Imagine a house with a leaking roof. The dripping water goes into a bucket. What do you do when the bucket is full? You get rid of that water and allow new water to take its place until it fills up the bucket.  

 Did you know that God does that with people and with nations? He replaces, or destroys, people or nations when their sins are filled up.  

There are many OT examples of this.  

The Canaanites. God told Abram, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen 15:16, emphasis added). The descendants of Abraham did not return from Egypt until the iniquity of the Amorites, a synonym here for Canaanites, was complete. Israel spent 400 years in Egypt awaiting the fullness of the sins of the Canaanites. 

The world in Noah’s day. Genesis 6:3 refers not to lifespans, for Noah lived 300 years after the flood and many people after him lived well over 120 years. Even today, some live to be over 120. God was referring to 120 years until the flood. He waited for the sins of the world to be full before He destroyed everyone except the eight (1 Pet 3:20).  

Sodom. In Genesis 18, the Lord promised Abraham that he would spare Sodom if there were ten righteous people in the city. This refers to those who were righteous in experience. There were not ten, so the city was destroyed. Its wickedness was complete.  

Nineveh. Jonah said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). Yet it was not destroyed then. Why? Because the people turned from their wicked ways (Jonah 3:10). Jesus cited this in Matt 12:41. The implication was clear. If Israel did not repent as Nineveh had, then it would be overthrown. That is what happened in AD 70 (cf. Luke 13:3, 5). 

There are many NT examples.  

Matthew 23:31–32. Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.” Once those sins were full, the nation would be destroyed and scattered. The Promised Land would be occupied by others who took Israel’s place until AD 1948.  

Luke 13:3, 5. Unless there was national repentance, the nation would be destroyed, and many would die prematurely. Compare Matt 12:41. 

1 Thessalonians 2:16. Unbelievers are heaping up their sins until they are full. Then judgment will fall. 

2 Peter 3:9. The Tribulation, with probably over five billion deaths in just seven years, is being delayed as long as there is enough repentance worldwide. 

James 1:15. Hodges comments, “After the sin is brought to birth through lust, it grows (or, is repeated) and reaches maturity (i.e., when it is full-grown). Then sin in turn bears a child of its own–namely, death…” (James, p. 29). He then cites the last verse in James and says that “repentance from sin, that is, a turning from the error of our way (5: 20), can cut the sin off before it is full grown and thus save the sinning one from death” (p. 29).  

We can think of modern examples. Alcoholics, drug addicts, gang members, and sex addicts rarely die on their first offense. God is very longsuffering. But there are lots of negative consequences for those enslaved to sin, and those consequences increase in intensity over time. They ultimately lead to premature death once the sins of the person are mature (Jas 1:15) or complete (Gen 15:16).  

It is true, of course, that on rare occasions God takes the lives of people immediately after they commit a particular sin. These cases are the exception that prove the rule. For example, Nadab and Abibu were consumed by fire from the Lord when they offered up strange fire on their incense pans (Leviticus 10). This was at the inception of the Law of Moses, and they died as examples. Likewise, at the beginning of the church age Ananias and Sapphira died immediately after lying to Peter about a gift they made (Acts 5:1–11).  

The wages of sin is death for both believers and unbelievers. 

Eventually—when Christ’s kingdom moves to the new earth—there will be no more death (Rev 21:4). That is because there will be no more sin. Sin produces death.  

On average, American men today live seventy-six years. American women live an average of eighty-one years. But those who walk in rebellion against God have shorter life expectancies. The more we sin, the more we increase our chances of a premature death. As Zane Hodges said in class concerning James 1:15, sin is death-dealing. Would you like another card? Death. Another card? Death. The more we sin, the more our death approaches. 

Walking in the light produces God’s blessings for you and those around you. 

Walking in the darkness produces curses for you and those around you. While God is very longsuffering, sin eventually results in destruction, for both nations and individuals. Repentance is the remedy for temporal destruction (Jonah 3:10; Ezek 18:31–32; Luke 15:11–32; Jas 5:19–20), though not the remedy for spiritual death. Faith in Christ is the sole condition of everlasting life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; 11:25–27).  

Keep grace in focus and you will walk in the light and enjoy His blessings.