“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause . . . we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil . . . and they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives” (Proverbs 1: 10-18 KJV).
For all our choices, we discover that there are both immediate and ultimate consequences. Satan tempts men to sin by promising immediate consequences that are pleasant. God warns against sin by promising ultimate, unpleasant, and eternal consequences. There is a way that seems right unto man because of the seemingly good immediate consequences of their choice, but the end thereof is death because of the ultimate consequence of their choice (Prov. 14: 12). And sin does have its seasonal pleasures (Heb. 11: 25).
Sin is always presented by Satan as good and harmless. Alcohol is always advertised by attractive and healthy young people. But alcohol advertisements do not show the ultimate consequences of their use as broken hearts, broken minds, broken homes, broken marriages, and the hopeless, helpless, derelict laying in the gutter. But God warns in advance against its use and spells out plainly the consequences (Pro. 23: 29-35).
Adultery is advertised by Satan as being harmless. But God warns us against it and tells plainly of its terrible consequences (Prov. 2: 18, 19; 6: 26; 7: 27; 29: 3; 30: 20; Hos. 4: 1-3; 1Cor. 5: 1-13; 6: 9, 10; Rev. 21: 8).
Because men meet with the pleasant immediate consequences of their sinful choices first, they think that is the end of the matter. But the worst is yet to come. Because the immediate consequences of sin seem to be pleasant and the sinner prosperous, men tend to invalidate the warnings of God and His promised ultimate consequences. The prosperous wicked man in Job 21 wanted nothing to do with God because of his immediate success. But God knew of his coming destruction. The wicked may prosper and grow like a green bay tree due to their proper planning and due diligence, but their end is destruction (Ps. 37: 35-38). God doesn’t pay on the weekend, but He does pay in the end.
Even the Christian is perplexed and may become envious at the prosperity of the wicked. Jeremiah was—“Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” (Jer. 12: 1). To avoid being perplexed and envious of the prosperity of the wicked (Ps. 37: 7-9) we must not confuse the immediate consequences for sin that end with this life with the final ultimate consequences for sin that follow God’s judgment and are for all eternity (Rev. 20: 11-15).
The gangs in our text recruit new members by promising them the immediate consequences of wealth that is taken from those they murder. But the ultimate consequences that they do not mention are their own death at the hands of the state for their murders and eternity in a place called Hell.
The immediate consequences of getting saved and following Jesus Christ will be a life of cross-bearing, hardship, and persecution from the world (James 1: 2), but the ultimate consequence is a reward for our suffering, a home in Heaven, and eternity with Jesus our Savior (2 Cor. 4: 17).
