The Sting of Sin
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” — Romans vi. 23.
THE secret of failure in life and service is in this text and we should study it with care yet it is almost unwise to separate any individual verse in Romans from the entire Epistle, for the whole letter is a masterpiece of the consecrated skill of a master logician. It is as perfect a piece of argument as has ever been known, and should be studied as a whole. However, if any verse could be considered alone it is that given above.
There are some words which appear oftener than others in this Epistle; as for example, the words, “for,” “but,” and “therefore,” and they are the words which would be used by one who is sweeping on in a masterful argument. Two of these words, “for” and “but,” are naturally found in the text used. There are three “therefores” in the Epistle which should be considered, as they stand out like mountain peaks in the words of St. Paul.
‘’ Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans V. I.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” Romans viii. i.
“I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.** Romans xii. i. And whenever the author uses the word “therefore,” or its kindred words, it is well to study carefully all that goes before and to pay particular attention to all that follows them.
The first five chapters give us an incomparable picture of sin, the story of Israel in relation to grace and the account of the Saviour who was offered as a sacrifice for sin. In the sixth chapter the Apostle guards against the danger which might beset one who accepts the truth of justification without appreciating it in all its fulness, and therefore makes it a licence to sin, when he said, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” and exclaims, “God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein,” and Romans vi. 23, comes as the climax of the 6th chapter and as a warning against sin in every form, and the difference between wages on the one side which would call for service of the most exacting kind, and a gift on the other which is entirely a matter of grace, is the difference between the two Masters of men, either of which we may have for the choosing.
The background of St. Paul’s picture is sin. We cannot possibly eliminate this from our thinking, nor can we be indifferent to it in our living, for if we do treat it lightly other errors will follow in the wake of this. We will depreciate the Atonement and we will be overtaken again and again by failure — because of the fascinating and alluring power of sin at its beginning. Sin is not merely an error, nor is it to be counted only as a mistake. It is a damnable thing, so great that it demands an infinite sacrifice.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” Hebrews ix. 27-28.
In its awful influence sin works in various ways. // will change the expression of ones countenance so that it becomes its own detective and brings the sinner to punishment for his sin. Be sure your sin will find you out; you cannot long successfully conceal it.
It will undermine character and the strongest of us cannot resist its insidious and continuous attacks.
It is said that in India the white ants bore their little holes through the timbers of buildings, and that the holes they bore are so very small that the casual passer-by could not detect them, but when the storms come and the winds blow, the timbers eaten through give way with a crash and the building is destroyed. It is thus and only thus that men fall into grievous sin. ITiey rarely leap suddenly into the depths of iniquity, they journey by slow stages, practising sins as insignificant as the boring of an ant hole.
It will break up households; separate husbands and wives; disgrace parents and children, and where naught but peace and happiness should abide it will bring confusion and despair.
It will divide friends. There is no chasm between loved ones so deep as that which is caused by sin, and there is no barrier so high as that which is erected by a life of wilful transgression. Friends are separated as widely as the distance between the poles, and all because of sin.
// will blight others, for no one of us can sin and suffer alone. Someone has said that there are five acts in the rum tragedy: and this is but one form of sin.
The first act is the graduation of a young boy from school. He has taken every honour and the prospects before him are exceedingly bright.
The second act is the scene of his marriage. He has departed from the home of his youth, has entered the city, and with every prospect bright for his future he ’ is united in wedlock to a beautiful girl. It would seem as if nothing could stand in the way of their future happiness.
In the third act he is beginning to yield fo the slightest of temptations. He has become careless and indifferent to the best interests of his life. His moral fibre does not stand the test and the strain of his every-day experience. He is slowly slipping from his moorings.
The fourth act is the representation of the bride tfiaf was, with her weeping child by her side, waiting for the return of her drunken husband. He who was once so fair has become horrible to look upon, and the one who promised so much to the bride by his side has forgotten his every vow.
The fifth act is the scene of three graves in a dark place. The first hold the body of the broken-hearted wife; the second the body of the baby starved to death; while the third holds all that is left of the man whose prospects were so bright but whose wreck was complete, and all because of sin.
It is small in its beginning, therefore, it is to be greatly feared.
I was in the offices of the Southern Pacific Railroad in San Francisco, when the General Passenger Agent asked me if I had seen the big trees of California. I informed him that I had seen them as I looked from the car window the day before, and smiling he said, “Then you have not seen them, for they must be studied to be appreciated.’* Calling for his secretary, he stretched out before me a measuring line. On the one side was his affidavit in which he said, “I have measured one of the big trees of California. Its circtmiference is 105 feet, its diameter 35 feet, and the height was to me so amazing that I hesitate here even to suggest it.” Then he said to me, “How large would you think the seed of a big tree might be,” and when I suggested that it ought to be of enormous size, he poured out into the palm of his hand a number of these little seeds and they were smaller than a lettuce seed. So it is with sin. An evil imagination encouraged, an impure thought harboured, an unholy ambition controlling us, and the work is begun, but the end no human tongue is able to describe.
// is deceiving in its influence. It is like some diseases of which men are the subjects.
I travelled through the West recently and met a great number of men and women who are the victims of the great white plague, tuberculosis. It is a flattering disease, and the victim rarely looks for death, but always considers that recovery is sure to come, and sin is just such a disease. How very many people tell you that they will go so far and stop, only to wake up at last and find it impossible. How few there are who ever expect to be finally lost! But remember “The Wages of Sin is Death.” It is said that in the West Indies there is a vampire bat which fans its victim to sleep, and while asleep draws away its life blood, and this is sin.
It is sure in its progress. A truer word was never spoken than that which was written in the Scriptures,” Be sure your sin will find you out**
I have read that in the Island of Ceylon there are more than forty serpents having a sting which is deadly, but that there is one in particular which, if it should sting your hand or foot, you would be dead in a minute, but death is not more sure from this serpent’s sting than disgrace and death are sure if sin is permitted to have its unhindered sway to the end.
// is degrading in its influence. It will tear down the strongest character; it will blight the brightest prospects; it will mar the sweetest face; it will crush the holiest ambition. It will ruin for time and for all eternity, and no one of us can afford to trifle with it. The wages of sin is death, and he who becomes the servant of sin will one day receive his wages, part payment of which he has had given to him all along the journey of his sinful life.
What is the greatest sin in the world? It is not intemperance, nor dishonesty, nor impurity; it is not a thousand other things which might be mentioned, but the greatest sin in the world is the rejection of Jesus Christ. It is said that when the Spirit of God is come He will reprove the world of sin, and this sin is the sin of not believing upon Him whom God hath sent forth to be the propitation for our sins, so that when we stand face to face with Him, at the Judgment, the question put to us will not be, “Were you drunken or impure or dishonest?” but “What did you do with Jesus Christ?” and upon the answer to this question will depend whether we stand or fall,
THE REMEDY
Different remedies have been suggested by men, buf one only by God himself. There are those who say that all the sinner needs is a better environment, and this would be well enough if the difficulty were simply external, but someone has said this remedy would be like painting the barn a nice mild colour in order to cure the propensity of a kicking horse to kick, or the painting of a pump on the outside when the waters within the well were poisoned. If environment could save a sinner, then how does it occur that Adam sinned, for his environment was perfect? And if the environment theory would hold good, then how does it occur that Judas Iscariot is dead and doomed, for his environment was without a flaw. He lived in the very presence of Jesus Christ, and yet betrayed him with a kiss. There are those who say that if there is to be a recovery from sin, there must be an appeal to the will and the upbuilding of character, and suggestions made as to one’s conduct and the message of those who hold to this theory is “do your very best,” or “do right,” which is all well enough except that in ourselves we cannot do right, and in our own strength we cannot do even our very best, and if we fail at the bar of our own judgment how can we stand face to face with God? What are we to say to the men whose will power is gone and whose feet have slipped from their foundation and who have lost their hold upon all that was right and good and true? This remedy must surely fail, for it is useless to present it to the one who has so grievously sinned, but God’s remedy is a never-failing one. It is suggested in the text which heads this chapter, “The gift of God is eternal life,” In God’s plan for our salvation we are told that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. God could not look with indifference upon sin, and with the death of Christ in our behalf, the just for the unjust, He Himself became the Justifier of all them that would believe. Salvation is a gift. God offers it to us without money and without price. “Eternal life” is just another way of saying “the life of the Eternal,” and when we accept the Saviour He comes in to abide with us. He is in us, enabling us to overcome every form of temptation; in us, strengthening us to bear up under trial; in us, enabling us to live as we ought to live, and there is no remedy that can surpass this. In the sacrificial death of the Son of God His Atonement thus made provides for sins past; they are forgiven and forgotten; provides for sins present, they are put away from us as far as the East is from the West; provides for sins in the future which may attack us, for we walk with Him who Himself overcame temptation and in that He Himself was tempted He is able to succour those of us who are likewise tempted.
DELAY DANGEROUS
There is danger that the blinding effects of sin may lead us to treat lightly and indifferently the Atonement’ which has been provided in the death of Jesus Christ; to believe that there is time enough, and that may keep us from laying hold eagerly upon Him who stands with His garments dyed red ready to save us.
Out in the West they told me that at the mouth of the Columbia River men were accustomed to fish in a peculiar way at a certain season of the year for salmon. One hundred fishing boats put out, each one with two fishermen, and they go forth just as the sun is setting. They sail to the spot where their trained eye and their past experience lead them to know that the promise of success may be reasonably assured. They set their nets, as the tide is coming in, and then boat and net drift upwards along the river course with the tide. When the tide turns the boat drifts to the sea, and just as the morning breaks the boat is near the breakers. The fisherman will go as far out as he can with the tide and then begin to draw in his net. He is drifting all the time towards death. Sometimes something holds his net. It may be that it is too full to draw in, and with the terrific running of the tide before he can recover himself his boat is overturned and he himself in the strong clutch of the sea is borne outward with the tide and is dead. It is because the tides of sin are running so heavily that a warning cry is to-day lifted. Do not forget that the wages of sin is death. But also remember the gift of God is Eternal life. But this life when received must show itself in consecrated service, for we must be doers of the word and not hearers only