Text: "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." –(Isaiah 1:6)
Sin is the monumental Rogue in history. It banished Adam and Eve from Paradise. It seeded the clouds of Heaven to overthrow the Old World with flood. It kindled the conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah. It confused the inhabitants of the earth at Babel and has left them confused ever since.
THE PLAGUE: Sin is the daring act of Rebellion staged in the presence of God. It flaunts His authority and, by example, teaches others to shake their feeble fists in the face of Almighty God. Sin is therefore called "the work of the Devil," and "the filthiness of the flesh and spirit." Yet, the closer we approach Sin, the less ugly and the more attractive it appears.
Sin, at first, is Deceiving. It, portrays itself as the "life of the party," and styles itself with the intelligentsia, the refined, and the successful people in society, but NEVER as ending in a bloody highway fatality, or resulting in a cankered liver or ulcerated lung. Sin makes a man a Fool, and then it dominates him. It may exercise such a stranglehold on a person that it forces them into the nicotine fit, the drunkard’s shakes, or the cold turkey of the drug user.
Sin Defiles the Conscience and Dirties the Reputation. It Debases the Character and Degrades a person’s efficiency. It Darkens the Understanding and Deadens a person’s feelings for his family. Ask the family of the gambler whose Sin has left the cupboards bare. Ask the family of the drunkard who suffer assault and battery, and verbal abuse. Sin kills a man’s Self-Respect, and causes him to grow more and more calloused toward God as he lives more and more carelessly.
Sin Disfigures and Deforms. Ask the hopelessly insane or the blinded children of the adulteress, or ask the nicotine babies of the Smoker. Sin Decays: it Rots a person’s Peace, their Purse, and their Body. Finally Sin Destroys. Is it any wonder God has forbidden nothing to man but Sin itself!
Death and Destruction are the Judgments of God for Sin whether they come in the form of Drought, Pestilence, Disease, Fire, Flood, or War. It is Sin that has brought to creation the blight of Desolation. It was Sin that made the cultural and scientific Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans Fierce, Barbarous, and Cruel. Their histories are histories of Frauds, Wars, Murders, and Rebellions. It was Sin that caused them to enact oppressive laws, to make heroes of human butchers, and to worship the gross and the unclean.
Sin turned the Germans into cannibals and caused the English to offer human sacrifices. Sin caused men to sink to such depths of depravity as to abandon their aged to starve and to leave their diseased to be devoured in the wilds by animals.
Sin is the Instigator and Architect of Wars. What Carnage did Europe suffer on account of aggressions of Napoleon! How many millions were destroyed! How many hundreds of millions suffered and sorrowed! What hordes of humanity have been murdered under Nazism, and Communism!
China is reputed to have butchered upwards of 100 million people to establish Communism in that land. What monstrous iniquity! In order to establish Communism in the tiny country of Cambodia, two million people of its population of 7 million were ruthlessly murdered. That included every soldier over the rank of Private and every civilian over the age of twenty-one. It was agreed 3 million more people might have to be destroyed before that society could be changed. "What a Devil then is Sin! It is the worst of devils; it is worse than all devils; and they that are devils, SIN has made them so." And shall we continue our Veneration of Sin?
THE CURE: "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have Mercy." (Proverbs 28:13) Before a person can find Mercy with God, he must acknowledge his Sins by Confession and must, out of love for Christ, forsake them. This only constitutes true Repentance. To forsake Sin only for fear of Judgment is to undergo moral reform only, and does not constitute Godly Obedience. Sin must be sincerely Deplored.
Confession must be made to God Definitely, Distinctly, and in full Detail. Where Sins are public knowledge, Confession must be made publicly. In such a case, Confession to God is insufficient: it must be made to men accompanied by Restitution where possible. Many use Confession like Louis XI of France who would swear, kiss his crucifix, then swear again. Thomas Watson aptly defined "Lust" as "the Fever of the Soul;" and John Trapp defined "Confession" as the "Vomit of the Soul."
It is the Nature of Man, however, to cry for continuance in Sin. While a man may confess he does what should not be done, and fails to do what should be done, most people do not intend to do any differently. In like manner, the Philistines acknowledged the hand of God in their misery, yet they sent away the Ark of God.
It is the Nature of Man to Palliate Sin arguing, "What is Sin to one is not necessarily Sin to another." It pleads for Time crying out like Augustine, "Lord, save me, but not yet." It mollifies man’s guiltiness with the fact, "All are sinners." Some blame their Sin on their constitution or situation and cry out, "The temptation was too strong for me," or "You do not understand: if you were in my shoes..."
Some attempt to find a cloak for their Sin by denying Sin is Sin. They argue that such behavior is "only normal" behavior. Others attempt to elevate their Sin to make such things as nudity in art "intellectual", and "cultural." Still others attempt to hide their Sins, but so long as the sufferer conceals his illness, he cannot expect a cure.
Reader, will you continue living in Sin? Or have you had enough? Will you linger on in putrefaction and filth at the peril of your soul? Arise, and wash away your pollution.
What can wash away my sin? NOTHING but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon this I see, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this my plea, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.
NOTHING can for sin atone, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus;
NAUGHT of good that I have done, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
NO other fount I know, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.
-Robert Lowry
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We praise the Lord that after these several weeks, a friend who has helped us in the past has purchased a gas stove for us. We pray the Lord will remember him, and grant him Mercy through the blood of the Son of God.