The consequences of sin in Christian preaching highlight the inevitable destruction and alienation that follow disobedience to God’s law. Sin leads to ruin not only spiritually but also in practical life, as selfishness, greed, and wrong choices bring harm and loss (Galatians 6:7-8; Romans 6:23). Illustrations often use images of ruin, reaping a whirlwind, and the collapse of prosperity to convey these truths.
Hezekiah exposed idolatry by naming sin correctly, warning against justifying sin with euphemisms.
The footnote in the New International Version at 2 Kings 18:4 is most interesting. When Hezekiah found the children of Israel worshiping the brazen serpent made by Moses in the wilderness, he destroyed it. Hezekiah called the serpent "Nehushtan." The footnote explains the meaning of the word as "a serpent made of brass."
We wonder how such an idol could have existed for so long. It would seem that it would have been destroyed in one of the reformation movements of one of the judges or kings. In my opinion, it lasted so long because it apparently was not recognized as an idol. Perhaps the children of Israel justified the worship by not calling it an idol. Hezekiah, however, came and called it what it really was-a brass image of a snake.
How often we justify sin by either ignoring it or calling it a different name! Some call adultery "a meaningful relationship." We excuse covetousness by calling it "prudence" or "economy." A life of sensual pleasure is "living with gusto."
In answer to a critic, Abraham Lincoln asked, "How many legs does a cow have?" "Four," was the reply. "If you call her tail a leg, how many does she have?" "Five," was the answer. "No," Lincoln said, "just calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg."
Have we made a similar mistake? Do we think that sin is not sin just because we do not call it by the right name?
Sin leads people to death, symbolized by a graveyard key found in taverns of sin.
There is said to be a church which is very attractive to tourists. The graveyard of the church is always kept locked, but on a gate is the following notice, "The key to the graveyard is to be found in the tavern."
A great army of men and women daily find in the taverns or lounges the key that opens the way for them into the graveyard.
Greed leads to exhausting pursuit of gain that results only in death and a grave.
Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, had a deep insight into human nature. In one of his books he speaks of a Russian peasant who was told that he could have all the land he could measure by walking in one day, from sunrise to sunset. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must be back at his starting point. The man envisioned great holdings. Early in the morning he began walking; but as he realized that every foot of land on which he stepped belonged to him, he began to run at a feverish pace. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must have returned to his starting point. His greed was so great, however, that more than half his time had elapsed before he turned back. He had to run at top speed to beat the setting sun. It was a real struggle. If he were not at the appointed place, he would lose all. He finally made it. But even as his foot touched the starting point, he fell dead from exhaustion. All that he gained in the end was sufficient land for his dead body-six feet of earth. That was his final inheritance.
Excessive desire for success and riches can lead to destruction and loss.
A philosopher said: "I was walking in a garden when I saw a tree whose branches were so loaded with fruit that they bowed down to the earth. Some of them broke under the heavy weight. 'Poor tree!' I thought. 'Here's one who was destroyed by the overabundance of his success.' " He continued his walk and saw a shepherd at whose feet lay a dead sheep. A wild dog had killed it. All the other sheep had run into the fold and were safe. They had managed to get through a hole in the fence. But the sheep that was killed couldn't get through because it was too fat, and the dog jumped on it. And the philosopher thought, "Another life destroyed by an overabundance of blessings." The philosopher went on until he met a man hobbling along on two wooden legs with the aid of two canes. "Tell me, sir, how did you lose your legs?" asked the philosopher. "I'll tell you. In my youth I served in the army. Some of my fellow soldiers and I attacked the enemy and put them to flight. Then we began helping ourselves to the loot. My comrades just grabbed a few things and left quickly. But I wanted to take as much as I could carry. Meanwhile the enemy overtook us. My friends escaped, but I was so heavily loaded down I couldn't run fast, and I was wounded. I escaped with my life, but I lost my legs." "Indeed," said the philosopher, "success, riches and greed can all equally destroy."
Choosing pleasure over wisdom leads to destructive consequences and alienation from God.
You may have read about the war of Troy, but do you know how it was supposed to have started? It was the judgment and choice of Paris that were responsible for it. Beautiful Thetis was getting married to Pileas, the King of the Myrmidons. During their wedding ceremony, says the legend, the golden apple of dispute was given to the most beautiful woman. There were three that sought the prize: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. According to the command of Zeus, Paris, the shepherd of Troy, had to choose which of these three was the most beautiful. Hera represented power, Athena wisdom, and Aphrodite pleasure. Paris chose Aphrodite, the goddess of pleasure, and because of this the war of Troy was declared with all its resultant suffering and unhappiness. Because Paris chose pleasure, he brought destruction upon himself and others. This is what many of us choose also, and we suffer alienation from God.
Better to suffer hell without sin than to enter heaven with sin.
These are the words of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died at the beginning of the twelfth century: "If I should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pain of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one, I would rather be thrust into hell without sin than go into heaven with sin."
Ignoring wise warnings leads to ruin and destruction.
Many years ago a man named Simpson built a house on the Canford Cliffs, near Bournemouth, England. Friends and neighbors tried to warn him he had chosen a site too near the edge of the cliff, that landslides frequently occurred along the coast, and the very weight of the house would precipitate such a catastrophe. But Mr. Simpson wouldn't listen. He built a very beautiful house there and for a time all went well. Then the inevitable happened, and the ominous warnings all came true. All that remains of his house is a heap of ruins on the beach known as "Simpson's Folly."
Selfishness harms both others and oneself, causing ruin.
A farmer inherited a rice field. The first year, the water covered his land so well that he had an abundant harvest. In fact, it even overflowed into his neighbor's field, making it fertile also. But he began to fret because his neighbor's field became as productive as his own. He decided that the water was part of his inheritance and belonged exclusively to him, so he cut it off from his neighbor's field the next year. The result? His own field was flooded and his crop ruined.
Like lambs, believers should avoid sin despite its tempting appearance.
Children sometimes do not listen. They hear what they want to hear. We, as their parents, often strive to work in their lives and give them guidelines to follow for their own good and because we love them. We know and understand this, but many times our children do not. They become angry and resentful towards us because they believe we are robbing them of fully experiencing life, and we are taking away their opportunities for fun and happiness. We sometimes want to beat our heads against a wall in frustration.
I wonder if God feels that way also in regards to us, His children? Listen to this story:
There was once a lamb and its mother. It seems the lamb passed a pig pen each morning on the way to pasture with its mother. Watching the pigs wallow in the mud seemed like fun to the lamb, and on an especially hot day the lamb asked his mother if he could jump the fence and wallow in the cool mud. She replied, "No." Then the lamb asked the question, "Why?" The mother just said, "SHEEP DO NOT WALLOW."
This did not satisfy the lamb. He felt she had "put him down and exercised force she should not have," etc. So, as soon as the mother was out of sight, the lamb ran to the pig pen and jumped the fence. He was soon feeling the cool mud on his feet, his legs, and soon his stomach. After a few moments he decided he had better go back to his mother, but he could not. He was stuck! Mud and wool do not mix. His pleasure had become his prison. He cried out and was rescued by the kindly farmer. When cleaned and returned to the fold, the mother said, "Remember, sheep do not wallow."
Rejecting God leads to widespread dishonesty and societal collapse due to lost trust.
A news documentary on TV claimed that 91 percent of the United States' students in colleges, universities and graduate schools cheat on exams and tests in order to graduate.
This is what happens when God is rejected and atheism is accepted. Atheism will bring down our civilization. Civilization is based on mutual trust.
Cheating is lying. It is stealing that which is not yours. What confidence do you have in your doctors when you realize that nine out of ten are not really qualified because they stole information they did not know in order to graduate? How honest do you expect the billing to be when nine out of ten of them lied to get through college? If he cheated the college, how do you know he will not cheat you? How does society survive when you lose trust in 91 percent of college graduates?
The same is true of lawyers, politicians, and store keepers. Stores will post one price at the shelf and charge a higher price at the cash register. Customers seldom catch it because the little bars flash across the computer too fast. When it is caught, there is a quick apology, the figure is changed and it is blamed on "computer error." But the "computer error" is not corrected.
We remember when a man was as good as his word. A handshake over a deal was as dependable as a legal document. A man would rather die than lie or cheat. Neighbors who did not go to church, prided themselves in their own integrity. Christian standards formed the basis of society even among those who did not profess to be Christians.
Sin leaves deep scars that distort and destroy what was once pure and good.
When Leonardo da Vinci was a young artist during the Renaissance in Italy, he is reported to have painted a beautiful portrait of a young child who appeared in the picture as an angel. The artist was so pleased with the work that he kept it in his studio where he could gaze upon it. Often, it is said, looking at that picture would comfort his soul in sorrow or tranquilize his heart in anger.
Much later in life, after many years had passed, he was doing another picture. For this canvas he needed the portrait of a man whose countenance would personify evil. Long and diligently he searched for a model and at last found one. The features had been so scarred by sin that the portrait was the exact opposite of that of the child.
Then an amazing thing happened. The model told the artist that he had been the child whose picture still hung in the studio. This crime-hardened man with dissipation written across his countenance had been the angelic-appearing child who had personified all that was good. The Invasion of Evil
Over wide areas of the United States, carpenter bees begin swarming around the roofs and eaves of houses when spring arrives looking for edible wood in which to nest. The bees make a small hole in the wood and lay their eggs. Though the initial hole is small, over time more and more of the inner wood is eaten away. Even though the surface of the wood looks good, enough carpenter bees can eat away the strength of the supporting timbers of a home and eventually destroy it. The home owner must guard against such attacks.
Similarly, the Christian must guard against the attacks of sin which bore within, seeking a foothold in one's life. Just as the carpenter bees multiply and feed on the wood, sin multiplies and feeds on the soul. It is better to keep the sin out in the first place than to root it out after it invades. The Cost of Compromise
Winter was coming on and a hunter went out into the forest to shoot a bear out of which he planned to make a warm coat.
By and by he saw a big bear coming toward him and raised his gun and took aim.
"Wait," said the bear, "why do you want to shoot me?"
"Because I am cold," said the hunter, "and I need a coat."
"But I am hungry," the bear replied, "so maybe if we just talk this over a little, we could come to a compromise."
So the hunter sat down beside the bear and began to talk over the pros and cons. In the end, the hunter was well enveloped with the bear's fur, and the bear had eaten his dinner.
We always lose out when we try to compromise with sin. It will consume us in the end.
Sin promises much but always delivers less, costing more than it seems worth.
A fellow decided to rob a convenience store clerk. The robber had a neat plan to give the clerk a $10 bill, get her to open her cash drawer to make change, and then grab all the money. The plan worked! He got everything in her cash drawer-total $4.34-and left the clerk with his $10. He went in the hole to the tune of $5.66!
The undeniable truth is that sin never gives what it promises. It always returns less than the sinner invests in self-esteem, integrity, and spiritual security. Want proof?
Adam and Eve were promised freedom, wisdom and life by Satan, only to be led to commit spiritual suicide.
Sensuous Samson fell in love with a woman who did not love God, and he paid with his eyesight, freedom and life.
Ananias and Sapphira were going to get credit for being generous and wound up being buried for being liars.
In each of these cases, sin promised something it could never deliver. The same thing is still happening in our world today.
Adolescents are led to see God, their parents, and their teachers as enemies and wind up in rebellion's deep pit.
People date and marry without taking into account that the spiritual element is the critical part of a relationship.
Some church members hide behind masks and fool themselves and their friends, but not God.
Sin costs too much. You have to sell your soul to have whatever pretty trinkets it offers you for the moment. Then you have to face a time of bitter reckoning. You have to "pay the piper." Yet whatever had been promised to you as a reward has already gone up in a puff of smoke or has slipped through your fingers. And Judgment Day is coming! The basic lure of sin is the promise of quick gain, without regard to long-term consequences.
Truth and holiness work differently. With total honesty about the difficult demands at hand, the God who cannot lie promises to reward you down the line. Obedience, purity, integrity, repentance, denial-these are hard words and demanding deeds. But what lies at the end is invaluable!
Sin never delivers. Christ never fails. So don't get robbed while trying to pull a fast one on God.
Underestimating sin's power leads to defeat and destruction.
Sin is nothing to play with. It has the strength to defeat you if you get too close to it with excessive confidence in your own strength. A well-to-do man advertised for a chauffeur. Three applicants came. His first question was, "How close to the edge of a cliff can you drive without going over?" One man said, "A yard." Another said, "A foot." The third said, "I always try to keep as far away as possible." The third man got the job. He who underestimates the strength of an enemy is in danger of defeat.
Words, once spoken, cannot be taken back and cause lasting harm.
There was a peasant with a troubled conscience who went to a monk for advice. He said that he had circulated a vile story about a friend, only to find out the story was not true. "If you want to make peace with your conscience," said the monk, "you must fill a bag with chicken feathers, go to every dooryard in the village, and drop at each of them one fluffy feather." The peasant did as he was told. Then he returned to the monk and announced he had done penance for his folly. "Not yet," replied the monk, "Take your bag, make the rounds again and gather up every feather that you have dropped." "But the wind must have blown them all away," said the peasant. Words are easily dropped, but no matter how hard you try, you can never get them back again.
Pursuing wealth and neglecting faith leads to loss, broken relationships, and spiritual ruin.
Several years ago a farmer increased his farm holding from 300 acres to 9,000 acres. Everyone was proud of him and glad to see him prosper. He had a lovely family-two boys and a girl, and one of the sweetest wives in the world. He was a leader in the church and the family was very faithful. Needless to say, he became very wealthy. Life was good. As the responsibilities of the farm increased, his involvement with the church decreased. Over time the entire family became so involved with the farm and the wealth that they all became unfaithful and placed the church on low priority in their lives. The father died and the children fought over the land, lost it, and spent all the inheritance. Today, they have very little to do with each other and have gone through several difficult personal problems. Their mother died in poverty and loneliness.
What good does it to do gain the whole world and yet lose your soul and those of your loved ones? What can the world give in place of the soul? The Christian's Riches
In CHRIST we have-
A LOVE that can never be fathomed;
A LIFE that can never die;
A RIGHTEOUSNESS that can never be tarnished;
A PEACE that can never be understood;
A REST that can never be disturbed;
A JOY that can never be diminished;
A HOPE that can never be disappointed;
A GLORY that can never be clouded;
A HAPPINESS that can never be interrupted;
A LIGHT that can never be darkened;
A STRENGTH that can never be enfeebled;
A BEAUTY that can never be marred;
A PURITY that can never be defiled;
A WISDOM that can never be baffled;
RESOURCES that can never be exhausted.
Like a hen trapped by a lizard, alcohol ensnares and destroys those who indulge it.
“Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Proverbs 23:31-32
Sometime ago, a friend of mine, an evangelist, and his wife, living in Southern California, were watching a flock of chickens at feeding time, when they noticed one hen that seemed to be attempting to swallow a large lizard. She was fluttering wildly about and a lot of the other hens were cackling loudly as they gathered about her. Going over to see what was taking place, they found that while the hen had evidently pecked at the lizard, the slimy, twisting creature had turned about and had the hen by the throat and would have choked her to death had not my friends intervened.
How like that lizard is the alcoholic cup! One begins to toy with cocktails, or other spiritous liquors, only to find that at the last the drink habit becomes so strong it masters the one who thought he could drink or let it alone as he pleased. Can any folly be greater than that of deliberately starting something which one knows he may have no power to stop, and yet he is fully aware that the matter in question may mean his moral, physical, and spiritual ruin?
Yet how many there are who think it an evidence of weakness to refuse to touch alcoholic beverages, and consider it a mark of good fellowship and even manliness to drink with the crowd and so win the approval of careless worldlings, who have no fear of God or of consequences in their hearts. These glory in leading others to follow their evil example and are never better pleased than when they can point to some poor, foolish youth who has begun to tread the downward path at their behest. Recognizing the fact that nothing that is physically harmful can ever be morally right, consecrated, Christian young manhood and young womanhood must stand firmly against all such wickedness.
Removing God and His Word from a nation leads to societal chaos and bloodshed.
A good many years ago there was a convention held in France, and those who held it wanted to get the country to deny God, to burn the Bible, wanted to say that men passed away like a dog and a dumb animal. What was the result! Not long since, that country was filled with blood. Did you ever think what would take place if we could vote the Bible and the ministers of the gospel and God out from among the people? My friends, the country would be deluged with blood. Your life and mine would not be safe in this City to-night. We could not walk through these streets with safety. We don't know how much we owe God and the influence of His gospel among even ungodly men.
Sin leads to devastating personal and family consequences, including loss and death.
There was a man whom I knew who was an inveterate drinker. He had a wife and children. He thought he could stop whenever he felt inclined, but he went the ways of most moderate drinkers. I had not been gone more than three years, and when I returned I found that that mother had gone down to her grave with a broken heart, and that man was the murderer of the wife of his bosom. Those children have all been taken away from him, and he is now walking up and down those streets homeless. But four years ago he had a beautiful and a happy home with his wife and children around him. They are gone; probably he will never see them again. Perhaps he has come in here to-night. If he has, I ask him: Is not the way of the transgressor hard?
Sowing sin brings inevitable retribution, even affecting one's own family tragically.
Look at that rum-seller. When we talk to him he laughs at us. He tells you there is no hell, no future--there is no retribution. I've got one man in my mind now who ruined nearly all the sons in his neighborhood. Mothers and fathers went to him and begged him not to sell their children liquor. He told them it was his business to sell liquor, and he was going to sell liquor to everyone who came. The saloon was a blot upon the place as dark as hell. But the man had a father's heart. He had a son. He didn't worship God, but he worshiped that boy. He didn't remember that whatsoever a man soweth so shall he reap. My friends, they generally reap what they sow. It may not come soon, but the retribution will come. If you ruin other men's sons some other man will ruin yours. Bear in mind God is a God of equity; God is a God of justice. He is not going to allow you to ruin men and then escape yourself. If we go against his laws we suffer. Time rolled on and that young man became a slave to drink, and his life became such a burden to him that he put a revolver to his head and blew his brains out. The father lived a few years, but his life was as bitter as gall, and then went down to his grave in sorrow. Ah, my friends, it is hard to kick against the pricks.
Sowing sin leads to a harvest of evil and destruction in life.
I was at the Paris Exhibition in 1867, and I noticed there a little oil painting, only about a foot square, and the face was the most hideous I have ever seen. On the paper attached to the painting were the words "Sowing the tares," and the face looked more like a demon's than a man's. As he sowed these tares, up came serpents and reptiles, and they were crawling up his body, and all around were woods with wolves and animals prowling in them. I have seen that picture many times since. Ah! the reaping time is coming. If you sow to the flesh you must reap the flesh.
A young man’s sin leads to prison and his family’s disappearance upon his return.
I remember in the north of England a prominent citizen told a sad case that happened there in the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne. It was about a young boy. He was very young. He was an only child. The father and mother thought everything of him and did all they could for him. But he fell into bad ways. He took up with evil characters, and finally got to running with thieves. He didn't let his parents know about it. By and by the gang he was with broke into the house, and he with them. Yes, he had to do it all. They stopped outside of the building, while he crept in and started to rob the till. He was caught in the act, taken into court, tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He worked on and on in the convict's cell, till at last his term was out. And at once he started for home. And when he came back to the town he started down the street where his father and mother used to live. He went to the house and rapped. A stranger came to the door and stared him in the face. "No, there's no such person lives here, and where your parents are I don't know," was the only welcome he received. Then he turned through the gate, and went down the street, asking even the children that he met about his folks, where they were living, and if they were well. But everybody looked blank. Ten years rolled by and though that seemed perhaps a short time, how many changes had taken place! There where he was born and brought up he was now an alien, and unknown even in the old haunts. But at last he found a couple of townsmen that remembered his father and mother, but they told him the old house had been deserted long years ago, that he had been gone but a few months before his father was confined to his house; and very soon after died broken-hearted, and that his mother had gone out of her mind. He went to the mad-house where his mother was, and went up to her and said, "Mother, mother, don't you know me? I am your son." But she raved and slapped him on the face and shrieked, "You're not my son," and then raved again and tore her hair. He left the asylum more dead than alive, so completely broken-hearted that he died in a few months. Yes the fruit was long growing, but at the last it ripened to the harvest like a whirlwind.
Small sins are still rebellion against God and must be taken seriously.
" There is as much felony in coining pence, as shillings and pounds." The principle is the same, whatever the value of the coin may be: the prerogative of the Crown is trenched upon by the counterfeiter, even if he only imitates and utters the smallest coin of the realm. He has set the royal sign to his base metal, and the small money-value of his coinage is no excuse for his offence. Any one sin wilfully indulged and persevered in is quite sufficient to prove a man to be a traitor to his God. Though he may neither commit murder nor adultery—which would be like counterfeiting the larger coins, he may be as surely a felon in the sight of heaven if he deliberately utters falsehood, or indulges pride—which some think as lightly of as if they were but the counterfeits of pence. The spirit of rebellion is the same whatever be the manner of displaying it. A giant may look out through a very small window, and so may great obstinacy of rebellion manifest itself in a little act of wilfulness. How careful should this consideration make us! How earnestly should we watch against what are thought to be minor offences. The egg of mischief is smaller than that of a midge; a world of evil lurks in a drop of rebellion. Lord, keep us from pence transgressions and then we shall not commit the pound offences.
Past sins can cause lasting trouble, so avoid sinning early in life.
"Old bruises may trouble us long after, upon every change of weather, and new afflictions revive the sense of old sins." We know one who broke his arm in his youth, and though it was well set, and soundly healed, yet before a rough season the bones cry out bitterly; and even so, though early vice may be forsaken, and heartily repented of, and the mind may be savingly renewed, yet the old habits will be a lifelong trouble and injury. The sins of our youth will give us many a twist fifty years after they have been forgiven. How happy, then, are those who are preserved from the ways of ungodliness, and brought to Jesus in the days of their youth, for they thus escape a thousand regrets. It is well to have a broken bone skilfully set, but far better never to have had it broken. The fall of Adam has battered and bruised us all most sadly; it is a superfluity of naughtiness that we should incur further damage by our own personal falls. The aches and pains of age are more than sufficient when every limb is sound, and recklessly to add the anguish of fractures and dislocations would be folly indeed. Young man, do not run up bills which your riper years will find it hard to pay; do not eat to-day forbidden morsels, which may breed you sorrow long after their sweetness has been forgotten.
Small sins harden the heart, leading to greater sins and loss of conscience sensitivity.
"Take heed of giving way to sin. The heart that was easily troubled before, when once it is inured to sin, loseth all its sensi liveness and tenderness, and what seemed intolerable at first grows into a delight. Alipius, St. Austin's friend, first abhorred the bloody spectacles of the gladiators, but gave himself leave, through the importunity of friends, to be present for once. He would not so much as open his eyes at first; but at length, when the people shouted, he gave himself liberty to see, and then not only beheld the spectacles with delight, but drew others to behold what himself once loathed." The story has had its counterpart in thousands of instances. Men who shuddered at the sight of a dead bird have, by familiarity with cruelty, come to commit murder without compunction. Those who sipped half-a-glass of wine have come to drink by the gallon. Staunch Protestants have given way to some little form and ceremony, and become more Popish than the Romanists themselves. There is no safety if we venture an inch over the boundary line; indeed, little allowances are more dangerous than greater compliances, since conscience does not receive a wound, and yet the man is undone, and falls by little and little. Come, my soul, leave sin altogether. Do not give Sodom so much as a look, nor take from it so much as a thread. Do not set a foot within her doors, for God abhors the abode of sin, and would have his people refrain their foot from it.
Trying to drown spiritual sorrow in worldly pleasures only postpones reckoning and worsens debt.
"He is a mountebank who strives to make men forget their spiritual sorrows instead of leading them to the true cure. This is like a man in debt who drinks to drown his thoughts, but this neither pays the debt nor postpones the reckoning." When conscience is uneasy, it is foolish as well as wicked to attempt to smother its cries with worldly merriment. Nay, let us hear it
Small sins can be as deadly as great ones; little faults can ruin the soul.
"Not only do great sins ruin the soul, but lesser faults will do the same. Dallying with temptation leads to sad consequences. Caesar was killed with bodkins." A dagger aimed at the heart will give as deadly a wound as a huge two-handed sword, and a little sin unrepented of will be as fatal as a gross transgression. Brutus and Cassius and the rest of the conspirators could not have more surely ended Caesar's life with spears than they did with daggers. Death can hide in a drop, and ride in a breath of air. Our greatest dangers lie hidden in little things. Milton represents thousands of evil spirits as crowded into one hall; and truly the least sin may be a very Pandemonium, in which a host of evils may be concealed,—a populous hive of mischiefs, each one storing death. Believer, though thou be a little Caesar in thine own sphere, beware of the bodkins of thine enemies. Watch and pray, lest thou fall by little and little. Lord, save me from sins which call themselves little.
Sin spreads easily among people, but holiness does not transmit as readily.
"We easily catch an infectious disease from one another, but no man receiveth health from another's company." Too true. Evil communications inevitably corrupt good manners; but good communications do not so necessarily improve evil manners. We more readily learn evil than good, and we are also more forcible in communicating sin than virtue. Both as to the giving out and the receiving, the aptness lies on the wrong side. What a proof of our natural depravity! What a change must grace work in us before we shall be fully like our Lord Jesus, who was incapable of being inoculated by sin, but abundantly able to communicate goodness; for healing virtue proceeded from him. When shall we become disseminators of holiness by our very presence? When shall we dwell where every companion shall minister to our soul's health? Such a place Jesus is preparing for us, and thither is he bringing his redeemed ones.
Small sins can entangle and enslave, leading to ruin if unchecked.
"In gaming there is a secret witchery. A man will play a little, and only venture a small sum, but soon he is wormed in, and more and more entangled; and so men think it is no great matter to sin a little, and yet that little leadeth on to more." The illustration is most forcible. Many persons have put down a piece of silver on the gaming-table when passing through the room, and from that moment their ruin has been sealed. They will be seen from day to day staking their hundreds, till the last fatal roll of the ball leaves them penniless. For the while gamblers live, and move, and have their being in the game: their eyes are quick, and their brains are sharp, to see each turn of the play: they are the willing, abject slaves of what is called amusement. Thus doth sin begin with littles, and glide into more serious faults; till the sinner is spellbound, and finds himself engrossed with folly, which he has no will to leave. Be it ours to give no place to the devil. Let him not have a spot whereon to set up his enchantment and work his diabolical arts. If we never venture a farthing upon Satan's table, we shall never be made beggars by his devices. If he is not allowed to spin a spider's web about us, he will never be able to hold us with the cords of iniquity. If we never wade into sin we shall never drown in it. Lord, keep us from the appearance of evil.
Hidden sin within the heart can destroy a soul even without outward signs.
"Many die of inward bleeding as well as by outward wounds." Every surgeon can give instances of such deaths. Not an abrasion of the skin was visible: the dying man had neither gash, nor cut, nor even a pin's prick, and yet his life oozed away in secret. Thus, without an open fault, a man's soul may perish. If wrath rage within, it is fatal, though no revengeful act has been perpetrated; if lust be burning in the heart, the man is lost, though he has never advanced to a lascivious deed; if unbelief proves an inward enmity against God, the man is condemned already, though no blasphemous word has crossed his lip. Sin is a bleeding at the heart. It is a disease which destroys the true life within, as well as the fruit of it without; therefore let every man beware of flattering himself that he is right with God because no glaring vice is manifest in his daily conversation. The worm none the less surely destroys the apple because its first operations are at the core, and quite out of sight. If fire be utterly hidden among combustible materials, it will not therefore be any the less sure and rapid in its devouring work. "Sin, which dwelleth in me," is the enemy that I must fight against, as well as sin which goeth out of me. O Lord, help me to be healthy in the fountain of my being. Heal my heart, and so I shall be healed. Heart-disease baffles all physicians but Thyself. This, however, is Thy spécialité. Lord, display Thy sovereign power and skill in the centre of my being.
Playing with sin leads to inevitable harm and spiritual destruction.
"If we play about the cockatrice's hole, no wonder we are bitten." An old proverb advises us not to play with edged tools lest we cut our fingers. It is a sin to trifle with sin. If we must play, we had better find harmless toys: that evil which caused Christ a bloody sweat is no fit theme for any man's sport. Playing with wickedness is a hazardous game. Sooner or later, if we pluck the lion of sin by the beard, it will arouse itself, and we shall be torn in pieces. This is true of indulgence in strong drink: "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." It is equally true of all other forms of evil, especially of the lusts of the flesh. Lewd words soon lead to foul deeds. Yet such is the folly of men that they run dreadful risks in sheer wantonness, as though asps and cobras were fine playmates, and devils rare merry-makers. "Lord, keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."
Even slight contact with sin defiles the heart like the sun tans exposed skin.
"As a man that walks in the sun, unawares, before he thinks of it, his countenance is tanned, so our hearts are defiled by the slightest contact with sin." We have seen men who were quite fair where their hats covered their foreheads, and thoroughly bronzed where the sun had looked upon them. A man's heart had need be covered with a veil of holy carefulness all over, or the world will get at it, and brown it with evil. Some trades and callings are like a tropical climate, and their blackening effect is soon visible: certain companies are still more so; they make their mark upon the best of men, and that mark is not to their improvement. With difficulty can a man prevent the world's influencing him for evil; evil communications will corrupt good manners unless a sacred remedy is heartily used. See the effect of evil upon professors in Jeremiah's day; he says: "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick." Let us, as much as we can, keep ourselves to ourselves, and go quietly through life. A man of eminence, who outlived the French Revolution, was asked how he escaped the guillotine, and he replied, "I made myself of no reputation, and kept silence." Let us, like him, stay within doors. If we must go forth abroad, it is well to walk on the shady side of the street, by keeping as much out of the world's influence as we can; and it is also wise to carry with us such holy thoughts and feelings
226 'ILLUSTRATIONS AND MEDITATIONS.' as may act as a screen to ward off the excessive power of evil. We have no wish to become as black as the inhabitants of this sun-burnt clime, seeing we are not numbered with them, but are here as strangers and foreigners. Wash me, most blessed Jesus, in that sacred bath which thou hast prepared; for it will make me fair forever. Black as I now am I shall then be whiter than snow. Renew me, and I shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
A drunkard's tragic crime leads him to vow never to touch intoxicants again.
"I took the pledge," said an old man, "at the foot of the gallows, when I saw a young man hung. The sheriff took out his watch, and said, 'If you have any thing to say, speak now, for you have only five minutes to live.' The young man burst into tears, and said, 'I have to die! I had only one little brother; he had beautiful blue eyes and flaxen hair; and I loved him. But one day I got drunk, and, coming home, found him gathering berries in the garden, and I became angry without cause, and killed him with one blow with a rake. Drink has done it: it has ruined me! I have but one word more to say: Never! NEVER! NEVER! touch any thing that can intoxicate!"
Anger distorts a person inwardly and outwardly, likened to a devil-piloted ship at sea.
The angry man is compared to a ship sent into the sea, which hath the Devil for its pilot. The anger of mortal man should be mortal like himself. But we say of many, as Valerius Maximus of Sylla, it is a question, whether they or their anger die first, or whether death prevents them both together. If you look into this troubled sea of anger, and desire to see the image of a man, behold, you find fiery eyes, a faltering tongue, gnashing teeth, a heart boiling in brine and drying up the moisture of the flesh; till there be scarce any part left of his right composition.
— T. Adams
A deadly fight over a toy top shows how anger can lead to tragic consequences.
Two boys, named Augustus and Eugene, were playing top. They had but one top, which they spun alternately. At length they began to contend and grow angry. Eugene said, "It is my turn to whirl the top." Augustus said, "You lie." They seized each other in a great rage; and, in the scuffle, Eugene took a sharp knife from his pocket, and stabbed Augustus, so that he died in a few moments. One lost his life, the other became a murderer, merely to determine whose turn it was to spin a top!
Greed can lead to deadly consequences, as shown by servants killed by a tiger.
A servant of an Indian rajah was ordered to keep away from a cave near the rajah's residence, and to keep all others away. The servant began to consider the probable reason of his having been forbidden to enter the cave. He made up his mind that his master must have great treasure hid there, and resolved to get it. Taking a fellow-servant with him to secure the coveted prize, they rolled away the stone at the mouth of the cave, when a tremendous tiger sprang upon them, and tore them to pieces.
Greed for gold led Cortes to conquer and cause great suffering and death.
Cortes was asked by various Mexican States, what commodities or drugs he wanted, and was promised an abundant supply. He and his Spaniards, he answered, had a disease at their hearts, which nothing but gold could cure; and he had received intelligence that Mexico abounded with it. Under the pretence of a friendly conference, he made Montezuma his prisoner, and ordered him to pay tribute to
Charles V. Immense sums were paid; but the demand was boundless. Tumults ensued. Cortes displayed amazing generalship; and some millions of the natives were sacrificed to the disease of his heart. Percy.
Rich men remain covetous and miserable despite their wealth, never satisfied.
We see the most rich worldlings live the most miserably, slaved to that wealth whereof they keep the key under their girdles. Esuriunt in popina, as we say, "they starve in a cook's shop." A man would think, that, if wealth could do any good, it could surely do this good, keep the owner from want, hunger, sorrow, care. No, even these evils riches do not avoid, but rather force on him. Whereof is a man covetous but of riches? When these riches come, you think he is cured of his covetousness: no, he is more covetous; though the desires of his mind be granted, yet this precludes not the access of new desires to the mind. So a man might strive to extinguish the lamp by putting oil into it; but this makes it burn more. And as it is with some, that thirstily drink harsh and ill-brewed drinks, have not their heat allayed, but inflamed; so this worldling's hot eagerness of riches is not cooled, but fired, by his abundance. T. Adams.
Weeds outgrow flowers because the soil favors them, showing sin's growth in hearts.
A lady asked her gardener why the weeds always outgrew and covered the flowers. "Madam," answered he, "the soil is mother to the weeds, but only stepmother to the flowers."
Well-intended benevolence led to African slavery, showing unintended sinful consequences.
Bartholomew Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, was celebrated for his benevolence. As he beheld the natives driven to hard tasks in the West India Islands, he pitied them, and devised a means of relieving them by substituting Africans to do their work. His suggestions were accepted by the authorities; and African slavery was established to curse the world.
Besetting sins are like a tap-root that sustains and grows the tree of sin until cut.
Almost every tree has its tap-root, which goes down straight into the earth, as the trunk goes into the air; and, until that root is cut, the tree will stand and grow, no matter how the fibres and roots be injured. Besetting sins are often the tap-root of the tree of sin, which bears fruit unto death. One sin unmortified may destroy the soul. One lust maintained, in spite of conscience, and sin still lives. Bowes.
Boasting of delayed repentance brings regret at death's approach.
The cabin-boy of the lost steamer "Seabird" was in a Sunday school. He had often been pleaded with to give his heart to the Saviour; but he had rejected him even with scoffing. "I will repent," said he, "next day after never." It may be, when death was sure in the fast approaching flames, or under the hungry waves, that that impious boast came to him with an awful pang.
A brief exposure to a corrupt book left lasting sinful marks and bitterness despite repentance.
About twenty-five years ago, I formed a most intimate acquaintance with a young man of fine education and commanding talents; and we soon became bosom friends. One morning after school, at a street-corner, he handed me a book, which he said he could lend to me for only one quarter of an hour. We stood at that corner a few moments, while I looked at the obscene pictures, and read a few pages in that polluting volume. I handed it back to him, and never saw it again; but the poison took effect, "the sin left its mark." I cannot erase the effects of the impure thoughts which in that quarter of an hour that vile book lodged in my heart, and which (may God forgive me!) I harbored there. I can and do pray against the sin, and for God's grace yet to conquer it; but it is a thorn in my flesh, and still causes me great bitterness and anguish. Young men, as a lover of your souls, I tell you in all sincerity that there is nothing which I would not willingly give to have the veil of oblivion cast over the scenes and the sentiments of that corrupt volume, which still haunt me like foul spectres. J. A. James.
A busy-body spreads conflict by stirring up others with harmful gossip.
His tongue, like the tail of Samson's foxes, carries firebrands, and is enough to set the whole field of the world on a flame. Himself begins table-talk of his neighbor at another's board, to whom he bears the first news, and adjures him to conceal the reporter, whose choleric answer he returns to his first host, enlarged with a second edition: so, as it used to be done in the fight of unwilling mastiffs, he claps each on the side apart, and provokes them to an eager conflict. Bp. Hall.
Busy-bodies undermine peace in families and societies with harmful intentions.
He is a treacherous supplanter and underminer of the peace of all families and societies; this being a maxim of an unfailing truth, that nobody ever prys into another man's concerns but with a design to do, or to be able to do, him a mischief. Dr. South.
Calumny is a fiery, destructive sin accompanied by envy, fraud, and conspiracy.
Apelles painted her thus: There sits a man with great and open ears, inviting Calumny, with his hand held out, to come to him; and two women, Ignorance and Suspicion, stand near him. Calumny breaks out in a fury; her countenance is comely and beautiful, her eyes sparkle like fire, and her face is inflamed with anger; she holds a lighted torch in her left hand, and with her right twists a young man's neck, who holds up his hands in prayer to the gods. Before her goes Envy, pale and nasty; on her side are Fraud and Conspiracy; behind her follows Repentance, clad in mourning, and her clothes torn, with her head turned backwards, as if she looked for Truth, who comes slowly after. Andrew Tooke.
Calumny spreads like unquenchable fire, causing widespread damage and strife.
It is like the Greek fire used in ancient warfare, which burnt unquenched beneath the water; or like the weeds, which, when you have extirpated them in one place, are sprouting forth vigorously in another spot, at the distance of many hundred yards; or, to use the metaphor of St. James, it is like the wheel which catches fire as it goes, and burns with fiercer conflagration as its own speed increases: "It sets on fire the whole course of nature" (literally the wheel of nature). F. W. Robertson.
A man's sins follow him and will confront him at the day of judgment.
A young man's character was such as to excite universal disapprobation. He could no longer resist the pressure of public sentiment. He disposed of his property, and attempted to resume business in a distant part of the country; but his character, or, rather, his reputation, had gone before him. Men regarded him with suspicion. He was unable to secure the confidence and countenance necessary to success. In this case, his sins went before him to his new place of residence. The sins of men go before them still further. They go before them to the judgment, and will be ready to meet them there. What a fearful meeting! how impossible to escape from their accusing and consequences! It is related of a prisoner, that after he had toiled for months in constructing a mine from his dungeon, by means of which he hoped to escape, when at last he broke ground, and let in the light of day, which he had so fondly hoped to enjoy, the first object he saw was an armed jailer waiting to arrest him! That jailer struck far less dismay and despair to the heart of the prisoner than meeting with his sins will strike to the heart of the sinner at the day of judgment. Dr. Jeffers.
God's just penalties for sin would bring misery if He dealt with us as strictly as men do.
As many worldly men deal with their debtors, who will hardly let slip an hour of the day, but will take advantage and forfeiture of their bonds and obligations without any more delay; even so, if God should deal as precisely with us in taking advantage of the bonds and forfeitures and penalties whereinto we daily fall by the breach of his commandments, then our estate would be most miserable. Cavedray.
Breaking even one commandment voids righteousness and leads to eternal damnation.
If one man bestow upon another house or land, or some such thing, and, in consideration thereof, bindeth him to fulfil many conditions, whereof if he break the least the gift is void; even so we may not marvel when we hear, that, by the breaking of one point of one commandment, we fail of perfect righteousness, and are made the heirs of everlasting damnation. Cavedray.
Evil companions infect the soul and body like a plague, causing spiritual harm.
As it is madness to open our doors to those who bring the plague which infecteth our bodies, it is much greater madness to set open our doors to swearers, blasphemers, ribald talkers, and ungodly livers, who infect both soul and body.
— Cawdray
