The Sinfulness Of Sin - Preach The Word

The Sinfulness Of SinRalph VenningIf they still haunt you and, like flies that are beaten off, return again, use severityand sharpness. Alas! we are all too indulgent, courteous and gentle to these bold,intruding travellers, for so they are called (2 Samuel I2.4). There came a travellerto the rich man--a lust to David in the case of Bathsheba, for it refers to that--andhe killed another man's lamb for this traveller, this lust. If he had only examined it,he would have found it to be a spy or a vagabond, which should not have beenfeasted but sent to the whipping-post. The reason why we have so many pedlarscoming to our doors is because we buy and take their trifles, and the reason whyso many of these beggars and wandering gipsies knock at our doors is because wegive them alms and lodging. If we only frowned on them and executed the lawupon them, we should probably have none or less of their company.(v) Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity.Avoid occasions and appearances of evil; for the world is cheated by appearancesand shows. Men become thieves when opportunity is offered them, who without itperhaps would not have thought of being so. Just as the heart inflames the eye, sothe eye affects and inflames the heart. Curiosity to see and hear the silliest picturesand wanton songs has often induced persons to think such thoughts and to do suchthings as otherwise they would scarcely have dreamed of. Vain objects and vainspeeches engender vain fancies and imaginations, and so proceed and increase tomore ungodliness (2 Timothy 2.16). Therefore the apostle warned Christians not totell stories of fornication, uncleanness or covetousness; they should not be so muchas named or mentioned (Ephesians 5.3). Such stories, even though only romances,leave bad impressions on men's fancies. We need to keep a strict watch over eyesand ears if ever we would preserve our hearts and thoughts pure and chaste, lestwe tempt the tempter to tempt us and to make our hearts worse by opportunityand custom than they are by nature. This made King David beg of God to turnaway his eyes from beholding vanity (Psalm 119.37), and good Job was so muchafraid of himself that he made a covenant with his eyes, lest he should think(unbecomingly) of a maid. Looking produces lusting as lusting puts on looking(Matthew 1.28).(vi) Beware of idleness.Every man should have a calling to follow, and follow his calling, which is anexcellent preservative from evil thoughts. Idle people have no business but to sin,and they who follow their calling have no leisure to sin; their thoughts are toointent to be diverted. Time lies heavy on some men's hands for want ofemployment, and therefore they become busybodies, gadding and wandering aboutas their fancy or the Devil, like the wind, drives them, or like a decoy draws andallures them (1 Timothy 5.13-15). Indeed, these idlers or busybodies are joinedwith evildoers, thieves and murderers (1 Peter 4.15). They know that their time ispassing away and will pass away, but they do not know how to pass it away, sothat whatever temptation comes, they seem to be ready. The wink of an eye or theholding up of a finger prevails with them. They follow the Devil's whistle, and danceto his tune. They spend their days like vagrants, and their life is a mere diversionfrom that which is the business of it. They cannot endure to be with themselves,and therefore trifle away their precious time, and adventure the loss of theirprecious souls, by becoming sinners for company.131