10. THE CHRISTIAN'S VIEWS OF SIN
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Moral evil is the worst of all evils. Nothing can compare with it. It is worse than the plague. It is unspeakably hateful. God calls sin, horrible and abominable. Godly men in every age lament it—lament it much in others, most in themselves. The worst thing that can be said of sin is—not that it digs every grave and wrings out every sigh and wail from earth and hell—but that it is "exceeding sinful."
A man's views of sin give a complexion to all his character. If he regards it as a trifle, he will laugh at it, when he should weep over it. He will make a mock of it. He will dally with it. He will take his fill of it. He will have low thoughts of God, and low estimates of salvation. He will despise Jesus Christ.
If, on the other hand, he considers sin as very dreadful and very hateful, he will hate every false way. He will long for holiness. He will hunger and thirst after righteousness. He will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. He will loathe and abhor himself on account of sin. He will be filled with horror because of the wicked, who keep not God's law. He will have exalted thoughts of the being, perfections, word, and government of God. To him Christ will be most precious, the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.
Some ask, How far does a sense of sin enter into a genuine Christian experience? To some extent, and in some minds, this is a difficult question. The difficulty may arise in part from the fact that some make all religious experience to refer to the earlier exercises of a newborn soul. But the truth is, that first religious views and feelings are but a small part of what the child of God practically learns. In all the three accounts of the conversion of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, not a word is said of his sense of sin at that time in anything but in opposing Christ's cause. But the work of grace in his heart only then began. In Romans 7:7-9, he tells us of subsequent experiences: "I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died."
The meaning of the Apostle seems to be this: "I would never have understood the real nature of sin, the enormity of my guilt, or the number of my transgressions but for the Ten Commandments." If one would know the uncleanness of a neglected apartment, he must let in the light. Dr. Watts notices the growing sense of sin in Paul once saying, "I am not fit to be called an Apostle." Later in life he says, "I am less than the least of all saints." In one of his later epistles, he says, "I am the chief of sinners." Evidently he had to the last a growing sense of sin.
Sometimes when we speak of a sense of sin, men think we are speaking of great terror of conscience or horror of mind. These things may indeed accompany a sense of sin; but they are wholly diverse from it, and are in nowise essential to it. Paul never had less terror than when he was near the end of his life, and had a very deep sense of sin.
But such a sense of sin as makes the Gospel good news to the sinner, would seem to be required by many things in the Scriptures. Our Lord said, "those who are whole need not a physician, but those who are sick." One of the darkest signs in the state of the Church at Laodicea was that she said she was rich and increased with goods, and had need of nothing—but knew not that she was wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17).
Job's sense of sin was vastly increased by the great discoveries he had of God's majesty and glory: "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Increased views of God's glory had the same effect on Isaiah, and made him cry out, "Woe is me! for I am undone" (Job 42:5-6; Isa. 6:5).
The deeper one's sense of sin is, the livelier is his gratitude for pardon and saving mercy. So taught our Lord: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little" (Luke 7:47).
In like manner the deeper one's sense of sin, the profounder will be his humility; and humility is the King's highway to holiness and happiness and heaven.
If these things are so, then he is a good preacher, and that is a good book that increases our just sense of sin. One of the best books John Owen ever wrote was on "Indwelling Sin." It is well suited to show men the fountain of iniquity that is in their hearts. For the same reason we may safely commend Flavel's "Keeping the Heart," Guthrie's "Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ," and many of the Puritan writings of the seventeenth century.
But above all, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Luther said that if for a day he failed to compare his heart with the Ten Commandments, he was sensible of a decline in his pious feelings. One of the best manuals of self-examination is the Westminster Assembly's exposition of the law of God. Let any serious man honestly read the answers there given to the question, What are the sins forbidden? in each of the precepts; and if he is not blind and stupid, his self-abhorrence must be increased.
But any view of ourselves that leads us to despair, is injurious. The true and fair inference from a sense of sickness, is that one needs a physician. A proper sense of sin should lead us more and more to look to Jesus, and to pray that He may be made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.
It is, therefore, common for Christians to admit that there is no little sin. It is easy for men to perplex themselves, and talk foolishly concerning that which is infinite. But to us all that is illimitable, immeasurable, fathomless, endless, may safely be styled infinite. Is sin, then, an infinite evil?
If sin be not an infinite evil, it must be because God's majesty, glory, and authority are not infinite, for against these is all sin committed.
If sin be not an infinite evil, it could not require an infinite atonement; a limited satisfaction is all that could be fairly required for a finite offense; a measurable compensation is all that can be justly demanded for a crime that can be fully estimated. If sin be not an infinite evil, can it be proven to be any evil at all? God has all claims, all rights, all sovereignty, or He has none at all. Our obligations to Him are boundless, interminable, infinite, or they are not real. If He is such a One as we are, He is no God at all. The reason why false gods may and should be treated with contempt, is because they are vanities. They are matters of ridicule.
God's presence is infinite; His power is infinite; His nature is infinite; His existence is infinite; and so to sin against Him must be an infinite insult and wrong. If sin is not an infinite evil, we must yet admit that the punishment threatened against it is, in at least one sense, infinite—it is boundless in duration; yes, it is shoreless, fathomless, and terrible as hell.
More than once does God call sin "horrible." It is that abominable thing which He hates. It cannot be shown that God hates toads, serpents, hyenas, or anything that He has made. But He hates sin with infinite loathing.
It is bad when one can truly say of an act that it is unprofitable, dangerous, or vile; but sin is the perfection of vileness; it is more perilous than the flights of the aeronaut; it is so unprofitable that when one commits it, he sows the wind to reap the whirlwind; he loves death.
God's Word acknowledges that sin is great, because God is great. "If a man sins against his neighbor, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?"
Francis Spira said: "Man knows the beginnings of sin, but who can tell the bounds thereof?"
"Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death."
"The wages of sin is death."
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