Sinfulness

“ Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance” = man's inner sinfulness is hidden from himself, until it is contrasted with the holiness of God. Light = a luminary or sun, which shines down into the depths of the heart and brings out its hidden evil into painful relief. See Julius Müller, Doctrine of Sin, 2:248-259; Edwards, Works, 2:326; John Caird, Reasons for Men's Unconsciousness of their Sins, in Sermons, 33.
II. Every member of the human race, without exception, possesses a corrupted nature, which is a source of actual sin, and is itself sin. ”

“ Note, Converted sinners ought frequently to reflect upon the sinfulness and misery of the state they were in by nature. ”

“ Thou art on the brink of heaven! Another step, and thou enterest into the kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy! Art thou all sin? “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!’ — all unholy? See thy “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous!” — Art thou unable to atone for the least of thy sins? “He is the propitiation for” all thy “sins.” Now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and all thy sins are blotted out! — Art thou totally unclean in soul and body? Here is the “fountain for sin and uncleanness!” “Arise, and wash away thy sins!” ”

“ What am I, with all these years of sin that have passed over my head, all this growth of sin in me, every day with its own burden of sin, and requiring its own act of repentance! And yet. Lord, I am to teach these little ones. Humble me while I am teaching them; help me to fill their souls with true godly knowledge, not with the letter, but with the spirit, with love of Thee and of Thy blessed Gospel. Preserve their innocency; keep them from the evil world, that they may be Thine, even from their youth up, and grow in grace unto their lives' end. ”

“ Sin will hinder from glorying in the cross of Christ. And omitting little things against light may breed hell in the conscience, as well as committing the greatest sins. If thou hast been taken out of the belly of hell into Christ’s bosom, and made sit among princes in the houshold of God, Oh, how shouldest thou live as a pattern of mercy!—Redeemed, restored soul, what infinite sums dost thou owe Christ! With what zeal shouldst thou walk, and do every duty! Sabbaths, what praising days should they be to thee!—Church fellowship! What a heaven, a being with Christ, and angels, and saints! ”

“ What a monster of ingratitude, then, is sin in a Christian!
Q. 15. How does the malice of sin appear from its effects on our souls in this life?
A. The effects which sin produces in our souls are many, and miserable indeed, showing to a demonstration the horrid malignancy of that fatal poison which causes them. To understand them properly, we must consider, (i.) That a soul in the state of grace is beautiful, like an angel, and a delightful object in the eyes of God and of His saints. ”

“ In sin was I conceived and born, in sin have I lived, in sin do I yet live, so long as I carry with me this sinful flesh and blood, and my sins are continually before Thee. Thou seest in me a thousand times more, yea, and a thousand times greater sin than I myself am able to see, know and feel. O Lord, enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified. Have mercy upon me for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, my Lord and Saviour, and through Thy great mercy, which is greater than the sins of all men, [063] blot out my transgressions. ”

“ Do not flatter yourselves with the vain hope that your sin is not so heinous as theirs. If it be less in degree, is it not infinitely greater in its aggravating circumstances? Were these poor Canaanites Christians? Had they Bibles and ministers? Had they sermons and sacraments? Did they ever vow, as you have done, to renounce the devil and all sinful lusts of the flesh? Did they ever hear of the Son of God sweating great drops of blood, in an agony of prayer, to quench the fire of human corruption? Oh, acknowledge your guilt and danger, and by deep repentance prevent infallible destruction! ”

“ God is incensed, hell prepared, justice threatened, only mercy must prevent, or the soul is damned. O miserable news, the soul committed sin. But to give you some reasons why there must be this piercing wounding of souls for sin.
1 Reason. Because sin is the greatest evil of the soul, and the greatest burden also that is most grievous which is most heavy. Now, as there is no evil so properly and directly evil to the soul as the evil of sin is, so there is nothing that can properly do the soul good but God. Now, while a sinner cannot see his sin, he cannot sorrow for his sin. ”

“ When the gospel trumpet sounds, When I think how grace abounds, When I feel sweet peace within, Then I’d rather die than sin. When the cross I view by faith, Sin is madness, poison, death; Tempt me not, ’tis all in vain, Sure I ne’er can yield again. Satan, for awhile debarred, When he finds me off my guard, Puts his glass before my eyes, Quickly other thoughts arise. What before excited fears, Rather pleasing now appears; If a sin, it seems so small, Or, perhaps, no sin at all. ”

“ Would I resign what the sin has brought me,
⁠Which I hold glory, and thou—thy shame.
I talk of sin in the usual fashion,
⁠But God knows what is a sin to me—
We love more fiercely or love more faintly—
⁠But I doubt if it matters how these things be. ”

“ Learn ye from the Book of God, that so far from this being the truth, your sins are a grief to him, a burden and a load to him, till, like a cart that is overloaded with sheaves, so is he weighed down with human guilt.
This will be very clear if we meditate for a moment upon what sin is, and what sin does. Sin is the great spoiler of all God's works. Sin turned an archangel into an archfiend, and angels of light into spirits of evil. Sin looked on Eden and withered all its flowers. Ere sin had come the Creator said of the new-made earth, "It is very good" ”

“ Note, All the sins of sinners are known to God the Judge: those that are most conversant in the world, though they see much wickedness in it, yet they see but little of that which is; but God sees all, and judges aright concerning it, how great it is, nor can he be deceived in his judgment.
2. He observed the fountain of sin that was in men's hearts: any one might see that the wickedness of man was great, for they declared their sin as Sodom; but God's eye went further; he saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ”

“ O heavenly Father, hide Thy face from my sins and behold the face of Thy Son, who in himself never did commit sin, nor ever knew of sin, but through His most holy obedience, blood and death hath made satisfaction for all my sins and the sins of the whole world. Receive me, O Father, for the sake of this Saviour again into grace, and do not permit his bitter sufferings and death and his perfect precious ransom, which he has paid Thee for my sins to be lost by me, poor sinner, but that it may strengthen me. ”

“ To cause suffering, as the result of sin, is the means of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent in pain, until belief in material life and intelligence is destroyed. To reach Heaven, the harmony of Being, we must understand the divine Principle of Being.
“God is Love.” More than this we cannot ask; higher we cannot look; farther we cannot go. To Mercy. suppose that God forgives or punishes sin, accordingly as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love, and make prayer the safety-valve for wrong-doing. ”

“ Sin is filthiness, and there are defilements of body and mind. There are sins of the flesh, that are committed with the body, and sins of the spirit, spiritual wickednesses; and we must cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of both, for God is to be glorified both with body and soul. 2. The living unto righteousness and holiness. If we hope God is our Father, we must endeavour to be partakers of his holiness, to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. ”

“ I am deeply sorry for all my sins, for those I committed to-day, and for those of my whole life, because thereby I offended Thy supreme and most loving goodness. Pardon me for the sake of Jesus, Thy Son, who shed His most precious blood on the cross for our sins. With the help of Thy grace, I firmly resolve to amend my life, and rather to die than again offend Thee by a mortal sin. ”

“ What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack? ”

“ If such meditation convinces thee that thou hast torn thyself from God through conscious sin, that stubbornness, laziness, disobedience, lying, impudence and other such misdemeanors have been allowed to rule thee, do not neglect renewing thy covenant.
4. Admit thy sinful acts and inborn deep-seated corruption most heartily before thy Creator; turn with a contrite heart to Jesus Christ thine only mercy seat, seek through faith forgiveness of sin in his blood, and make a new resolve to sin no more, but to serve Jesus Christ and be ruled by His spirit. ”

“ But if you could enumerate each sinful thought, word, and action committed during the past year and during your past life, there is something in you worse than sins, and that is sin itself, the evil heart, the wrong mind, out of which sins proceed; for the corrupt tree is worse than any definite quantity of fruit which it has produced; the ever-flowing bitter fountain is worse than any definite quantity of water which has come from it. But whatever you have been or done in time past, what do you intend to be and to do now? Is it your intention to continue in sin? ”

“ But what is the truth most appropriate for producing the conviction of sin in the human breast? "Preach the Ten Commandments in all their stern and uncompromising 'shalts' and 'shalt-nots,'" cries one. "Read out the descriptions given in Scripture of the evil things that lurk in the heart of man as filthy things in darksome caves," says another. "Show men the results of sin, take them to the edge of the bottomless pit," insists a third. But not one of these is the chosen weapon of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ When we are greatly grieved in soul for sin, so that it even cuts us to the heart to think how we have dishonoured God and disparaged ourselves by it, when we conceive an aversion to sin, and earnestly desire and endeavor to get clear of the principles of it and never to return to the practice of it, then we rend our hearts for it, and then will God rend the heavens and come down to us with mercy. ”

“ Especially, to think that you hope yourselves to live for ever like those holy spirits; and therefore sin doth ill beseem you.
Direct. VIII. Look but to the state and torment of the damned, and think well of the difference betwixt angels and devils, and you may know what sin is.—Angels are pure; devils are polluted: holiness and sin do make the difference. Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven. Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself; as every holy motion is from Christ, to make you like himself. ”

“ As we are depraved and unholy, more disposed to love sin than to hate it, the Bible tells us that the dispositions and propensities of our mind must be changed by a supernatural power; and when this change takes place, we become new creatures—old things pass away, and all things become new. And as we are guilty sinners, we must repent of our sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. ”

“ Subtlety in the contrivance of sin, wisdom to do evil, a heart that designs and a head that devises wicked imaginations, that is acquainted with the depths of Satan and knows how to carry on a covetous, envious, revengeful plot, most effectually. The more there is of craft and management in sin the more it is an abomination to God. 5. Vigour and diligence in the prosecution of sin— feet that are swift in running to mischief, as if they were afraid of losing time or were impatient of delay in a thing they are so greedy of. ”

“ We commit sin, from mere hatred of sin! We serve the devil, out of pure zeal of God! It is merely in order to punish the wicked, that we run into this wickedness. So do “the passions (as one speaks) all justify themselves,” and palm sin upon us, under the veil of holiness.
5. But is there no way to avoid the snare? Unquestionably there is. Our blessed Lord has marked out a plain way for his followers, in the words above recited. None who warily and steadily walks in this path, will ever fall into evil-speaking. ”

“ With this conviction of the sin remaining in our hearts, there is joined a clear conviction of the sin remaining in our lives, still cleaving to all our words and actions. In the best of these we now discern a mixture of evil, either in the spirit, the matter or the manner of them: something that could not endure the righteous judgment of God, were he extreme to mark what is done amiss. ”

“ Oh, dear friends, if—not as a theological term, but as a clinging, personal fact—we realise what sin against God is, what must necessarily come from it, what aggravations His gentleness, His graciousness, His constant beneficence cause, how facilely we do the evil thing and then wipe our lips and say, 'We have done no harm,' we should be more familiar than we are with the depths of this experience of mourning for sin. ”

“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts.—The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.—If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' The threatenings against the unpardonable sin itself do not affect the truth of these merciful declarations: for that sin is all along described as excluding repentance, as well as forgiveness. The party is supposed to be given up to hardness of heart. ”