Sinlessness

“ 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. ”

“ We are sinners, guilty, polluted, undone, and hell-deserving. God, as viewed in the law, is truly awful. He appears, and every truly awakened soul sees him, and dreads him as a sin-avenging God, who will by no means of man’s devising, clear the guilty. The sinner who is under the hand of the law, feels the intolerable burden of his own sins, views the holiness of God, the extent and spirituality of the commandments, and groans under fearful apprehensions of eternal woe, and who finds he can do nothing but sin in thought, word, and deed, notwithstanding all his vows, watchings, and care ”

“ God says, ‘There is none that doeth good, no not one,’ ‘The soul that sinneth shall surely die.’ What does dat mean? Not, surely, that if you sinner He let you get into heaven. I ask you, captain, whether you are a sinner, or whether you pure and holy, and trust to Christ, and love Christ, and fit to go and live for ever and ever in the pure and holy heaven with Him? Understand, I do not ask whether you are a great sinner in your own sight, but whether you have ever committed any sins; and remember, God says, ‘the soul that sinneth,’ not only the soul that is a great sinner. ”

“ After I had been in this furnace some weeks, in which I felt as others do in similar cases, much grief, anger, rebellion, and discontent, but not quite without a spirit of prayer that I might be favored with the very gracious visits of the Saviour, and a sense of God’s approbation in my own soul, though despised by others, I entreated the Lord to shew me the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as well as I could bear it; for I am convinced no man could ever behold sin in all its malignity—none but the God-Man could bear that—yet I desired to see sin as most abominable in God’s sight. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 a supercilious consciousness that saith “there is no sin,” has awakened to see through sin's disguise the claim of sin, and thence to see that sin has no claim, it yields to sharp conviction — it sits in sackcloth — it waits in the desert — and fasts in the wilderness. But all this time divine Love has been preparing a feast for this awakened consciousness. To-day you have come to Love's feast, and you kneel at its altar. May you have on a wedding garment new and old, and the touch of the hem of this garment heal the sick and the sinner! ”

“ We seek deliverance not from penalty and debt—but deliverance [63] from the life of sin into a life of holy will.
There is still another aspect to sin which must be considered before we can fully appreciate the way of salvation which the Gospel reveals. Sin not only spoils the sinner’s life and drags him into slavery. It separates him from God. It opens a chasm between him and his heavenly Father, or to vary the figure it casts a shadow on God’s face. God seems far away and stern. The sense of warmth and tenderness vanishes. The sinner can see God only through the veil of his sins. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Do you stand before Him with a clear conscience—having kept nothing back—cherished no hidden sin?”
“No one can be without sin in His sight. Do you suppose that I am sinless, or that I have ever believed myself sinless? I know how weak and poor a thing I am—a worm in the sight of Him who rules the universe. ”

“ Sin is the mark and brand of our failure—it is our aberration from the normal type as it is fully revealed in Christ. "Nothing is so unnatural as sin," [56] nothing is so irrational, nothing so abnormal—it is always a break from the unity of the divine Life, a movement towards isolation and self-solitariness, a pursuit of narrowing desires, a missing of the potential beauty and harmony of the Soul. ”

“ How shall the distrust that sin creates, the hardness that sin forms, the despair and helplessness that sin induces, the dreadful indifference which is its expression,—how shall they be removed? How shall the unfaith which the mystery, the suffering, the evil of the world induce be overcome? Being a sinner I do not dare, and being ignorant I do not believe, to come. ”

“ God is commonly called the sinless, and man the sinful; but if the thought of sin could be possible in Deity, would Deity then be sinless? Would God not of necessity take precedence as the Infinite Sinner, and human sin become only an echo of the divine? ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ And everywhere, sitting or walking or standing, let him always be with head inclined, his looks fixed upon the ground; remembering every hour that he is guilty of his sins. Let him think that he is already being presented before the tremendous judgment of God, saying always to himself in his heart what that publican of the gospel, fixing his eyes on the earth, said: "Lord I am not worthy, I a sinner, so much as to lift up mine eyes unto Heaven." ”

“ We are by nature and practice strangers to God, [Pg 81] even the new-born babe having wrapped up within its tiny bosom a sinful heritage and bias. And the soul that sinneth shall die. But sin can be put away, and its dreadful penalty escaped. ”

“ Particularly, let the sin of uncleanness always be looked upon as great wickedness, as an exceeding sinful sin, that wars against the soul as much as any other. Thirdly, Against whom he was tempted to sin, against God; "Not only how shall I do it, and sin against my master, my mistress, myself, my own body and soul; but against God?" Note, Gracious souls look upon this as the worst thing in sin, that it is against God, against his nature and his dominion, against his love and his design. They that love God, for this reason hate sin. ”

“ Your heart, little child, is full of sin. You think of what is not right, and then you wish it, and that is sin.... Ah, what shall sinners do when the last day comes upon them? What will they think when God shall punish them forever? ”

“ Thou knowest the dulness and hardness, the vanity and deceitfulness of them: we were born sinners, and so have we lived. We have added sin to sin. We have abused thy great and manifold mercies, tempted thy patience, and despised thy goodness. And justly mightest thou have cast us into outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth.
But of thy loving kindnesses there is no number. Thou still callest us to return to thee: and whosoever cometh to thee, thou wilt in no wise cast out. O meet us with thy heavenly grace, that we may be able to come to thee. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I know not justly, if it be a weakness or a sin to create these phantoms that we love, and to group them into a paradise—soul-created. But if it is a sin, it is a sweet and enchanting sin; and if it is a weakness, it is a strong and stirring weakness. ”

“ Come, then, sinners, and those who sorrow on account of their sins, to Him who turns no one away who comes in the humility of heart. Why wilt thou stand in thine own light, and thus be lost? Wilt thou longer serve sin, when He appeared to save thee? ”

“ No more will you and I, my friends. If we have sinned, what should we be but ashamed of it? Ay, utterly ashamed. And if we really know what sin is—if we really see the sinfulness of sin—if we really see ourselves as God sees us—we shall be too much shocked at the sight of our own hearts to have time to boast of our being able to see our own hearts. ”

“ Such opinions, although held by religious men, are dishonourable to the Scriptures, and needlessly degrading to the human mind.
4 “There can be no approaches towards regeneration in the antecedent temper of the heart. The moment before the change, the sinner is as far from sanctification, as darkness is from light, as death is from life, as sin is from holiness.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Grace and sin in their true colours. Grace reigning is a reverence of God, and gives honour to him who is infinitely great and high, and to whom all honour is due, than which what is more becoming or should be more pleasing to the rational creature? Sin reigning is no less than a contempt of God. In this, more than in any thing, sin appears exceedingly sinful, that it despises God, whom angels adore. Those that despise God's precepts, and will not be ruled by them, his promises, and will not accept of them, despise God himself and all his attributes. ”

“ That our lives have been no better than our hearts, but many ways ungodly and unholy; insomuch that our actual sins, both in word and deed, have been as the stars of heaven for multitude: that on all these accounts, we are displeasing to him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and deserve nothing from him, but indignation and wrath and death, the due wages of sin? ”

“ We must not continue our sinful practices, in hopes that the divine grace will one day over-power us.
9. If the heinous nature of sin cannot affect us, at least we may be frighted by its dreadful consequences. That selfish principle which pusheth us forward to sinful pleasures, may make us loath to buy them at the rate of everlasting misery. Let us therefore accustom ourselves to consider seriously what a fearful thing it must be to offend that infinite Being, on whom we depend every moment; who needs but withdraw his mercies to make us miserable, or his assistance to make us nothing. ”

“ Thus it is that sinners see sin only where it is not—and shut their eyes to it when it comes upon them open-armed, bare-bosomed, and brazen-faced, and clutches them in a grasp more like the hug of a bear than the embrace of a woman. ”

“ In every mortal sin, then, there are these two enormous evils - to wit, the turning away from God, Who is infinitely good, and the very fountain of goodness and life, and the embracing in His stead the monster sin, by the allurements of some deceitful appearance of an imaginary happiness, justly compared to a broken cistern that can hold no water, but only filth and mud. ”

“ He is not only a witness after the deed, but of the deed. Therefore there is no place secret enough to be a place of sin. The thought of the ever-present God should deter the sinner. 1. Because the Divine presence is a pure presence. People who are in the habit of committing the sin against which the whole of this chapter is directed, would possibly shrink from being guilty of it in the presence of a pure man or woman. How much more should they be deterred by the fact that the eye of the pure and holy God is upon them. ”

“ 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. ”