SIN,
CONSEQUENCES OF
THE MOMENT you pick a flower, it dies because it’s been separated from its source of life although it doesn’t appear dead yet. But the seeds of death are automatically built in to the breaking of fellowship. When you cut the flower off from the tree or the vine, fellowship is immediately broken between the flower and the vine. If you hand somebody that flower, you will have just handed somebody death. Now, it be may be red death, yellow death, or pink death. Just give it a little time and that death will become extraordinarily evident as the petals drop from the flower, change colors, and get old. As well intentioned as you may have been in sharing that flower, death is actually what you will have given them. Lack of fellowship of the flower with the vine results in death.846
[Death; Immorality, Effects of]
John 15:5; Eph. 4:17–19
YOU DON’T have to like the law of gravity, but it is in your best interest to respect it. You don’t have to prefer it, but it’s not going to change for you. It is a law of nature. It is a divine law, not a negotiated law.
You may say, “Gravity, you are not going to tell me what to do. It’s my thing and I’m going to do what I want to do. You are not my boss, Gravity! You are not my instructor! I’m my own man and I’m going to do what I want to do!
“In fact, Gravity, just to let you know how I feel about you, I’m going to rebel. I’m going to get up on the top of this church building and I am going to despise you. I’m going to jump. What do you think about that?”
The law of gravity won’t stop you. The law of gravity won’t hold you back. You can jump and, for a moment, a short moment, it may appear like you have outwitted and outsmarted gravity. It may appear like you have had the last word, but a few seconds later as we sweep you up off the pavement, it will become abundantly clear that you have adjusted to gravity; gravity did not adjust to you. Sin has consequences.847
[Immorality, Effects of; Rebellion]
Rom. 6:23; Gal. 6:7–8
THERE was a parrot that had a foul mouth. It cursed like a sailor. A lady went into the pet store and fell in love with the parrot. It was cute to look at, even though it had a terrible mouth. The lady figured it would be OK. She would buy it and then train it to talk differently. So she took the parrot home and worked with it. She successfully turned it into a Christian talking parrot. She trained the parrot to say phrases like, “Praise the Lord!” and “Hallelujah!”
One day she forgot to feed the parrot. The parrot was ticked off and went back to his old ways. It started cussing like a sailor. The lady figured she had to teach the parrot a lesson. So she put the parrot in the freezer. After about five or ten minutes, she took the parrot out and asked it, “Have you learned your lesson?”
The parrot said, “Yeeesssss, ma’am.” Everything went well for a while; he went back to praising the Lord and saying Christian things.
About four or five months later, the lady forgot to feed the parrot again. He again went back to his old ways. The lady carried him out of the cage and back to the freezer, saying, “I told you, we’re not going to have this kind of language in my house!” She put the parrot in but forgot about it. It dawned on her hours later that she’d left her parrot in the freezer. She ran into the kitchen and got the parrot out. When it finally thawed out, the lady asked, “Have you learned your lesson now?”
“Ooooooohhhh, yyyyyeeeeeeeesssss, maaaaa’am! But can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I thought I knew every curse word there was, but I guess that I don’t. What words exactly did the turkey say?”848
[Immorality, Effects of; Judgment]