The Monster Dragged to Light! 2
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Sin is a false, base, unrighteous thing. It does evil all around, and brings good to nobody. It has not one redeeming feature. It is evil, only evil, and that continually. It is a wicked, wanton, purposeless, useless rejection of that which is good and right — in favor of that which is disgraceful and injurious. We ought, also, to remember that the Divine Law is binding upon men because of the right and authority of the Lawgiver. God has made us — ought we not to serve Him? Our existence is prolonged by His kindness, we could not live a moment without Him — should we not obey Him?
God is superlatively good. He has never done us any harm. He has always designed our benefit and has treated us with unbounded kindness. Why should we willfully insult Him by breaking laws which He had a right to make and which He has made for our good? Is it not shameful to do that which He hates — when there can be nothing to gain thereby and no reason for doing it? How I wish every heart here could hear that plaintive lamentation of the Lord — it is wonderful condescension that He should describe Himself as uttering it — "The ox knows his owner and the donkey his master's crib, but Israel does not know — My people do not consider."
That other word of pleading is equally pathetic, where the Lord expostulates and cries "O, do not this abominable thing that I hate!" After all His tenderness in which He has acted towards us — as a father to his child — we have turned against Him and harbored His enemy. We have found our pleasure in grieving Him, and have called His commands burdens, and His service weariness. Shall we not repent of this? Can we continue to act so basely? This day, my God, I hate sin — not because it damns me, but because it has done You wrong! To have grieved my God is the worst of grief to me. The heart renewed by Grace feels a deep sympathy with God in the ungrateful treatment which He has received from us. It cries out, "How could I have offended Him? Why did I treat so gracious a God in so disgraceful a manner? He has done me good and no evil, why have I slighted Him?"
Had the Eternal been a tyrant and had His Laws been despotic — I could imagine some dignity in a revolt against Him. But seeing He is a Father full of gentleness and tenderness, whose loving-kindnesses are beyond all count — sin against Him is exceedingly sinful! Sin is worse than bestial — for the beasts only return evil for evil. Sin is devilish — for it returns evil for good. Sin is lifting our heel against our Benefactor — it is base ingratitude, treason, causeless hate, spite against holiness and a preference for that which is vile and groveling. But where am I going? Sin is sin — and in that word, we have said it all.
It would appear that Paul made the discovery of sin as sin through the light of one of the Commandments. He gives us a little bit of his own biography which is most interesting to notice. He says, "I had not known lust, except the Law had said you shall not covet." It strikes me that when Paul was struck down from his horse on his way to Damascus, the first thought that came to him was, "this Jesus whom I have been persecuting, is, after all, the Messiah and Lord of all! Oh, horror of horrors, I have ignorantly warred against Him. He is Jesus the Savior who saves from sins, but what are my sins? Where have I offended against the Law?"
In his lonely blindness, his mind involuntarily ran over the Ten Commandments. And as he considered each one of them with his poor half-enlightened judgment, he cried to himself, "I have not broken that! I have not broken that!" until at last he came to that command, "You shall not covet," and in a moment, as though a lightning flash had cut in two the solid darkness of his spirit — he saw his sin and confessed that he had been guilty of inordinate desires. He had not known lust if the Law had not said, "you shall not covet." That discovery unveiled all the rest of his sins — the proud Pharisee became a humble penitent and he who thought himself blameless cried out — "I am the chief of sinners!"
I pray God by some means to let the same light stream into every soul here, where as yet it has not penetrated. O my Hearers, I beseech the Lord to let you see sin as sin — and so lead you to Jesus as the only Savior!
III. I shall need your best attention to the third point which is this: The Sinfulness of Sin is Most Clearly Seen in its Perverting the Best of Things — to Deadly Purposes. So the text runs — "Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good." It is evident that we are atrociously depraved — since we make the worst conceivable use of the best things.
Here is God's Law, which was ordained to life, for, "He who does these things shall live in them" — is willfully disobeyed, and so sin turns the light into an instrument of death! It does worse! The sin that is in us, when it hears the Commandment — immediately resolves to break it. It is a strangely wicked propensity of our nature, that there are many things which we would not care for otherwise, which we lust after at once — as soon as they are forbidden. Have you ever noticed, even in regard to human law, that when a thing is prohibited, people long after it?
I do not remember, in all the years I have lived in London, any cravings of the populace to hold meetings in Hyde Park, until an attempt was made to keep them out — and then, immediately, all the railings were pulled down and the ground was carried by storm. The park has been a field of battle ever since. Had the prohibition never been issued — they would have said, "What's the use of dragging up there all through the mud for miles, when we can meet more comfortably in a hall under cover." But because they must not do it — they resolve to do it!
That is the way with our common nature — it kicks at restraint. If we must not do a thing — then we will do it! Even before she fell, our mother Eve felt drawn to the forbidden tree — and the impulse in her fallen sons and daughters is far more forcible! As by one common impulse — we wander from the road appointed, and break hedges to leap into fields enclosed against us. Law to our depraved nature — is but the signal for revolt! Sin is a monster, indeed, when it turns a preventive Law — into an incentive to rebellion. It discovers evil by the Law and then turns to it and cries, "Evil, you are my good!" This is far from being the only case in which good is turned to evil through our sin. I might mention many others.
Very briefly then, how many there are who turn the abounding mercy of God, as proclaimed in the Gospel, into a reason for further sin! The preacher delights to tell you, in God's name, that the Lord is a God ready to forgive and willing to have mercy upon sinners — and that whoever believes in Jesus shall receive immediate pardon! What do men say, "O, if it is so easy to be forgiven — let us go on in sin! If faith is so simple a matter — let us put it off until some future time!" O, base and cruel argument! To infer greater sin — from infinite love! What if I call it devilish reasoning — for so it is — to make of the very goodness of a gracious God a reason for continuing to offend! Is it so that the more God loves — the more you will hate? The better He is — the worse you will be? Shame! Shame!
Then, again, there are individuals who have indulged in very great sin and have very fortunately escaped from the natural consequences of that sin — and what do they gather from this forbearance on God's part? God has been very long-suffering and compassionate to them and, therefore — they defy Him again and return presumptuously to their former habits! They dream that they have immunity to transgress and even boast that God will never punish them, let them act as they may! Sin appears sin, indeed, when the long-suffering which should lead to repentance — is regarded as a license for further offending! What a marvel that the Eternal does not crush His foes at once — when they count His gentleness to be weakness, and make His mercy a ground for further disobedience!
Look again at thousands of prosperous sinners whose riches are their means of sinning. They have all that heart can wish and instead of being doubly grateful to God — they are proud and thoughtless! They deny themselves none of the pleasures of sin. The blessings entrusted to them, become their curses because they minister to their arrogance and worldliness. They war against God with weapons from His own armory! They are indulged by Providence — and then they indulge their sins the more. Fullness of bread, too often breeds contempt of God. Men are lifted up — and then look down upon religion and speak loftily against the people of God and even against the Lord Himself! With His meal in their mouths — they blaspheme their Benefactor; and with the wealth which is the loan of His charity — they purchase the vile pleasures of iniquity!
This is horrible, but it is so, that the more God gives to man — the more man hates His God; and he to whom God multiplies His mercies — returns it by multiplying his transgressions! I remember in our Baptist martyrologies, the story of one of the Baptists of Holland escaping from his persecutors. A river was frozen over and the good man crossed it safely, but his enemy was of greater bulk and the ice gave way under him. The Baptist, like the child of God he was, turned round and rescued his persecutor just as he was sinking beneath the ice to certain death. And what did the wretch do? As soon as ever he was safely on the shore, he seized the man who had saved his life and dragged him off to prison, from which he was taken to be put to death!
We marvel at such inhumanity! We are indignant at such base returns — but the returns which the ungodly make to God, are far more base! I marvel, myself, as I talk to you — I marvel that I speak so calmly, on so terribly humbling a theme! And remembering our past lives and our long ingratitude to God, I marvel that we do not turn this place into one vast Bochim, or place of weeping — and mingle our tears in a flood with expressions of deep shame and self-abhorrence for our dealings towards God!
The same evil is manifested, when the Lord reveals His Justice and utters threats. When a threatening sermon is delivered, you will hear men say, as they go out from hearing such a discourse, although the preacher has spoken most affectionately, "We will have no more of this Hell-fire preaching! We are wearied and worried with these threats of judgment."
"Your judgments, too, unmoved they hear,
Amazing thought! Which devil 's fear
Goodness and wrath in vain combine,
Their heart betrays no feeling sign!"
Try the same man with God's tenderness and speak of God's love — and he will be hardened by it — for the Gospel hardens some men, and becomes a savor of death unto death unto many.
O Sin, you are sin, indeed — to make the Gospel of salvation a reason for deeper damnation! When great judgments are abroad in the land, many of the ungodly become more insolent against God and even rail at Him as a tyrant. The fire which ought to melt them only makes them harder! The terrors of God they defy, and like Pharaoh they demand, "Who is the Lord — that I should serve Him?"
We have known people in adversity — very poor and very sick — who ought to have been led to God by their sorrow. But instead, they have become careless of all religion and cast off all fear of God. They have acted like Ahaz of whom it is written, "In the time of his distress — he trespassed yet more against the Lord!" The rod has not separated them from sin — but whipped them into a worse state! Theirmedicine has become their poison. The more the tree has been pruned — the less fruit it has yielded. Plowing has only made the field more barren. That which has often proved so great a blessing to Believers — has been utterly lost upon them. Why should they be smitten any more? They will only revolt more and more.
One very singular instance of the heart's perversity, is the fact that familiarity with death and the grave — often hardens the heart. None become more callous — than grave-diggers and those who carry dead men to their graves.
Men sin openly — when graves are open before them. It is possible to work among the dead, and yet to be as wild as the man possessed of a devil in our Lord's day, who dwelt among the tombs. The Egyptians were accustomed to hold their riotous festivals in the presence of a corpse, not to sober their mirth, as some have said, but to make them the more wanton, gluttonous and drunk because they should so soon die. Coffins and cemeteries should be good sermons — but they seldom are so to those who see them every day. In times when cholera has raged — and in seasons when the pestilence, in the olden times, carried off its thousands — many men have not been at all softened, but have grown callous in the presence of God's grim messenger. Hervey finds holy "meditations among the tombs," but unholy men are as far off from God in a churchyard as in a theater!
Another strange thing I have often noticed — as a proof of sin's power to gather poison from the most healthful flowers, is that some transgress all the more — because they have been placed under the happy restraints of godliness. Though trained to piety and virtue — they rush into the arms of vice as though it were their mother! As gnats fly at a candle as soon as ever they catch sight of it — so do these infatuated ones dash into evil! Young people who are placed in the Providence of God, where no temptations ever assail them — in the midst of holy and quiet homes where the very name of evil scarcely comes — will often fret and worry themselves to get out into what they call, "life," and thrust their souls into the perils of bad company.
The sons and daughters of Adam — long to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their very preservation from temptation grows irksome to them. They loathe the fold — and long for thewolf! They think themselves deprived, because they have not been born in the midst of licentiousness, and tutored in crime. Strange infatuation! And yet many a parent's heart has been broken by this freak of depravity — this reckless lust for evil! The younger son had the best of fathers — and yet he could never be quiet until he had gained his independence and had brought himself to beggary in a far country, by spending his living with harlots.
Observe another case. Men who live in times when zealous and holy Christians abound — are often the worse for it. What effect has the zeal of Christians upon such? It excites them to malice! And all the while the Church is asleep, the world says, "Ah, we do not believe your religion, for you do not act as if you believed it yourselves." But the moment the Church bestirs herself, the world cries, "They are a set of fanatics! Who can put up with their ravings? We could have believed their religion had it been brought to us with respectful sobriety, but accompanied by enthusiasm, it is detestable!" Nothing will please sinners — but their sins! And if their sins could be made into virtues they would fly to their virtues at once, so as to remain in opposition. Contrary to God, man will go — his very nature is enmity against his Creator.
Sin is thus seen to be exceedingly sinful. That plant must possess great vitality, which increases by being uprooted and cut down. That which lives by being killed, is strangely full of force. That must be a very hard substance, which is hardened by lying in the blast furnace, in the central heat of the fire where iron melts and runs like wax. That must be a very terrible power, which gathers strength from that which should restrain it and rushes on the more violently in proportion as it is reined in.
Sin kills men — by that which was ordained to life. It makes Heaven's gifts — the stepping stones to Hell. It uses the lamps of the temple — to show the way to Perdition; and makes the Ark of the Lord, as in Uzzah's case — the messenger of death. Sin is that strange fire which burns the more fiercely for being dampened, finding fuel in the water which was intended to quench it. The Lord brings good out of evil, but sin brings evil out of good! Sin is a deadly evil — you judge how deadly! O that men knew its nature — and abhorred it with all their hearts! May the Eternal Spirit teach men to know this worst of evils aright — that they may flee from it, to Him who alone can deliver.
Now, what is all this about, and what is the drift of this discourse? Well, the drift of it is this. There is in us by nature a propensity to sin which we cannot conquer — and yet conquered it must be, or we can never enter Heaven. Your resolutions to overcome sin are as feeble as though you should try to bind Leviathan with a thread and lead him with a string. As well as hope to bind the tempest, and rein in thestorm — as to govern yourself by your own attempts not to sin! Nor is sin to be overcome by philosophy. It laughs at such a spider's web. Nor can it be prevented. Nor will the soul be cleansed from it by any outward observances. Genuflections, penances, fasting, washing are all in vain!
What, then, must be done? We must be newly created! We are too far gone for mending. We must be made afresh! And for cleansing, there is no water beneath the skies, nor any above them — which can remove our stain. But there is a fountain filled with the blood of God's own Son! He who is washed there shall be made white. And there is an all-creating Holy Spirit who can fashion us anew in Christ Jesus into holiness!
I desire that you all despaired of being saved — except by a miracle of Grace. I desire that you utterly despaired of being saved — except by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit! I desire that each one of you were driven to look away from self — to Him who on the bloody tree bore the wrath of God, for there is life in a look at Him, and whoever looks at Him shall be saved — saved from the power of sin as well as its guilt! That which the bronze serpent took away, was the burning poison in the veins of the men who had been bitten by the serpents. They were diseased with a deadly disease and they looked, and they were healed. It was not filth that was taken from them — it was disease that was healed by their simple look.
And so a look at Christ does not merely take away sin, but it heals the disease of sin — and, mark you — it is the only possible healing for the leprosy of iniquity! Faith in Jesus brings the Holy Spirit with His sacred weapons of invincible warfare into the field of the human heart — and HE overthrows the impregnable strongholds of sin, makes lust a captive, and slays the enmity of the heart. Sin, being made to appear sin, Grace is made to appear Grace — God's Holy Spirit gets the victory and we are saved!
May God grant that this may be the experience of us all. Amen and Amen.
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