God’s sense of justice is absolute! Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that God punish sin. God cannot look upon sin, Habakkuk, chapter 1, verse 13 [“You (God) are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”]. God can have no fellowship with sinners, and those who sin are separated from Him, Isaiah 59, verse 2 [“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”].

We might say, “Well, I sure am glad I’m not a sinner!” Wait a minute! We’re all sinners, you see. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul says in Romans 3, verse 23. So we’re all in that category of being a sinner and being separated from God. Paul will also tell us in the letter to the church in Rome that, “the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6, verse 23 [“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”]. What does that mean? Well, the reward for sin is death!

God has created us as “free moral agents.” We make the choice to sin. We actually owe God our complete obedience. That’s what we owe Him, because He made us! So our obligation to God is to be completely obedient to Him. But we’re not obedient, because we choose to sin, so we are separated from God by our own choices. God’s perfect sense of justice then demands that sin be punished.

There are many Scriptures that support the fact that wickedness, or sin, will be punished, like Proverbs 11, verse 21 [“Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; but the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.”] and Revelation 20, verse 10 [“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”] [Proverbs 16:5—“Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.” Colossians 3:25—“But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.” Matthew 10:28-31—“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s Will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Hebrews 10:28-31—“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him Who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The LORD will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”]

That’s a very brief discussion about the justice of God, which must be satisfied.

There is PUNISHMENT FOR SIN EVEN IN THIS LIFE. We define sin in a number of ways. It’s “the archer who shoots an arrow and misses the mark.” It is “breaking the law of God.” It is also a contradiction to the nature of God and, thus, it violates God’s laws and His commands. Because of that, there are natural consequences to be had.

Often we bring suffering upon ourselves through the direct result of sin itself. For example, how many of us might suffer maladies that are related to worry, to stress, and so on? Then there are others who suffer things like tobacco use, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual promiscuity and things like that. We see it all around us—people who engage in these kinds of things and then they suffer the consequences for those things in this life. Well, others suffer indirectly as well. What about the drunk driver who gets behind the wheel of his car and runs into someone who is injured or killed, etc. There are many other things like this that you are aware of. The point is that there are consequences to be had of sin in this life.

There is a far worse fate awaiting those who die in their sins in a lost condition—PUNISHMENT IN THE HEREAFTER. God has prepared a place of eternal punishment. That place is called “hell.” Some people don’t want to believe that! Some say it’s not real! But, indeed, hell is a real place in the spiritual realm. Do you know Who spoke more about hell in the New Testament than any other individual? Jesus! Jesus had more to say about that place called “hell” than any one else. Listed here are about eight or nine things that He had to say about hell: