forfeit, your finances would be in shambles, and your life would be ruined.
Now, here’s the thing…
This is not just a thought experiment.
Your every crime is known, and you will have to answer for them. But how can that be? It can be, because the judge knows everything:
“All are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13b)
As you may realize now, the judge I’m referring to is God. Do you believe in God?
Even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. Even if a criminal claims to not believe in the judge, when he’s arrested and brought to trial, he’ll have to face the judge nonetheless.
But the situation is worse than what I’ve laid out so far. I’ve only mentioned crimes, like the ones you could be punished for in a human court.
That would be bad enough. But God’s court is more severe. In God‘s court, you’re not charged with crimes but sins.
Most crimes are sins, but there are many sins that are not crimes. For example, it’s not a crime to lie in your personal relationships, or to dishonor your parents, or to worship a false god, or to lust, but all of these are sins:
“You shall not lie to one another.” (Leviticus 19:11c)
“Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12a)
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)
Of course, there are many other sins too. Anything you do, say, or even think, if it’s morally wrong, is a sin.
So, returning to our thought experiment, add to your list of crimes every non-criminal sin that you have ever committed.
If you couldn’t remember every crime, you certainly won’t remember every sin. But you did commit them.
If this is starting to sound pretty bad for you, that’s true. It is.
Rest assured, there’s a solution, a way to avoid punishment. But the first step is to simply understand the extent of the problem. You must…
1. Acknowledge your guilt, and the punishment you deserve.
If you’ve kept up with the thought experiment, you’ve already acknowledged your guilt. You have committed a LOT of sins.
But now ask: If God will judge me for every one of my sins, what will my punishment be?
While God hasn’t disclosed all the ins and outs of His sentencing guidelines, He has disclosed this:
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a)
Even one sin is enough to earn the sinner the death penalty. And this “death” is not merely the physical death we’re all familiar with. It also involves “the second death”:
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the 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 21:8)
So, the wages of even one sin—even one lie, for example—is conscious eternal torment after physical death.
How is that fair?
If anyone is tempted to think it’s not fair, that person doesn’t understand the seriousness of sin.
Sin is an offense against God, who is utterly perfect and good. He is so holy that imperfection and moral evil cannot remain in His presence. That’s why one prophet called Him…
“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong...” (Habakkuk 1:13a)
You could think of it like this: any offense against an infinitely good God is an infinite offense. So, even the smallest of sins deserves an infinite punishment.
But you haven’t only committed one small sin, have you? No, you’re like the rest of us: you’ve committed all KINDS of sins—big, small, and in between.
Since God is entirely good, His justice is perfect, which means He will always punish sin. And since He is all-knowing, no sin escapes His notice.
The result is that there’s no hope for anyone, because “no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12). In other words, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
In the end, your punishment (and mine) is inescapable—except for one specific legal remedy. That remedy is called...
The Gospel
The word gospel means “good message” or “good news.” The good news is that there’s one exception to the rule: there’s one human being who never committed ANY sin.
How? Because He is not merely human but is in fact God, and He became human.
I’m talking, of course, about Jesus Christ.
Maybe you have a hard time believing that Jesus Christ is in fact God. In a moment, I’ll tell you one big reason why you should believe it. First, let me tell you why it’s good news.
It’s good news because it means that when He was killed, He wasn’t dying to pay for His own sins, but for the sins of others:
“For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
When He was unjustly executed by crucifixion, Jesus took the penalty of sin for everyone who would believe in Him:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree… By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
By doing that, He made it possible for sinners to have peace with God in spite of their sin:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18)
If you have to pay a fine for a crime you committed, but someone else comes along and pays it for you, you can go free. Jesus paid the fine for anyone who believes in Him.
In fact, the reality is better than that. How so? Well, a criminal would still have that charge on his record. But when Jesus pays your fine, your record is wiped clean before God:
“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
That’s good news! And there’s even more to it, because Jesus didn’t just die and stay dead. Three days later, He came back to life:
“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.’” (Matthew 28:5-6)
Jesus’ resurrection confirmed His victory over sin and over death. It confirmed that just as He came back from the dead, we too who are spiritually dead can come to life through Him:
“even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:5)
And remember that verse I mentioned before, which said, “For the wages of sin is death”? Well, that was only the first half of the verse. The second half says:
“but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23b)
So, although we deserve eternal death, we can have eternal life, a relationship with God that starts now and lasts forever. Jesus’ death and resurrection is what made that possible.
And His resurrection, by the way, proved that His claims to be God were true—and that is the one big reason (among others) why you should believe He is God.
That leads us to the next step.
See, this opportunity for your sins to be forgiven is available, but it doesn’t come to you automatically. You’ve got to receive it. To receive it, you must…
2. Believe the gospel.
It’s not enough to understand it. You must believe it. As the famous verse says,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
This belief, or trust, is not mere intellectual agreement. Rather, it’s believing with your life.
It’s kind of like the trust you have in a pilot when you get on an airplane. You’re not just intellectually agreeing that he can fly the plane, but you’re actually putting your life in his hands.
When we believe in Jesus, His death, and His resurrection, it means we trust that the gift of eternal life is for us, and we give our lives to Him.
And if He’s our pilot, that means we go wherever He brings us:
“and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15)
The route that each of our lives takes is up to Him. His believers do what He wants. And that leads us to the final step. You must…
3. Repent of your sins.
This is really a sub-point to Step 2, because you can’t believe in the gospel without repenting of your sins. As Jesus Himself said,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
The word “repent” means “turn.” To repent is to turn away from your sins to Jesus. It means you live your life the way He wants you to. You renounce your own ways and devote yourself to His ways.
That’s impossible to do without His help, and we can never do it perfectly in this life, but we do have to take that first step of commitment. Jesus said,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
But if we couldn’t keep ourselves from sinning before, how do we start now?
The fact is, when you truly believe in Jesus, you are changed. It’s what Jesus called being “born again”:
“‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3)
Not only are you forgiven of your sin, but you start to hate sinning (Romans 7:15-17). You become a new person with new desires:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
That’s because, when you receive Christ, you will receive the Holy Spirit. God will dwell in you. Jesus promised,
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
There are many benefits to embracing the good news!
Avoid Punishment, Get Rewards
When you give your life to Christ, not only do you avoid the punishment of hell, but…
You get peace and friendship with God, the purpose for which you were created.
You get to talk to Him and personally learn from Him in His Word, the Bible.
You get the comfort and guidance of His Spirit dwelling in you.
You get an understanding of life and the world like never before.
You get a new adopted family, the Church.
You get a new purpose, to share this good news with others and help them embrace it as well.
You get the promise of being without sin and being with God forever after you die.
You get all of this and more, and the cost to you is to give up your sin, which is the source of your problems in the first place. Of course, to give up your sin means to give up your life, since your life is full of sin. It means to love Jesus more than anything and anyone, so much so that your love for others could be said to look like hate by comparison. As Jesus said,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27)
Following Jesus may cost you your life literally, too. If people went so far as to kill Jesus, the followers of Jesus can expect no better treatment. In His words,
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you…” (John 15:18-20)
So, while following Jesus is free in one sense, it’s very costly in another. But in the big picture of things, the benefits are more than worth the cost.
If that makes sense to you, then don’t wait another moment. Believe and repent today! Pray and tell Jesus that you’re accepting His offer of forgiveness for your sins and His gift of eternal life, and that you’re giving your life to Him.
Then, please…
I’d love to welcome you to the family, and I can tell you more about the next steps as you start your new life.
If you’re still uncertain…
I only ask that you get certain as soon as you can. You don’t know how long you have to live. None of us do. If you die without having given your life to Christ, then your chance will be gone. You will experience the full weight of God’s punishment for your sins.
Don’t do that to yourself! You have a way out, and you can take it today. There may not be another day.
“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
—2 Corinthians 6:2b
Still have questions?
Have something to say about this post? See something I overlooked? Share your feedback here. Sign up to be notified of future posts and updates here.
If you love this post (or if you hate it enough to tell all your friends), share the link on your social media. And be sure to tag me!
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.