In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of sin and its consequences. He emphasizes that sin, when fully developed, leads to death. However, he also presents the good news of the Gospel, stating that the work of the cross is finished. The preacher clarifies that sin is not a sickness but a destructive force that can affect anyone. He encourages the audience to trust in Christ and claim the forgiveness of sins through His sacrifice on the cross.

Turn to the epistle of James chapter 1, the epistle of James chapter 1. Chapter 1 of James and reading at verse 15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. In particular the latter part of that verse, sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Now another passage, please, in the gospel of John chapter 19, John 19 and verse 28. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled saith I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Now that is all we're going to read and we trust that God will bless these passages from the word of God and thoughts taken therefrom. I would like tonight to look at two expressions in this meeting, two expressions. Sometimes you hear someone say relevant to something that an individual is going to be told. I've got good news. I got bad news. Well, basically, I want to take it in this order. I've got bad news and I've got good news. The first is they found in the expression sin. When it is finished, bring it forth death. Sin, when it is finished, bring it forth death. And of course the good news, the reason there is a gospel meeting tonight, the reason the gospel can be preached anywhere and everywhere is for the simple truth that when it comes to the work of the cross, it is finished. You know, when I look at the truth of sin, now let me clarify one thing. I am not going to say that sin is a sickness. There are individuals today and relevant to certain particular sins that are, that are, take place in their experience. They say, oh, what was the sickness? And then somehow I've derived the fact that they're not responsible for what they've done. I've got the sickness called sin. However, even though it is not a sickness, I want to use the principle of an illness. Not so much just an illness, something that is not necessarily terminable, but eternally ill. And I want to look at four things about sin that are consistent with an illness and you're going to find in some sense as much as leprosy is used sometimes as a figure of sin. That aligns itself very well in many ways with the truth of specific illnesses or sicknesses that plague humanity. I want to think first of all as far as the contraction of it, where an individual began with it. That's the first thing you have with any illness. They want to know when the person first caught it. Then I want to look at the truth of the course of it. We're going to find that especially terminal illnesses, they run their course. They have a course that they run in the individual. I want to look at the truth of the contamination of it. We're going to find that this has a tremendous ability to contaminate. And more than that, I want to look at the conclusion of it. That's what's really fun in this verse. Sin, when it is finished, and that word gnome is actually the word for this, when it reaches its end, when it comes to its conclusion, bring it forth death. And so first of all, the contraction of it, where we commenced. Let me say this, the Bible teaches not just relevant to an individual that was born out of wedlock. In fact, instead of a man that was otherwise, but he was born in sin, shape it in an equity. That's the truth that really, when it comes to the sinful nature, it comes to the investment and the individual of a desire that goes contrary to the will of God, that constitutes every man, woman, and child that have come into this world apart from the impeccable person of Christ, a sinner. You know, sometimes we find people get the pun on the cart before the horse, and they think like this. Well, a person commits so many sins, and then they become a sinner. Or a person steals something, and then they become a thief. But what they don't realize is this, that the things that we do are really the truth or the effect of what we are, what we are. You know, I remember the first time, actually, it was a girl I knew, I used to know her in the streets of Halifax. Halifax is a rough city, it's a seaside city. And this particular girl I knew is dead now. She died very young. She died, in fact, at 17 years old of heroin overdose. She was an addict by the time she was 13. Her and her twin sister. Two lovely girls as far as their appearance, you never would have seen. And those two girls not only were heroin addicts, but Pam, by the time she got to about 15, to complicate matters, found herself with child. She only continued to work the streets to support her addiction. But that addiction continued to grow and develop. They eventually, because she collapsed in a bus stop, took her to a service center, where they started ministering methadone to her to sort of bring her down off the rigidity of the complications of heroin, or crack as it's known in Canada, or rather, smack. And as they did that, they, to some degree, had controlled her addiction to the point she was still on methadone. And mind you, as many died of methadone overdoses as they did of heroin. But they thought to themselves, to some degree, we've kind of delivered her or recovered her from it. But the recovery was brief. You know, it's a tragic thing to think of a girl by the time she's 15, 16 years old, considered a chronic heroin addict. But I'll tell you what's even more heartbreaking. When that little child was born, a month premature, the first cry that that child ever made was the cry of withdrawal. It was the cry of an addict craving what the mother was addicted to. You know, the amazing thing was this. That child had never sought to buy itself a fix. That child had never gone around and chosen a life to become a heroin addict. It was the result of a birth. Because the parent was afflicted by it, so was the child. That principle is the principle of sin. As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men for all of sins. We find this, the sad thing is, the first man and woman, they sinned against God. And every child, every person born into this world, apart from the distinction of the person of Christ, was born a sinner. You don't have to do one thing. You don't have to tell a lie. You don't have to raise your fist in defiance of God. You don't have to hurt anybody or kill anybody or steal anything to become a sinner. You sin because you are a sinner. And even if today you could stop practicing sin, you could never change what you are. Only salvation can do that. God requires that which has passed all of sin and come short of the glory of God. And so when it comes to the commencement of it, we all began by birth. We were born sinners. But when it comes to the course, the course, let me tell you this, I have seen some tragic illnesses. I remember one person, his name was Wayne Bernard. I was asked to go in and see Wayne and break the news to him. His parents were heartbroken. They weren't Christians, as far as I know. But they asked me to go in and talk to Wayne, who had used to come to gospel meetings and at some point had given it up, coming to meetings, in fact, and go in and tell Wayne that he had been diagnosed with a hopeless case, untreatable case of cancer. And they gave him at the most six months. It proved to be only two. When I went in to see him, then that room cleared out. And I sat down with him and I told him, I said, how are you doing? He said, oh, I'm feeling the best, but I'm getting better. I said, no, you're not getting better. You're not going to get better. You're not getting better. You're going to die. He turned around, he said, but I feel OK. You know, when I looked at him, he almost looked robust. He was a little overweight, had a nice complexion to him. And I almost thought to myself, maybe in this case, the doctors were wrong and the diagnosis was wrong and the prognosis is wrong. But, you know, in the final two months that I visited him, I saw something that broke my heart. I saw what appeared to be a strapping, healthy young man go downhill so quickly. It affected his legs. He couldn't walk. It affected his mind. It affected every aspect, his thoughts, his feelings. Everything was affected by it until he was reduced to almost an emaciated condition just prior to dying. And I thought to myself, I hate this disease that so devastates the body and runs an individual down that course. But let me tell you something far worse, far worse than any cancer worm will show you, far worse than any disease that plagues humanity. And that's the truth of sin. It affects every aspect of human experience. It affects the walk. They can't live right. It affects the thinking. The mind is perverse. It affects the affections. They're estranged from God, everything about it. And as sin progresses, sir, in this meeting. You might not be making any progress when it comes to the gospel, but let me tell you this sin is making a progression in you and sin when it is finished, it's moving gradually, possibly rapidly to one end when it's finished with you. Bring it forth death. The sad tragedy of seeing individuals, you look at that child, you look at them robust and you look at all the potential in them and you can hardly get give credit to the fact that these are the simple get of humanity. And when this time goes by. You see the hardening, don't ever say the gospel hardens, it doesn't sin hardens, sin hardens as individuals get older and hear the gospel, if they don't respond to it, sin in them. Hardens and you'll see individuals that when they were children sat sweetly on those benches and said, Jesus loves me with a radiance in their faces. And by their 19, 20 years old, their hearts are as hard to the gospel as the devil could make it. And sin, when it is finished, bring it forth death, it's moving its course, but more than that, it contaminates, it contaminates. You know, back in the time of the Black Plague, I know it was the bubonic plague, I assume that's the Black Plague. But there was places and I think it was Flanders where the some of the finest now I'm one of the I think it's embroidery, that's right. Embroidery was done to the point there was one family of a young girl. Her name was Marie. I'm not sure the name of the family, but they were known in Flanders. This is back in the 16, 1700s. They were known for their abilities in embroidery. People came from all over Europe, not only to this village where they live, but to their house in particular and bought these little pieces, these little doilies that were embroidered by this family. And in particular, this one girl who, by the time she was 14, there was no match for in all the country as far as her ability. And she did all that wonderful embroidery. But when the plague came, you know, death is no gentleman that doesn't knock at your door and say, are you ready to come? I'm here to take you know what that does. It kicks in your door and it reaches in and it snatches out whom it will, whether you're ready or not. And death came to that village and it came to that home. And that father saw that young girl with a bloom of health on her face, saw those terrible bubbles, those marks, saw the cracking of her face with the temperature in her hands and finally brought a doctor. And the doctor only went to the door, looked in the door, gazed at this child's glassy eyes. And he put a yellow mark on the door and he said, it's plague. She's quarantined. And that young girl was so desperate, you know what she thought to herself, this doctor is cruel, he's not giving me any hope. If I do something kind for him, if I do something nice for him, perhaps he'll give me a better diagnosis, a better prognosis. And so with hands that were cracked and bleeding and a fevered brow, she actually sat down and started to make the most beautiful piece of embroidery that she'd ever made prior to it being finished. Finally with her lungs giving out and filling, she lay back in that bed and brought the doctor for his last visit. After he would go, shortly after that she would die. As he looked in that door he saw a very pathetic sight. He saw this young girl looking at him with eyes that were glassy with pain and then looking over at the chair where that piece of embroidery was hung. And he could almost read what she was saying with her eyes, what she was saying, take my gift and give me hope. Take my gift and give me hope. You know what he said, I can't take it. I can't take it. The very disease that is killing you has contaminated or polluted it and I can't touch it. You know that principle is found in the scriptures when it says not of works, when it talks about man's efforts to satisfy or reach God is dead works. God can't receive it because of the individual that's producing it. Men defile what they do by what they are. And the only time a person can render works unto God as something that is acceptable to God is when they have been purged by God's salvation through the finished work of Christ. Up to that point they are contaminated by sin. You think about it. It commenced from birth. You were born a sinner. It's running its course. It's moving to an inevitable end. It has its contamination. There is nothing you can do to save yourself. There is nothing you can give to God to satisfy him that he can accept. Nothing sir, nothing. But if that isn't bad, the worst of it is this. It has its conclusion. Someone was reminding me earlier. I was thinking of a young girl that came to meetings. Her name was Ann Spite. And the word spite was a good way to describe her. She was all dressed in black, all black leather. She came into the gospel meeting and I can remember her sitting there. And I thought to myself, boy, she's not happy to be here. And she looked miserable. And she looked more than that. She looked angry. The man I was preaching with turned to me and he said, that one doesn't look like she's having too good a time tonight. And we preached. At the end of the meeting, as Ann Spite went out of that meeting. Now let me tell you, she was just as hard as her last name says. And my friend, the man I was preaching with, put out his hand to shake hands. She just went by it, stopped, looked at it and just brushed by it. So I didn't even bother putting my hand out. I just thought, well, she doesn't want to shake hands. That's okay. She showed up the next night. And she showed up the next night. And she showed up the next night. And finally I remember her coming to the meeting and she said, Tomorrow night, I want you to be here early. I want you to be here early, she said. Because I want to have a talk to you. And she said, you needn't bring the other fellow, just you. Well, I said, look, we work together. We're going to either both be there or none of us. Well, she said, he can come and pray, but I want to talk to you. So we sat there. She was there, as she said. In fact, she'd been sitting in her car for 45 minutes when I arrived at that hall at 6 o'clock. My meeting wasn't until 7.30. We went inside, we sat down. And she told me a story that would break your heart. How she'd been abused as a child. How she'd been to all these various addiction centers. How she'd been treated so terribly. How she'd been an addict from a young age. How she'd been in prison. How she couldn't hold on a job. She was on more medications than she could almost, couldn't count them. And as she sat there, here's what she said. She said, you men the other night were preaching about hell. Listen, let me say something tonight for you in this tent. There is a real hell. There is a real hell. It is not some place that is just mentioned to make people fear and provoke them to trust Christ. There is a hell where you must go if you die without Christ. And as sure as you're sitting in this gospel tent. If you die in your sins, the Lord Jesus said, where I am, you cannot come. Christ is in heaven, where does that leave you? And she said, there's a real hell. And then she broke down crying. Yeah, a real hard girl. And here's what she said. Do you mean after this life I've been through, I thought this was hell? Do you mean there's worse to come? Do you mean there's worse than this? And without even thinking, it just slipped out of me. I said, and compared to what you will experience the moment after you die. This is a picnic. It's a picnic. People that die in their sins and go down to hell would long to come back and suffer in a cancer ward. Would long to go through mental distress. Would long to be an individual with a nervous breakdown for just that occasion in time and the alleviation of such intense sufferings. But sin when it is finished. Tonight it's estranged you from God. It's running its course. You can't do one thing for God and you were made for God. But more than that, when it is finished. When sin is done with you, you'll lift up your eyes in hell. Not only doomed but damned. And sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And that expression bringeth forth doesn't simply mean it brings it forth and that's it. It simply means it will keep bringing it and bringing it and bringing it. And you will always incur the separation of God and the suffering of the wrath of God forever. And ever and ever. That's why you need to have your sins forgiven. That's why you dare go on in your sins and you certainly ma'am you certainly need to die in your sins. Let me finish with this verse. Lord Jesus on the cross. Prior to him dismissing his spirit. With a loud voice. He didn't say I am finished. I'll tell you there's two things I'm very pleased that he didn't say. And yet a lot of individuals almost think that he did say this. He didn't say my part is finished. And you gotta do your part. You know there are people that think like that. Yeah Christ died on the cross for sinners but where's the small print? What have I gotta do? Where's the place where I put in my share? No the Lord Jesus said it is finished. The work to take you to heaven is done. Completely done. There is absolutely nothing more to be done. If you can grab that tonight. That the work to take you to heaven is done. You know there are two kinds of people in this world. That are headed for that thing. At least one thinks they're headed for heaven. The others are going. There are those that are planning to get to heaven by their doing. And you will never do enough. And there are those that are going to heaven. Because the work to get you to heaven is done. The Lord Jesus simply said this. It is finished. I'll tell you another thing I'm glad he didn't say. He didn't say this. It is nearly finished. It is nearly finished. I remember having gospel meetings in a little place called Mattawaska. If you can't say it that's okay. There's a lot of places here I can't say. And in this place Mattawaska my friend Murray and I were staying with these folks. And one of those men his name was George Belfler. He's French Canadian. Actually an American. French. And he was just so kind. We actually stayed in his house. His wife was in the meeting. Lorraine she got saved the year before. His daughter was in the meeting. His daughter's husband. And George Belfler belonged to a large religious organization that a lot of people of French background belonged to. That's as much as we'll say about it. And they invited us to stay at the house. And after a while I got invited to go to another place. I'm not sure maybe you just couldn't stand the two of us there. It was a bit taxing. Murray and I both. And others could tell you about that. But I stayed at some other folks house for a while. Different times George used to. Listen he worked a shift. He worked a shift. He was 65 years old. He worked at a paper mill. Sometimes he didn't get a chance to have his supper. He came right to the meeting and he sat there. And if he fell asleep. You know what he used to tell me? Peter if I fall asleep bang on the pulpit or do something wake me up. Don't let me sleep through the meeting. I need to get saved. I remember the last night. Second last night of the meetings. But the last night as far as relevant to the experience of George Belfleur. He went out of the meeting that night. He said this to me. Peter I'm not going to come back. It's no good. George Belfleur is too dense to be saved. Too dense. I said George you're not dense you're dark. You're just dark. No he said I'm not coming back Peter. He said there's no hope for me. And he went home. That night I got a call where I stay in at 2 o'clock in the morning. With my brother Murray McCandless. He called me and said Peter there's someone here who wants to talk to you real bad. I said George. He said yes George. George Belfleur had been looking at his Bible. When's the last time you looked at your Bible? You say you want to get saved you haven't looked at your Bible. What's the matter with you? You're just playing with it. He started looking at his Bible. And he read down he saw this verse. It. Is. Finished. It. Is. Finished. He turned around to Murray and said Murray. What does that verse mean? Murray wisely said. What do you think it means? He said when I read that verse. It tells George Belfleur. That the work to get me to heaven is not 99% done. It is finished. 100%. The work is done. Then he just turned around and said. And George Belfleur is going to heaven. Finished. Finished. You know we sometimes say as great Bible students. That really it's just one word. There is no one word in the English language. Which will give you that statement. There's one word in the Greek. But in the English language. The words that you have to put together are this. Behold. It. Is done. Behold. It is done. Or lo done. Which simply means this. Finished. Tonight in this meeting. If you would love to know your sins forgiven. The work of one suffering and dying for your sins. That you might be forgiven even in this meeting tonight. Listen to it. These are the words of Christ. It. Is. Finished. We trust Christ. And claim the value of that life that was given at Calvary for sin. And say. Thank God it's finished. God bless his work.