Thursday, October 25, 2007

A comment on the ugliness of sin


Recently there have been some instances of public, deliberate sin among some of the people that I know. Some of this has been very difficult to deal with as they have just been a constant reminder that they, just like me, are not immune to the sin the crouches at the door and desires to have us. This has also required me to rethink my own heart, mind, and intentions and consider my life. After considering this, I am reminded of what Jonathan Edwards said in one of his resolutions:


Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.


Thinking upon this, and hearing about the great disappointments lately have caused me to say, "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner." We all must realize (I am emphasizing my need) that when we confront sin in others, that we ourselves are in danger of falling in to the same sin or even worse. Therefore, watch yourselves. As I am reading the book, "The Lord's Supper" by Thomas Watson, I find some passages that aid me in thinking about the severity and the stench of sin.


If a woman saw that sword which killed her husband, how hateful would the sight of it be to her! Do we count that sin light,k which made Christ's soul "exceeding sorrowful unto death" (Mark 14:24)? Can that be our joy, which made the Lord Jesus Christ "a man of sorrows" (Isa. 53:3)? Did he cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46? And shall not those sins be forsaken by us, which made Christ himself forsaken? Oh let us look upon sin with indignation....Sin has pierced and gored our Saviour: let it die the death. What a pity it is that that should live which would not suffer Christ to live. (29) Emphasis added.

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