The Sinfulness Of Sin - Preach The Word

The Sinfulness Of SinRalph Venningrestoration of any to this relationship is on a new basis. They could not walktogether because of this disagreement (Amos 3.3) When man left walking in thelight of holiness and walked in the darkness of sin, fellowship ceased (1 John1.6,7). It is true, there is reconciliation and recovery by Jesus Christ, but sin didwhat in it lay to cut man off from all communion with God for ever. Oh this spitefuland pernicious sin!e. From the covenant relationship in which he stood to God. As a result God had noobligation upon him to own man or look after him or to have anything to do withhim except to sentence him. And what sin did at first, if not repented of andpardoned, it will do to this day. Therefore sinners are called 'Lo-ammi', not mypeople, which is worse than not to be a people (1 Peter 2.10). They are withoutGod, promise and covenant (Ephesians 2.12). Man can claim nothing of God as ofright, having sinned; and therefore men are said also to be without hope that is,hope in themselves. What a separation sin has made! When it robs man of God itrobs him of all things, for all things are ours only so far as God is ours (1Corinthians 3.21).Arising out of this separation from God two great miseries come upon sinners asjudgments upon it:a. God hides his face. This follows on the separation, as is expressly stated inIsaiah 59.2: 'Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and yoursins have hid his face from you, or, as the margin reads it, have made him hide hisface from you. It is his face which makes heaven, and a smile of it or the lifting upof the light of his countenance upon us refreshes us more than corn, wine and oil(Psalm 4.6-7). His loving kindness is better than life--we would have done better tohave parted with life than with that! Man's sin is expressed by this, that he turnshis back to God and not his face. His punishment is expressed by God turning hisback to him and not his face. God behaves not like a friend but a stranger. Indeed,this hiding of his face signifies many more miseries than I can now stay to mentionin detail.b. Another and no less misery is that God does not hear his prayers. This follows inthe aforementioned text (Isaiah 59.2) and it accompanies the hiding of God's face(Isaiah 1.15). God is a God hearing prayers, but sin shuts out our shouting, andthe prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord who calls them nobetter than howlings (Hosea 7:14).There are two or three further miseries, not to name many more that result fromthis separation, which continually attend poor sinful man.c. Man is without strength. Man's great strength is in union with God. Separationweakens him, for without God, apart from him, out of him, and separated from himwe can do nothing. To be a sinner is to be without strength (Romans 5.6,8). Manwas once a Samson for strength, but having parted with his locks, his strength isdeparted from him, so that of himself he is not sufficient to think one good thought(2 Corinthians 3.5). He was strong while in the Lord and in the power of his might,but now his hands are weak, his knees feeble, and his legs cannot bear him up; hehas got the spiritual rickets.32